DM Monitoring
Urumqi: Some anti-China forces in the West, including the United States, have concocted and disseminated plenty of false information about China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Xinjiang-related issues are not about human rights, ethnicity or religion at all, but about combating violent terrorism and separatism. The Chinese government has launched anti-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts in Xinjiang in accordance with the law to protect people’s lives, which has garnered ardent support of people from all ethnic groups. People in the region continue to embrace peace and prosperity and Xinjiang society continues to develop steadily.
These facts are the most powerful tool to debunk lies on Xinjiang. Facts and truthfulness will eventually bust all lies.
Lie No. 1: Mike Pompeo claimed that the Chinese government had committed “genocide” against Uygurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
Fact check: In recent years, the Uygur population in Xinjiang has been growing steadily. From 2010 to 2018, the Uygur population in Xinjiang rose from 10.17 million to 12.72 million, an increase of 2.55 million or 25.04 percent.
The growth rate of the Uygur population is not only higher than that of Xinjiang’s total population, which is 13.99 percent, but also higher than that of all ethnic minority groups, which is 22.14 percent, let alone the Han population’s 2 percent. Lie No. 2: Adrian Zenz released reports claiming Xinjiang has carried out “forced sterilization” on the Uygur women, resulting in a sharp decline in the Uygur population.
Fact check: Adrian Zenz is not a so-called “expert on China studies,” but a member of the far-right group “Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation” sponsored by the U.S. government. He is also a key figure in an anti-China organization set up by U.S. intelligence agencies and a notorious racist.
Lie No. 3: BBC Newsnight once reported that Zumrat Dawut (Zamira Dawut) was “forced to go through sterilization” in a vocational education and training center.
Fact check: Zamira Dawut has never studied in any vocational education and training center. Her elder brother Abduhelil Dawut has previously clarified that.
Lie No. 4: In interviews with foreign media, Mihrigul Tursun said that she was forced to take unknown medications in a vocational education and training center and was diagnosed as infertile by American doctors.
Fact check: On April 21, 2017, Mihrigul Tursun was taken into custody by the public security bureau of Qiemo County on suspicion of inciting ethnic hatred and discrimination. During this period, she was found to have infectious diseases such as syphilis. Out of humanitarian consideration, the county public security bureau terminated the meas ures against her on May 10, 2017.
Except the 20 days of criminal detention, Mihrigul was totally free while in China. She was never sentenced, nor did she study in any vocational education and training center, let alone being forced to take medications. There are no records of her undergoing a sterilization procedure in China.
Lie No. 5: Xinjiang sets up “re-education camps” to detain millions of Uygur Muslims.
Fact check: Xinjiang has never had any so-called “re-education camps.”
Lie No. 6: Xinjiang vocational education and training centers exercised “religious control,” political indoctrination, intimidation and torture over the trainees.
Fact check: The vocational education and training centers fully respected and protected trainees’ freedom of religious belief, ethnic customs and habits, and the right to use their own ethnic spoken and written languages. The trainees could decide on their own whether to take part in legal religious activities when they got home; a variety of nutritious Muslim food was provided free of charge; and the regulations, curriculum, and menus at the centers all used local ethnic languages as well as standard Chinese.
Lie No. 7: Some overseas Uygur people have been claiming “their relatives or friends in Xinjiang cannot be contacted and have gone missing” on overseas media and social media platforms.
Fact check: Xinjiang protects the freedom of travel of people of all ethnic groups, including the Uygurs, and their communication with overseas relatives according to law.
