Western anti-Xinjiang propaganda & true face of Xinjiang
XINJIANG, China’s largest province by area of China sharing its border with Pakistan, is the central hub of CPEC and Belt and Road land route.
Up to $70 billion has been invested in the Belt and Road initiative, which could revolutionize the region and greatly benefit the Uyghur Muslim community.
In the first half of the year 2021 Western countries and the media continue to discredit China’s contribution to Xinjiang, from “human rights issues in Xinjiang” to the Cotton incident in Xinjiang in March, falsely claiming that there is so-called “forced labour” in China.
From 17 May to 24 May 2021, the international media-themed event “A Date with China” was held at Xinjiang.
On the 24th, the last day of the Xinjiang tour, four foreign journalists who participated in the interview and reporting activities shared their feelings about the trip.
Although they observed the development of Xinjiang from different dimensions, they have come to the same conclusion: Xinjiang’s socio-economic development has made great progress, Xinjiang people’s lives have been greatly improved, their lives will be better and better in the future.
Among them, Tunisian journalist Walid Abdallah said that Western media reports about Xinjiang are completely different from reality.
The general living conditions of the local people have improved greatly, many farmers have a smile on their faces, it can be seen that they are happy from the heart.
The great improvement of people’s lives in Xinjiang cannot be separated from the strong support of the Chinese government.
Economy of the region has developed steadily as is evident from the key economic indicators from 2014 to 2019, average annual GDP growth rate of 7.2%, annual 9.1% growth in residential per capita disposable income, increase of general public budget revenue from 128.33 billion Yuan to 157.76 billion Yuan and remarkable improvement in Xinjiang’s infrastructure and compulsory education and medical coverage reached more than 99%.
Xinjiang has made decisive achievements in poverty alleviation and development, 3.09 million people lifted out of poverty and with all 32 poor counties achieving the goal of poverty alleviation.
Uyghurs enjoy equal rights in Xinjiang. In some Western countries, top universities do not allow Muslim students to choose certain important science courses, but in China this is not the case.
Rights and interests of all ethnic groups are fully protected and they are free to receive education, use ethnic languages, and inherit their own traditional culture.
This is also borne out from the fact that Xinjiang has more than 24,000 mosques, which means a mosque for every 530 Muslims in the region.
This is in sharp contrast to a number of other countries that do not allow Muslims to build mosques and maintain their religious identity.
In Xinjiang, there are 56 general higher education institutions, 147 secondary vocational education schools, 316 ordinary high schools, 895 junior high schools, 3641 ordinary primary schools, 32 special schools, a total of 5087.
According to a report of the World Bank, “At present, there are 56,708 students in five project schools, with 24,670 being ethnic minorities, accounting for 44% of the total students in these schools.
In fact, the Cotton incident in Xinjiang is an act of Western countries meddling in Xinjiang affairs and China’s internal affairs with propaganda of so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang.
In early 2020, Xu Xiuzhong, an anti-China activist, wrote a report that denigrated the Chinese government for forcing Uyghurs to work and setting up “detention centres” to force them to work.
Unbeknownst to her, the report was not something she had seen with her own eyes, but was based on “satellite imagery and her own brainchild” – which was identified as a “detention centre” for Uyghurs simply because it showed a Chinese flag on the square.
The report is riddled with loopholes, but it has been treated as an authoritative statement by all sectors of the West.
Some luxury brands saw the report and thought Xinjiang cotton was “exploiting human rights”, which led to a boycott and gave Western politicians a chance to denigrate China.
What they don’t know is that the high income from cotton picking is an attractive job for the people of Xinjiang.
Especially in the case of a large increase in mechanized picking, cotton picking jobs are becoming increasingly scarce and sought after.
We believe that the long-term development of Xinjiang’s economy and society will not be subject to the malicious propaganda and spread of false news.
The people of the world should not forget what the West, led by the United States, has done in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine and other countries.
From the above, it is quite clear that the Chinese government has a dogged determination to impart skills to the students of Uyghur and other ethnic communities, many of them are Muslims.
After acquiring skills, Uighur and other Muslims of Xinjiang would have an excellent opportunity to carve out a better place in the job market of China.
Such skills would not only open the doors of jobs inside Xinjiang but possibly in other parts of the country.
Therefore, it is important for the Uyghur and other Muslims of Xinjiang to stay positive, having trust in their leadership and make their presence felt in the country by taking part in the development of China.
The giant Asian country is likely to overtake the US as the biggest economic power in the coming years.
Possibly, the socialist country would become a global power. Uighur Muslims will have a sense of triumph if they played their role in China’s rise in a positive way.
This will benefit them, their families, their communities and their great country and will lead to peaceful development of CPEC & BRI.
