Muhammad Zamir Assadi

China has out rightly condemned and rejected the malicious acts of U.S administration regarding the so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019” passed by U.S. House of Representatives.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reacted in detail by stating that “I’ve heard that some of the U.S. lawmakers do not even have passports.

They haven’t been to China, let alone to China’s Xinjiang. How can they speak for the 1.4 billion Chinese people or the 25 million people in Xinjiang? And yet they are making unwarranted allegations and false comments on Xinjiang. How arrogant!”

Hua said that Xinjiang-related issues are by no means about human rights, ethnicity or religion, but about the fight against separatism and violent terrorism.

Since the 1990s, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks, elements of terrorism, separatism and extremism forces launched several thousand violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, causing massive casualties as well as property loss, she said, noting that in the “July 5” incident in 2009 alone, 197 people were killed and more than 1,700 injured.

“On the basis of borrowing international counter-terrorism experience, China started vocational education and training in Xinjiang, which is a step answering the call of the UN Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism,” Hua said.

The measures taken in Xinjiang are useful exploration of the UN action plan, she said. “The security situation there has significantly improved, with not a single terror attack for three years.”

The preventive counter-terrorism and deradicalization efforts have not only gained the support of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, but also received international recognition.

“The U.S. should also recognize and learn from China’s effective measures, not discrediting them,” Hua said.

Besides, U.S. politicians are talking about “conscience” with China on ethnic minorities. “What ignorance, what brazenness, what hypocrisy!” Hua said.

“Have they forgotten? The two-century long American history is tainted with the blood and tears of native Indians, who were originally masters of the continent.”

She said that starting from the 19th century, the U.S. army occupied millions of square kilometers of land and grabbed countless natural resources by expelling and slaughtering native Indians through the Westward Expansion.

Apart from that, the U.S. also conducted forced assimilation of native Americans, killing, expelling and persecuting them and denying them their due civil rights.

“Today, they only account for 2.09 percent of the total U.S. population. They are facing numerous difficulties, including backward infrastructure in reservations, shortage of water and electricity, lack of Internet access, unemployment, poverty, diseases and poor living conditions. In front of all these shocking facts, can the U.S. politicians feign ignorance? Where is their conscience?”

China Summoned U.S envoy

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang summoned William Klein, acting deputy chief of the Mission of the U.S. Embassy in China, to lodge stern representation and strong protest against the passing of a Xinjiang-related bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Qin said China strongly urges the U.S. side to immediately correct its mistakes, abandon double standards on anti-terrorism issues, prevent the bill from becoming law and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs by using Xinjiang-related issues.

“China will respond further according to the development of the situation,” said Qin.

He said Xinjiang is a part of China, and Xinjiang-related affairs are purely China’s internal affairs, which brook no foreign interference.

Qin said China’s counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang according to the law were distorted as human rights violations in the so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019.”

The move of the U.S. side disregarded facts, reversed right and wrong, violated conscience and practiced double standards on counter-terrorism issues, he said, noting the U.S. actions seriously violated international law and basic principles of international relations, and grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs.

 Qin said China’s determination to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests is unwavering. Any attempt to sour China’s ethnic relations, undermine Xinjiang’s prosperity and stability and contain China’s development is doomed to fail.

China’s anti-terrorism office

Liu Yuejin, head of China’s national anti-terrorism leading group office have expressed strong indignation over and firm opposition to the U.S. House of Representatives’ passing of a Xinjiang-related bill.

The so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019” disregarded facts and made false accusations against the Chinese government’s Xinjiang policies, its measures to fight terrorism and maintain stability, and the human rights condition in Xinjiang, said Liu Yuejin.

“The bill fully exposes the United States’ double standards on counter-terrorism and its intention of interfering in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of human rights,” he noted.

For some time, the “East Turkistan” forces at home and abroad planned, organized, and carried out separatist activities and violent terrorist activities in Xinjiang, launching thousands of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, killing large numbers of innocent people and hundreds of police officers, and causing immeasurable property loss.

In the face of these threats, China has taken resolute action to fight terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law, effectively curbing the frequent occurrences of terrorist activities and ensuring the rights to subsistence and development and

other basic rights of the people, said Liu, noting that Xinjiang has not witnessed any violent terrorist incidents in the past three years.

The Chinese government has always adhered to a law-based approach in combatting terrorism and insisted in combining fighting terrorism according to law with protecting human rights, according to the official.

“China opposes linking terrorism and extremism with specific countries, ethnic groups or religions. It opposes double standards on fighting terrorism,” he said.

The country advocates comprehensive measures to address both the symptoms and the root causes, with the dual purposes of striking at terrorist activities and eliminating grounds for terrorism to breed, Liu said.

China supports more pragmatic international cooperation in the fight against terrorism on the basis of mutual respect and consultation on equal footing.

Liu stressed that the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism are still grim and there is still a long way to go to combat terrorism and extremism.

“Only by abandoning double standards, enhancing political mutual trust, building up strategic consensus and promoting cooperation and exchange can we more effectively curb and combat terrorism and extremism and maintain world peace,” Liu said.

China Islamic Association

The China Islamic Association on Thursday expressed strong indignation over and firm opposition to the passage of a Xinjiang-related bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019,” which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday local time, has ignored facts, smeared and groundlessly criticized the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Chinese government’s Xinjiang policies, according to a statement issued by the association.

Freedom of religious belief has been guaranteed in Xinjiang and the fine traditional cultures of ethnic minorities have been protected and carried forward since New China was founded in 1949, the association said in the statement.

With a population of over 25 million, Xinjiang has 56 ethnic groups including Uygur, Han, Kazak, Hui and Mongolian, with the co-existence of various religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity, wrote the statement.

Islam is widely followed by people of 10 ethnic minorities including the Uygurs, Kazaks and Hui, with 24,400 mosques across the region and 29,000 Islamic clerics such as imams, showed the statement, adding that various efforts have been made by the regional government to ensure the freedom of religious belief of Muslims.

Since 1996, the regional government has arranged chartered flights to help local Muslims of different ethnicities complete their pilgrimages and provided quality services for their leaving or entering of the country, medical care and dining.

Each year during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, Muslims in the region have the complete right to choose to fast or not without any intervention and local governments of different levels work to ensure market supply for festivals such as Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, and security of religious events, said the statement.

The regional Islamic association has actively organized events to interpret or preach religious texts of Islam, translate the Koran and other Islamic religious works into languages of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, compile and publish reading materials of religious knowledge, launch websites in the ethnic language of Uygur and journals for local Muslims, and make efforts to run the China Islamic Institute’s class for Xinjiang students and the Xinjiang Islamic Institute.

The association also said that the Islamic circle in Xinjiang has been actively supporting the regional authorities’ de-radicalization efforts, with many patriotic religious leaders interpreting Islamic doctrines for those influenced by religious extremism.

“We urge the United States to respect facts and stop using religious or human rights issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs and hurt the feelings of Chinese people,” it said.

China Foundation for Human Rights Development

The China Foundation for Human Rights Development Thursday strongly condemned and resolutely opposed the passage of a Xinjiang-related bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Disregarding the fact that basic human rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are well-protected, the so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019” distorted and smeared Xinjiang’s counterterrorism and deradicalization efforts, the foundation said in a statement. “It is a gross interference in China’s internal affairs and 1.4 billion Chinese people will never accept it.”

China’s Academic Organization of Human Rights

The China Society for Human Rights Studies Thursday expressed firm opposition to and strong condemnation of the passage of a Xinjiang-related bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

In total disregard of facts and China’s stern representations and resolute oppositions, the U.S. House of Representatives flagrantly approved the so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019,” grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs and exposing the mindset of hegemony and the logic of power politics of the United States.

Xinjiang Government

A spokesperson for the government of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said the recent hyping of fake news by some foreign media and organizations regarding the so-called “leaked documents” on Xinjiang is in disregard of the facts and absolutely unacceptable.

The spokesperson issued a statement on the regional official Tianshan website refuting recent reports by some foreign media and organizations, in which they hyped the so-called “internal documents” about Xinjiang and slandered anti-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts in the region.

The spokesperson said this kind of disregard for the facts and denigration of the arduous efforts made by people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang to achieve long-term social stability should never be accepted.

Established in accordance with the law, Xinjiang’s vocational education and training centers are not “concentration camps.” With no restriction or deprivation of personal freedom, the rights of the students in the centers are fully protected in accordance with the law, according to the spokesperson.

There have been no cases of violence or terrorism in Xinjiang for three years, showing the positive economic development, social stability, national unity and religious harmony in the region, said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said since the end of last year, more than 1,000 people from over 90 countries and regions had visited the centers, and media from home and abroad have also reported on the reality of the situation.

It has been widely acknowledged that Xinjiang’s education and training centers fully conform to the purposes and principles of the United Nations in preventing and combating terrorism and safeguarding basic human rights, and are worthy of full recognition and study, according to the spokesperson.

China is a country under the rule of law and has a complete judicial process, the spokesperson said, adding that the judicial organs of Xinjiang act in strict accordance with laws and regulations. They deal with persons suspected of breaking the law and committing crimes according to the nature and circumstances of their illegal acts.

The Chinese government protects the lawful rights of foreign nationals in China and no people other than Chinese nationals has received training at the centers. The freedoms of communication and privacy of Chinese citizens are protected by law and there is no monitoring or restricting of communications in the region, according to the spokesperson.

Practice has proved that the fight against terrorism in accordance with the law has met the ardent expectations of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, has strongly safeguarded overall social harmony and stability, and significantly increased the people’s sense of gain, happiness and security, according to the spokesperson.“We will continue to effectively run our own affairs and develop Xinjiang, and will work hard to promote social stability and lasting peace in the region,” the spokesperson said.

Xinjiang Islamic Association

The Xinjiang Islamic Association voiced firm opposition to the approval of a Xinjiang-related bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.As an association representing more than 10 million Muslims, including the Uygur ethnic group in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang Islamic Association expressed its firm opposition and strong condemnation against the so-called “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019,” which has distorted and discredited the human rights of Muslims in Xinjiang.The association also warned those who call white black under the guise of human rights and religion. “It is we Xinjiang Muslims ourselves who have the say for our own human rights.”