The People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

  At present, Xinjiang has entered its best and most prosperous stage in history with social harmony and stability, sustained economic development, and happy, peaceful life for its people. However, good news about Xinjiang only make some people in the United States unhappy and restless. They have kept launching brazen accusations to smear Xinjiang with a series of remarks in disregard of facts and confounding black with white. The U.S. Congress passed the so-called “the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019”, which wantonly attacked Xinjiang for its human rights condition. This constitutes a gross interference in China's domestic affairs and a grave violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and its people of all ethnic groups strongly condemn and resolutely oppose it.

  To resolutely combat violent terrorist activities and curb the spread of extremism is an imperative for Xinjiang to maintain social stability and lasting peace. Since the 1990s, due to the changes of international situation and the global spread of terrorism and extremism, the “Three Evil Forces” (namely, separatist, extremist and terrorist forces), under the ethnic and religious banners and taking advantage of people’s plain ethnic and religious awareness, rampantly spread religious extremism, advocated heresies like “going to heaven through martyrdom” and even instigated violent terrorist attacks. From 1990 to late 2016, the “Three Evil Forces” carried out thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, causing heavy innocent casualties and property loss that defy estimation. The attacks seriously disrupted social order, business order and living order, trampled on the rights to life, health and development of the masses of all ethnic groups, and posed serious threats to the regional economic and social development in Xinjiang. Facing the grave and complex situation, Xinjiang, with social stability and lasting peace as its overarching aim, has attached equal importance to combat and prevention, namely, putting emphasis on both harshly fighting violent terrorist crimes in accordance with law, and addressing the root causes. By further improving people’s living standard, promoting legal publicity and education, establishing vocational education and training centers in accordance with law, Xinjiang has, to the maximum possible degree, saved people involved in terrorist or extremist offenses or crimes, ridded itself of conditions for terrorism and religious extremism to grow, and protected the fundamental human rights of citizens from the harm of terrorism and religious extremism, laying a solid foundation for realizing social stability and lasting peace in Xinjiang.

  Carrying out vocational education and training program in Xinjiang is the right way in the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. In accordance with the Article 4 of the Counter-terrorism Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 17 of the Regulation of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on De-radicalization and other laws and regulations, vocational education and training centers were established in Xinjiang to help people infected with extremism, or committed offences that were not serious enough to constitute a crime, learn, among other subjects, national common language, legal knowledge and vocational skills, with the aim to eradicate terrorism and extremism at its source. The white paper entitled “Vocational Education and Training in Xinjiang”, issued by the Information Office of the State Council, has systematically given a detailed account of the practical significance, legal basis, training content, operation mode and main achievements of the establishment of the centers. The vocational education and training program is an effective measure to prevent terrorism and extremism, not the so-called “ethnic suppression”; it has been carried out strictly in accordance with the law, with nothing like the so-called “illegal detention”; the centers are schools for de-radicalization, rather than so-called “concentration camps”; the program has effectively safeguarded the vital interests of the people of all ethnic groups, and it is by no means “human rights violation”. Since the end of 2018, over 1,000 people in more than 70 groups have visited the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang. Among them are diplomatic envoys to China, UN officials, senior diplomats with delegations to the UN in Geneva, media, representatives of foreign political parties, NGOs and religious organizations. People with vision expressed that the vocational education and training program in Xinjiang fully conforms to the purposes and principles of the United Nations on the preemptive combat against terrorism and the protection of fundamental human rights, which is worthy of full recognition. It turns out to be useful experience and a successful example for the international community to learn from in combating terrorism and eradicating extremism.

  Xinjiang has made remarkable progress in fighting terrorism and eradicating extremism, harvesting more and more “stability dividends”. Through anti-terrorist combat and de-radicalization in accordance with the law, Xinjiang has successfully maintained overall social stability. There have been no cases or incidents of violent terrorist attack for three consecutive years, the spread of extremism has been effectively contained, and public security has been significantly improved. Xinjiang's economy has achieved high-quality development, with its GDP reaching 1,219.908 billion RMB in 2018, up 6.1 percent over the previous year. Revenue of the general public budget was 153.146 billion RMB, an increase of 4.5% over the previous year. The disposable income per capita of urban and rural residents was 21,500 RMB, an increase of 7.6% over the previous year. Tourism, in particular, has seen a boom. From January to October 2019, Xinjiang received 200 million domestic and foreign tourists, up 42.62% year on year. Tourism revenue reached 3.4173278 trillion RMB, up 43.39% year on year. New achievements have been made in boosting employment, education, medical health and social security, and the sense of gain, happiness and security have significantly increased among people of all ethnic groups.

  Xinjiang's stability, peace, prosperity and development have not come easily, and its people of all ethnic groups value the hard-won situation all the more and will never tolerate any foreign interference. No slander can stop the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang from forging ahead in unity; no smear can negate the fact that Xinjiang has made progress in the cause of human rights; no plot can hinder the development and prosperity of Xinjiang. We advise some people in the United States to abandon the cold war mentality, respect facts, stop smearing Xinjiang for their own hidden purposes, and refrain from going further down the road of hegemonism.