Adalet Tayir, Associate Researcher, Institute of Economics, Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences

In the days before he left office, Pompeo, who was rated as the “worst Secretary of State in history” by the Washington Post, engaged in “doomsday madness” and frequently concocted lies on China-related issues such as epidemic prevention and control, the Taiwan Straits, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong in an attempt to turn “legacy” into “heritage” and continue to undermine the Sino-US relations. In particular, on January 19, Pompeo, the “King of Lies”, released another poisonous lie, saying that “Xinjiang’s policies toward Muslims and ethnic minorities constitute ‘crimes against humanity’ and ‘genocide’”. He made a groundless attack, deliberately smeared the Chinese government’s policies governing Xinjiang, grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, and gravely violated international law and basic norms governing international relations. As a Uyghur intellectual living in Xinjiang, I express my strong indignation and firmly oppose Pompeo’s fallacies and lies.

Xinjiang-related issues are not human rights, ethnic or religious issues, but anti-terrorism and anti-separatism issues. Xinjiang was once a victim of extremist and violent terrorist activities. The murderous terrorists killed innocent people in a cruel way, causing serious harm to the life and property safety of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and undermining the overall harmony and stability of the country and the people’s happy life. The vocational education and training centers set up in Xinjiang are vocational education and training schools, which are designed to help people “brainwashed” by terrorism and extremism get rid of the shackles of extreme ideas, enhance their legal awareness, and master the professional and communicative skills needed in their life and work. There is no such thing as “forced labor”.

Last year, during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, I visited the family of Abulikem Abodula, whom I always care about and help. After he came back from the vocational education and training center, in which he learned decoration skills, he has engaged in the decoration work with others in partnership and had a considerable monthly income. His wife, who graduated from middle school, has worked as a nursery nurse since August 2017 due to the favorable national employment policy. Two kids are enrolled in kindergartens and the family is now living a happy life.

I once voluntarily taught in one bilingual kindergarten in south Xinjiang. In the southern Xinjiang, together with kindergartens, primary and secondary schools are all free. The central kindergarten in Langru township where I volunteered to teach offers not only three meals a day, but also snacks in the afternoon. Facilities as well as meals are excellent. Each class has a TV set and a DVD player, so the kids study and live happily.

I am a Uyghur intellectual enjoying the prosperity of our great country, which has done its utmost to protect the right to development of people of all ethnicities. Born in a yard in which different ethnic families lived, such as Uyghur, Han, Kazakh and other ethnic groups in Urumqi, we were as close as one family, playing and studying together. Thanks to the good policies of the Party, I received a good education, not only going to college but being admitted to graduate school. During the postgraduate period, except for me, the other several students in our major were all Han students. Ancient Chinese was my weakness, so I often asked my Han classmates questions and they were willing to help me. Graduated from university, I was assigned to work at Central Asia Research Institute of Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, where there were many talented people. There are venerable seniors who have taught me with their own words and deeds. During this period, I passed the National Foreign Language Proficiency Test with excellent results, obtained the visiting qualifications of the Study Abroad Fund, and spent a year visiting the Moscow State Normal University in Russia. From September 2018 to August 2019, as a chosen scholar in the program for training talents of ethnic minorities in science and technology, I have been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for one year. This is due to the great importance Xinjiang attaches to the education of ethnic minorities and the careful training of ethnic talents.

A thousand lies cannot cover one truth. Thanks to the efforts made by people of all ethnicities, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, sustained development, and people live and work in peace and contentment. Xinjiang, our beautiful hometown, hasn’t had any violent or terrorist case over the past four years or so. Doesn’t Pompeo know that fact? He has spread a large number of fallacies on Xinjiang-related issues with the intention of sowing discord between ethnic groups, undermining stability in Xinjiang, hindering the development and misleading international public opinion. Pompeo’s “doomsday madness” will make people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang even more united and embrace each other like pomegranate seeds. They couldn’t be fooled by Pompeo at all. People of all ethnicities in Xinjiang have united as one and are making unremitting efforts to build a more united, harmonious, prosperous, culturally advanced, stable, and beautiful Xinjiang.