Mahmut Dawut, Villager of Yiwu County, Hami City

My name is Mahmut Dawut. I am a Kazakh born in Yiwu, Hami. Recently I learned that the former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a so-called statement “condemning atrocities in Xinjiang”. Shocked and indignant as I am, I want to refute his despicable lies with some of my own experiences.

A few years ago, with a meager income from my wife’s salary and my part-time job, the 5-people family of mine could hardly make ends meet and was thus identified as a poor household in my village. Supported by the preferential poverty-alleviation policies of the Communist Party and government in recent years, my family received dividends on time each year from a government-subsidized program of breeding livestock. The government also helped us build a standardized 80-square-meter covered pen so that our livestock could live through extreme weathers in winter. In 2020, with a poverty-alleviation microcredit of 30 thousand yuan supported by the village committee, I purchased cattle and sheep and started breeding livestock. Now my family income increases year by year. The government also offers an annual subsidy for his tuition and living expenses since my son was admitted to college, largely easing our family burden. Hospitalized twice in Hami for lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion and disease of prostate in 2019, I was compensated for 90% of the medical expenses. Thanks to the preferential policies of our government, I am now in good health.

I can not find a single shred of truth in Pompeo’s hideous statement. We create our own wealth and happy lives with our hard work and you call this “forced labor?” We bore three children out of our own will, so where does your alleged “forced birth control” come from? With asphalted village road, travelling becomes much easier. Information can be acquired anytime via TV, smart phones and computers found in each household. Isn’t this freedom of mobility and speech?

I am beyond indignation for Mr. Pompeo’s shameless lies, which are entirely unfounded and deviating from the truth. As the former US Secretary of State, why is Pompeo so insincerely concerned about us? In fact, Pompeo’s genuine intention has long been exposed to the world. I would like to advise Liar Pompeo not to stir up troubles again, because all your sinister schemes shall finally fall flat.