Habdula Jiahaya, a villager of Shirenzi Village in Shirenzi Town, Barkol Kazak Autonomous County, Hami Prefecture

Recently I read from the news that Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State, made a series of false remarks that “China is committing the crimes against humanity and genocide towards Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang”. This is total nonsense and a vicious lie in smearing and defaming Xinjiang.

I am Habdula Jiahaya, a villager of Shirenzi Village in Shirenzi Town, Barkol Kazak Autonomous County, Hami Prefecture. My family used to have a quite difficult life. In the past few years, government and village committee helped to arrange me to be the sanitary cleaner in the village and to give me and my wife many part-time jobs such as picking up vegetables in the village cooperative, which pays over 200 RMB for one day. Later, I was also assigned the border guard post in the village and for this job I could earn over 2000 RMB for each month plus food subsidy. In the spare time, I often took part-time jobs to earn more income. In October last year, the village committee helped me to enroll in a training program for driving heavy machines in December, I successfully passed the test and obtained the qualification certificate. With the policies from the party and the government, the tuition fee in the training program was offered by the village committee, so I didn’t have to pay it. Now I have this driving technique so that I can find jobs with better salaries. In the past years, the CPC committee in the village and town helped and supported my family a great deal, and especially each year they came to my house to give us rice, noodles, food oil and other articles. When the secretary of the CPC committee in the town knew that I was difficult in economy, he bought many household facilities for me that cost over 6000 RMB form his own income, and helped to solve difficulties in life, making me feel the warmth of a brother all the time.

Now, with the excellent policies from the party and government, I have a house that can resist earthquake to some extent, my children go to school for free and receive compulsory education and they also have free lunch. I do not have to go far away to look for jobs. With the job I have, I also raise sheep and cattle, and there is no need to worry about food, clothes and living at all.

However, such excellent measures and policies in Xinjiang, in Pompeo’s words, became “forced labor” and “restricting freedom”. What a vicious smearing! What a sheer nonsense! As a Chinese citizen whose family living here for centuries and as a person who has been witnessing the earth-shaking changes happening here in Xinjiang, I want to say to Pompeo: pleas shut up! Do not defame Xinjiang’s policies again! My own experience is the best proof to refute your evil and vicious lie!