Ghayrat Tilwaldi, Deputy Secretary of the Working Committee of the Communist Party Committee, Aksu Prefecture

The so-called “determination” declared by Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State, which ignored the facts and deliberately smeared the good situation in Xinjiang and the happy life of the people of all ethnic groups, is a gross interference in China’s internal affairs and once again exposes the ugly face and sinister intentions of U.S. hegemony. In this regard, as a Uyghur cadre and member of Communist Party who has personally experienced the great changes in Xinjiang’s reform and development, I have no hesitation to stand up and firmly oppose and condemn it.

As an ethnic minority cader and Party member born and raised in Xinjiang, I have always been in the big multi-ethnic family of Xinjiang, where we work and live together like brothers and sisters and are united closely as seeds of a pomegranate. I graduated from Xinjiang University in 1989, took up my job in 1990, and gradually grew up to be a leading cadre. My son and daughter have lived, studied, grown up and received formal education with children of other ethnic groups since childhood. Now my son has graduated from Peking University and is working in a well-known law firm in Beijing, and my daughter is attending the second regional high school. Two generations of our family have grown up under the care of the Party, and we owe everything to the good policies of the Party and the country.

Xinjiang has always implemented the system of ethnic regional autonomy, which provides a strong institutional guarantee for all ethnic groups of Xinjiang to exercise their right of autonomy, administer their own local affairs, participate as equals in administering state affairs. The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang firmly support the Communist Party of China and are full of confidence in creating a better life. Xinjiang’s development and human rights cannot be maliciously fabricated or invented by anyone, and should be judged by the people of Xinjiang, and by the reality of Xinjiang’s economic and social development.

Pompeo’s false claim that Xinjiang “suppresses religious freedom” and “deprives ethnic minority citizens of the right to practice their religion” is purely a reversal of right and wrong and a bunch of nonsense, which absolutely does not exist. In Xinjiang, the freedom of religious belief of all ethnic groups is fully respected and protected, and the choice of religion or non-religion is entirely up to the citizens themselves. Religious citizens enjoy the same political, economic, cultural and other rights as non-religious citizens. As a team leader who is taking part in the campaign of officials stationed to villages for household visits, livelihood benefit and heart convergence, I have a say in this regard. In my village, the Uyghur people are fully respected and protected in terms of religious beliefs, food, marriage, funeral, costumes and festivals, etc. The farmers and religious people, who have been deeply affected by extremist religious ideas, firmly support the Party’s national and religious policies, consciously resist extremist religious ideas and illegal religious practices, and do not give any support to the “three forces” .

The false accusation that “China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang” is a completely false allegation and a malicious farce fabricated and hyped up by Pompeo. In my village, in terms of population development, the birth rate and growth rate of the Uyghur population have been much higher than those of the Han Chinese in recent years. In terms of livelihood protection, infrastructure construction has been continuously improved. Every household is connected to water, electricity and roads; the living environment has undergone great changes; 12-year compulsory education is fully implemented, ensuring that every child can go to school and can afford to go to school; medical insurance, pension insurance, agricultural subsidies, free medical checkups and other policies for the benefit of the people are all in place. In terms of increasing employment and income, through the introduction of enterprises, economic development, outward transfer, and the establishment of public welfare posts, the income of the farmers has been increasing. By 2020, all the poor households in my village have been lifted out of poverty, and the “two worries and three guarantees” have been fully realized. The happiness index of farmers has been continuously improved, and their confidence in pursuing a better life has been more abundant.

Lies cannot replace truth, and justice will prevail. Pompeo’s so-called “determination” is full of fallacies, obviously exposing his sinister intentions to undermine the stable development of Xinjiang, smear China’s image and hinder the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. But Pompeo, no matter how much he performs, is only a weak and feeble last struggle, destined to be a fantasy. The development and progress of Xinjiang cannot be stopped by any force, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be stopped by any force, and any attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs is doomed to fail!