Think tank's report exposes Western lies on Xinjiang

A report has been issued by the China Watch Institute, China Daily's think tank, that offers a comprehensive view on how anti-China narratives and a coercive geopolitical agenda were developed through hyping issues related to China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The report, "Things to Know About All the Lies on Xinjiang: How Have They Come About?", which is over 10,000 words long, provides readers with facts including names, statistics, archive material and quotes from a range of reliable sources.

It aims to help readers better understand why and how the fight against terrorism and the remarkable improvements in human rights in Xinjiang came to be misunderstood as "genocide" and "forced labor" in the West.

To help readers better understand why some Western countries, led by the United States, chose Xinjiang as their target, the report provides information from historical archives, as well as evidence and testimony from the officials involved, to shed light on those countries' long record of support and funding for separatist and terrorist groups in the region since the second half of the 20th century.

The report highlights the role played by organizations such as the US-based National Endowment for Democracy in financing, supporting and cooperating with separatists.

Some so-called researchers, such as Adrian Zenz in Germany, have risen to fame rapidly in recent years on the back of ill-founded reports and comments about Xinjiang making headlines. The China Watch report sheds light on how these individuals have engaged in the fabrication and manipulation of facts and how they colluded with a number of influential media outlets such as the BBC.

To debunk the so-called "Xinjiang Victim Database" compiled by anti-China forces, the report gives a detailed analysis on the actual identity of those named to show how the database whitewashed some separatists in exile and how it is mostly a list of nonexistent people, convicted criminals and regular people living normal lives.

Commenting on those peddling such ill-founded "research" and "reports", Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that "they essentially are trying to do everything they can to disrupt Xinjiang and contain China".

"But lies can't cover up the truth. Now, more and more people in the world are speaking out to expose these lies concocted by the West. This routine of making and spreading lies to sling mud at China is doomed to fail," he added.

In a virtual dialogue on April 23 with the US foreign policy think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: "There hasn't been a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang for over four years. People of all ethnic groups now live a safe and happy life. The claims of so-called 'genocide' and 'forced labor' are nothing but lies driven by political motives."

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