By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Beijing, Oct. 24(CED) — According to media reports, on October 6, the United States and other Western countries initiated a draft resolution on human rights issues in Xinjiang at the UN Human Rights Council, but the draft was not adopted. This was the second time in 16 years that the Council has failed to pass a draft resolution.

This shows that Xinjiang’s economy has developed rapidly, the human rights situation has been greatly improved, the people’s living standards have been continuously improved, and the fact that Xinjiang people are living a happy life has gradually been accepted by more and more people. The US and other Western countries’ tactics of using the human rights issue to launch a new “cold war” against China have been rejected by more and more countries, and more and more countries are unwilling to see a new “cold war” between the two major powers.

The United States and a number of other Western countries have proposed a draft resolution to call for a debate on Xinjiang at the Human Rights Council next March. Of the 47 member states that participated in the vote, 17 voted in favor, 19 countries including Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates voted against it, and 11 abstained, thus the draft resolution was not adopted.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on its official website that night, saying that the eyes of the international community are bright. Xinjiang-related issues are not that of human rights at all, but issues concerning countering terrorism, de-radicalization and separatism.

The issues concerning terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism have been resolved, and the human rights situation in Xinjiang has been substantially improved. The happiness index of the Xinjiang People has greatly improved.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet previously visited Xinjiang, the first in 17 years. Her Xinjiang Human Rights Report is not an examination of the human rights situation in Xinjiang, but rather a strengthening of dialogue and exchanges.

Bachelet praised Xinjiang’s achievements in extreme poverty eradication and prosperity. However, instead of receiving attention from the Western media, her positive comments have been criticized for not criticizing Xinjiang enough.

As a result, on August 31, Bachelet released an announcement stating that the report on Xinjiang would be  delayed for nearly a year, at the last minute of her term, saying that Beijing had committed “serious human rights violations” against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and “may amount to international crimes, especially crimes against humanity.” This change makes people think that there might be something unspeakable behind it.

Bachelet’s words and deeds remind me of the words and deeds of some UN inspectors before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, they almost all echoed the tone of the United States. Only Swedish inspector Hans Blix, former head of the UN nuclear verification team. Blix has always insisted that Iraq has not been found to possess weapons of mass destruction and that the United Nations has not authorized the United States to invade Iraq. It also turned out afterwards that Hans Blix was an honest verification team leader. Only he told the truth.

In fact, through the reporter’s interview experiences from three visits to Xinjiang from 2018 to 2019, Xinjiang should be considered to have set a good example for the world in counter-terrorism, de-radicalization and crime fighting. Xinjiang’s economic support and strengthening of education and training have enabled Xinjiang to develop greatly in all aspects.

A spokesman for the Xinjiang Information Office pointed out that there have been no more terrorist attacks in Xinjiang since 2017, and the public security situation has been greatly improved, and even petty theft has disappeared. Xinjiang people are really happy about the security situation. The fear for violence has gone.

It is understood that since the 1990s, there have been rumors that ETIM wanted to establish “East Turkistan” in Xinjiang. Terrorist attacks in southern Xinjiang occured from time to time. However, at that time, China mainly concentrated on the economic development of the southeast coastal region, and the situation in the frontier was beyond its reach.

With the continuous rise of international terrorism, the international situation has also changed because of the US attacks on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the attacks on Afghanistan which likely triggered the 9.11 terrorist attacks(whatever it should be condemned), which led to the US invasion of Iraq and other events, and an Islamic force had emerged, as the saying goes, brainwashed outlaws, who did not hesitate to harm civilians and harm the innocent for their own narrow thinking.

At the same time, such a force has coincidentally emerged in Xinjiang, incited by foreign forces, to carry out various terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, attacking the Grand Bazaar, attacking civilians, attacking the police (hundreds of public security policemen lost their lives as a result), and committing illegal and criminal acts for many times. Such vicious incidents have been reported in the international media, such as the terrorist incident near Tiananmen Square, the terrorist incident at the Kunming railway station and so on, and the terrorist acts spread from Xinjiang to the interior.

                               Education and Training

After in-depth investigation, China’s counter-terrorism agencies have found that terrorist acts in Xinjiang are related to various factors such as the underdeveloped local economy, underdeveloped education, language barriers, and weak legal concepts, and people are easily brainwashed by terrorist ideas and thus embark on the wrong road or even the road of crime.

During interviews in Xinjiang, your reporter learned from chatting with Uyghur friends that before 2017, there was a period of time when many parents began to refuse their children to attend free schools established by the government, but instead listened to the demagoguery of false imams. Textbooks in some parts of Xinjiang have also been altered to encourage children to take suicidal adventures. This kind of thinking has corrupted the minds and hearts of young people, leading some young people to participate in violent terrorist incidents and serve as cannon fodder. Not everyone is a terrorist, but, under the influence of Islamic extremism, people have begun to have hatred thoughts and become lazy, and the social atmosphere has been polluted.

Under these circumstances, the people of Xinjiang have endured an unbearable deterioration in social order. After investigation and analysis, the Chinese government has decided to take resolute measures to counter violence and terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism.

Legal punishment were imposed on those directly involved in terrorism. After the terror subsided, education was taken to educate those with radical ideas. That was to establish education and training centers and persuade these people to study there free of charge. The content of the staying were mainly Chinese language, laws and regulations, labor skills, and free food and accommodation. Many parents actively supported their children to go to school.

In the learning process, people took a targeted approach. For example, Yusuf is an acrobatic teacher, he was transferred to train children. Many children usually did not want to go to school, but through the practice of acrobatics, children were willing to go to school to learn acrobatics while learning other knowledge.

I have to say that Xinjiang people are very smart. Many people have learned certain skills through study, for example, haircuts, Xinjiang people are very beautiful, being able to open a hair salon is definitely a good job, and some people learn to repair cars, repair computers and so on.

At an online seminar, a student said that through learning, he later opened his own company and became the owner of a computer company.

In Xinjiang, it was said that through a multi-pronged approach, with strong central investment and support from 19 fraternal provinces and municipalities, Xinjiang’s infrastructure has been greatly improved. On the way to Altay, your reporter found a rugged winding road that would not have been possible without the heavy investment of the central government supported by the Communist Party of China. Xinjiang’s airports cover the whole of Xinjiang, and high-speed railways and subways have also been built. Now traveling in Xinjiang, you can enjoy the widest roads, and there are few traffic jams. The vast expanse of Xinjiang is also an important base for new energy development, and solar and wind energy is blooming everywhere.

Xinjiang’s economic development has enabled the people of Xinjiang to live a good life and increase their income, which is an important aspect of improving the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

After the United States and other Western countries failed to grasp the handle in this regard, they made a fuss about the issue of family planning, accusing China of “genocide” in Xinjiang. Where does this begin? A region, if it is genocide, must be depopulated. However, the opposite is true in Xinjiang, where the population has reached more than 25 million. The Uyghur population has reached more than 12 million. That’s more than five times that of 2.2 million at the time of liberation in early 1950s.

In fact, not only in Xinjiang, but also in all ethnic minority areas, China’s family planning policy is relaxed, and ethnic minorities have always enjoyed the two-children policy, and now enjoy the three-children policy like everyone else. Some families may have more children. Therefore, it is untenable to talk about genocide in Xinjiang.

When your reporter visited northern Xinjiang in 2018, she saw that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, especially farmers and herdsmen, have their own land or cattle and sheep, have their own businesses, farmhouses, or work, and also enjoy state subsidies, and people’s lives have been greatly improved.

Western NGOs accuse Xinjiang of forced labor, which is an unfounded accusation. First of all, most of Xinjiang’s cotton is picked by machine. A small part of the harvest is harvested by hand, and it is also paid, which is a normal employment relationship, and there is no forced labor. In China, people believe in earning their income and dignity through labor. People are willing to buy and sell through a market economy, and there is no coercion.

The United States and other Western countries have smeared Xinjiang from time to time, making people suspect that their motive is not to want Xinjiang to be harmonious, stable and developing, but to use the Xinjiang issue to split China and the relations between ethnic minorities and Han Chinese. However, there is a saying in Xinjiang that says very well, all ethnic groups in Xinjiang should hold each other tightly like pomegranate seeds. Ethnic unity is the lifeline of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang used to give people the impression of being very hard, but Xinjiang people are actually very fashionable. Not only do they look good, but they also love to wear beautifully. The men and women in Xinjiang are very good-looking, handsome and enjoy the diversity of ethnic groups.

In order to achieve balanced development, Xinjiang has adopted pairing measures to get urban people to help rural people.

Abliz, an editor from Xinjiang radio station, had a “relative” in the Atush region, and he went to the countryside twice a year to see her, to send money and goods, and to help her in many ways.

Xinjiang, like most other parts of China, is in a development phase. Xinjiang also began to develop gradually after the implementation of the policy for the large-scale development of the western region in 2000. Moreover, from 2000 to 2017, the people of Xinjiang were threatened and disrupted by terrorist incidents. However, since 2017, social security has been stable, social atmosphere is good, and people’s sense of happiness has greatly improved, because peace and stability can make people feel the happiness. Without a sense of security, or rather living in a turmoil situation, there will be no sense of happiness at all.

Xinjiang is in a new stage of development, and it is not proper that say that it is already perfect; people’s wages are still much lower than those in the eastern region, but compared with Xinjiang in the past, there has been great progress. Moreover, prices in Xinjiang are much cheaper than in the eastern region, so life is still led on surplus.

With regard to the human rights situation in Xinjiang, we should look at it comprehensively and historically, and not blind ourselves to the facts and ignore the facts.

At the just concluded 20th National Congress of the CPC, Zhang Chunlin, Director of the public informaiton sector of Xinjiang Uygor Autonomous Region said currently Xinjiang people enjoy a peaceful, stable, harmonious and happy life.

The unity of all the the ethnic groups in Xinjiang is the lifeline of Xinjiang and Zhang Chunlin even called on investors to invest in Xinjiang because he believed that to invest in Xinjiang means to invest for the future because Xinjiang is rich in natural resources and human capital.

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By Chinaeuropenet

Xuefei Chen Axelsson is an independent media person. She has been a journalist for 30 years. She studied English, International politics, and sustainable development. She has been to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and America, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and all the nordic countries including Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Britain. She is good at talking with all kinds of people and exchange ideas and serves as a bridge between China and the world.

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