On December 3 local time, the House of Representatives, the lower house of the United States Congress, passed the "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act", attacking the human rights situation in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China and distorting China's fight against extremism and terrorism.

This is yet another case of interference after the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act", all of which are unwarranted interventions to obstruct China's peaceful development.

It is a common practice for U.S. politicians to attack China's ethnic policies in regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet Autonomous Region. They have no idea of what is really happening in these places but still intervene just for the sake of reprimanding China. Such acts will never produce any good result.

The U.S. Uygur "act" targets the vocational education and training centers set up by the local government in Xinjiang, labeling them internment camps that violate the rights of Uygurs.

Is this true? Since 2018, officials from dozens of countries and international organizations have visited Xinjiang to know how the local people live. They went to these centers to see with their own eyes the situation there and to talk to the residents there. At the end of their trips, they all expressed doubts about the accusations leveled by the U.S. media and politicians.

The problem in Xinjiang is not about human rights but about potential terrorism, which the government is trying to preempt.

The residents of these centers are either people who were incited, coerced or induced into participating in terrorist or extremist activities not serious enough to constitute a crime; or people who participated in terrorist or extremist activities that posed a real danger but did not cause actual harm and who repented; as well as people who were convicted and received prison sentences for terrorist or extremist crimes and after serving their sentences, were assessed as still posing a potential threat to society. The people's courts directed them to receive education at the centers.

According to China's Constitution and the Counter-terrorism Law, they should be given assistance and education and rehabilitated in accordance with the policy of balancing compassion and severity.

In these training centers, teachers help them learn about laws and equip them with skills so that they not only acquire skills to get jobs but also a clear understanding of religious extremism. Once the training is over, they can look for jobs freely. Those who can't get jobs will be assisted by the government.

Some facts need to be set out before readers. On July 5, 2009, religious extremists carried out bombings, killings, arson and looting in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi. Over 190 people died in the violence and nearly 1,700 were injured. On March 1, 2014, religious extremists killed 31 people and injured 141 in the Kunming railway station in southwest China. From 1990 to the end of 2016, separatists, religious extremists and terrorists carried out numerous acts of violence in Xinjiang.

However, in the past three years, there hasn't been a single major terrorist attack. This should be attributed to the efforts to prevent religious extremism in Xinjiang, partly through the vocational education and training centers. Education is helping people once influenced by religious extremists to understand the truth.

Religious extremism is losing ground in Xinjiang and social stability has brought many benefits. In 2018, Xinjiang's GDP reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($170.1 billion), up by 6.1 percent year on year. Local residents' per-capita disposable income hit 21,500 yuan ($3,048), up 7.7 percent over the previous year. Tourism has begun to rebound. From January to October 2019, the tourism revenue was 341.7 billion yuan ($48.45 billion), up by 43.39 percent.

Is the social stability in Xinjiang unsettling for U.S. politicians? Their "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act" sends the wrong signal to terrorists, aiming to once again undermine social stability in Xinjiang.

The Chinese nation knows well that Xinjiang is a culturally diverse region and does not belong to one particular ethnic groups alone. It is part of China.

The stability, harmony and prosperity in Xinjiang has been hard gained, and China will not tolerate any external interference. Xinjiang is, and local affairs are China’s internal affairs, beyond interference by any foreign government or force.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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