Campaign of Xinjiang slurs continues

Vendors sell melons at the Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, July 5, 2019. [Photo by China Daily]

That so many of the people alleged to be missing in notices posted on social media by Uygur secessionists are simply made up shows how determined the secessionists are to rally public opinion to their cause. 

Dozens of others on their "missing" posts are criminal suspects under investigation or convicted criminals sentenced to prison for crimes related to terrorism. 

With China implementing effective measures to combat secessionism, extremism and terrorism in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Uygur secessionists and their Western backers are trying their best to undermine China's efforts by portraying them as State oppression of Muslims. 

The government's response to their notices detailing the true circumstances of those alleged to be "missing" shows the manipulative and exploitative nature of the campaign aimed at discrediting the government's anti-extremism measures, which includes claims that millions of Uygurs have been herded into internment camps where they are subject to forced disappearance, torture, physical abuse, and prolonged detention without trial. 

By seeking to portray the education and training centers the government has established as concentration camps, the Uygur secessionists and their sponsors are showing how low they are willing to stoop to sully the image of the government's initiative to prevent Uygurs from falling prey to extremist ideology.

They fail to mention that there have been no terrorist attacks in the region since the government launched its initiative. Or that thanks to the government's efforts to improve the region's infrastructure and raise people's living standards, for the first time in history, no Uygur people are living in abject poverty. 

It is under the instigation of the United States that the Uygur secessionist movement that had fallen silent for a while has suddenly found its voice again. The US government is not only sponsoring, in all sorts of ways, most of the Uygur separatist organizations, but also actively offering a host of public relations services, involving think tanks, media and nongovernmental organizations, to help amplify the secessionists' voices.

All the pressure these external forces are trying to exert on China will only serve to consolidate the country's resolve to boost the region's development and maintain its stability, which has been and will continue to be the best counterstrike against the false accusations leveled against the country.