Tourists watch residents of Kashi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region perform. Summer marks the peak tourist season in the region. Photo: Xinhua

China firmly opposes repeated hyping and groundless accusations about the vocational education and training centers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, in response to recent Twitter comments on Xinjiang by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

Pompeo reposted a Tweet from Bob Woodruff, a correspondent for ABC news, on his Twitter account on August 30, in which he said he was "appalled by reports of China's inhuman treatment" of Uyghurs and "the detention of Chinese Muslims."

Woodruff's Tweet said that "One million" Muslim Uyghurs were residing in "detention camps."

"We advise some people in the US to take off colored glasses, abandon the Cold War mentality and stop using Xinjiang issues to throw their weight around or interfere with China's domestic affairs. They should do more things to enhance China-US trust, not the opposite," Geng Shuang, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

Geng also mentioned that China has released a white paper on the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang, which fully introduces the work done at the centers. The white paper said that the centers were established in accordance with laws and aim to save people who have been influenced by terrorism or have even got involved with it and committed minor offences. 

This is not the first time Pompeo has attacked China's Xinjiang policies. In July, he criticized China for mistreating Uyghurs and accused China of pressuring countries not to attend a US-hosted conference on religious freedom, Reuters reported. 

Li Haidong, a professor with the China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times that Pompeo himself is "always thinking of others as the bad people. In the diplomatic fields globally, almost no one likes him. Diplomats are supposed to make as many friends as they can, but Pompeo has done the opposite and offended as many as he can."

People of all ethnic groups are living in harmony and the region has enjoyed good economic development. There have been no violent attacks in Xinjiang for nearly three years and people in Xinjiang give full support to the regional government's anti-terrorism measures, Geng said. 

Diplomats from seven countries, including Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Nigeria paid a visit to Xinjiang and went to the training centers. They gave a positive evaluation of the Chinese government's work in cracking down on terrorism and they thought the successful experience of Xinjiang could be transferred to other places.