Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin Photo: mfa.gov.cn

 
Certain countries are obsessed with spreading rumors of the so-called ethnic genocide and forced labor in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, while turning a blind eye to the current humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, which fully exposes their hypocritical double standards, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on a Friday press conference.

More and more foreign friends have visited Xinjiang, sharing their authentic experiences, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin when asked to comment on the remarks of Moiz Farooq, an executive editor of Daily Ittehad Media Group, who visited the Xinjiang region as a member of the Pakistani media think tank delegation in December 2023.

Farooq said in an interview that he saw the happy and fulfilling lives of the Muslim population in the Xinjiang region. "I saw Muslims there who were free to enjoy and practice their religion," said Farooq as quoted by Al Jazeera. "It is the agenda of the West to show the worst of Xinjiang and I now know that the stories are not true because I have seen how happily they are living." 

According to Wang, there have been over 4,300 foreign guests from countries and international organizations, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Egypt, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation who visited the Xinjiang region in 2023.

The foreign guests included government officials, religious figures, experts and scholars, media reporters, and ordinary people, Wang said. They listened to religious personnel preaching in mosques and Islamic seminaries, saw the protection and inheritance of the Xinjiang region's culture in the streets and alleys, learned about the region's production and development in factories and fields, and witnessed the happy lives of people of all ethnic groups in ordinary households.

Not just Farooq, Wang said other delegates such as guests from Japan and France also expressed their witness of peaceful and harmonious life of the local people, pointing out the claim of the so-called genocide of religion, language and culture, as well as forced labor were nonsense.

Wang emphasized that seeing is believing and the door of the Xinjiang region is always open. "China sincerely welcomes more friends from all countries to visit the Xinjiang region in person, to personally experience the beauty, harmony, prosperity, and stability of the region," Wang said.

In late December, Global Times reporters paid a visit to the Xinjiang region together with 15 representatives from Pakistani media and think tanks. The journalists and scholars told the Global Times that one of the most impressive aspects for them during a five-day on-site visit was the development of Muslims in the Xinjiang region and the religious freedom they enjoy. They called for more people who have misunderstandings about Xinjiang to visit the region.