Two years ago, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on China over alleged human rights violations against the Uygurs, the majority ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
It was the latest in a series of escalating moves against Beijing that began on January 19, 2020, when the then US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, on his last day in office, declared that China was committing "ongoing" genocide against the Uygurs.
Pompeo offered no evidence. It was reported in Foreign Policy magazine that the State Department’s lawyers had found "insufficient evidence to prove genocide." When the Canadian parliament subsequently passed a motion declaring genocide in Xinjiang, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abstained, calling the term "extremely loaded".
China then retaliated in kind, launching sanctions against European lawmakers and accusing the West of hypocrisy and spreading lies.
What we do not read about in the West is that terrorism is spiraling out of control in Xinjiang and remains a serious threat today.
Uygur fighters battled with US forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere, with many being wounded, killed, or captured. For years, the US held 22 Uygurs at Guantanamo Bay. As recently as July 2020, the UN identified thousands of Uygur Islamic State fighters in Syria and Afghanistan.
Much like in the post-September 11 war on terror-one in which the US, ironically, had considered China to be a partner-China has been waging its counter-terrorism offensive in Xinjiang. The extremists operate across China’s porous borders and train alongside the Taliban and Islamic State.
Returning to Xinjiang, they hide among the general population, working to convert young people to their radicalism and plotting and carrying out terror attacks.
China's Xinjiang witnessed an increase in prosperity
China’s counterterrorism measures include enhanced security and what China calls "vocational training and education centers." At a news conference in December 2019, Shohrat Zakir, the governor of Xinjiang and a Uygur, said at a news conference that the training involved job skills, Mandarin, law, and deradicalization.
However, China has succeeded in protecting the autonomous region to a greater extent, and they have been concentrating on developing the area so that all people can live happy, prosperous, and secure life.
From 2014 to 2019, overall statistics show that China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen a positive trend in economic development and people's livelihoods have significantly improved.
Development is the crucial foundation for the region's long-term stability, said Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called for efforts to build a socialist Xinjiang with Chinese characteristics in a new era.
Xi demanded law-based governance and long-term efforts to develop Xinjiang into a region that is united, harmonious, prosperous, and culturally advanced, with healthy ecosystems and people living and working in contentment.
The need to fully implement the CPC's policies and strategies on governing Xinjiang, which include governing by the law and maintaining stability in the region through ethnic solidarity, has been very important for the central government.
Xinjiang has made great achievements in its social and economic development, and different groups of people in the region are experiencing a stronger sense of achievement, happiness, and security as their livelihoods have significantly improved.
Since the last central symposium on Xinjiang-related work, China has increased its support for the region, both from the central government and other regions, in areas such as economic development, employment, education, healthcare, and others.
Xinjiang's gross domestic product (GDP) has increased from less than 147 billion dollars in 2014 to more than 205 billion dollars in 2019, with an average yearly increase of 7.2 percent.
In mid-September 2019, China released a white paper titled "Employment and Labor Rights in Xinjiang," which said that through proactive labor and employment policies, Xinjiang has continuously improved people's lives and guaranteed and developed their human rights in every field.
The Chinese president said that poverty eradication in Xinjiang had seen remarkable achievements, as, by 2019, almost three million people had been lifted out of poverty in the region, roughly one-seventh of its population.
The need to systematically carry out prevention and control work of the pandemic and social and economic development in Xinjiang, with a focus on poverty eradication and employment facilitation, was the priority of the central government, which wanted the region to develop at a faster rate.
The mechanism for assistance and preventing a return to poverty needs to be improved, while development vitality has to be strengthened to ensure sustainable development after poverty eradication.
All these facts have proved that China's ethnic work has turned out to be a success regarding the overall improvement of Xinjiang's development and people's livelihoods, noting that the success is due to the combined results of the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the concerted efforts of the Chinese people.
Credit: Austin Thomas, 2022.
Urumqi Uyghur city skyline developing - Xinjiang, China
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