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Foreign diplomats praise China policy on Xinjiang


Published : 08 Apr 2021 08:58 PM

After a four-day visit to China’s Xinjiang region, foreign diplomats from 21 countries have concluded that Muslim residents there are not encountering any inhibitions towards freedom of religion.

The 30 diplomats visited Nazarbagh town of Kashgar and interacted with locals from different classes of society. They shared favourable views on China's policies directed at the socioeconomic development of the region. 

The places of visit by the envoys, including those from Iran, Malaysia, Azerbaijan and Nepal, also included schools, enterprises and mosques in the region.

Their irrefutable conclusion is that the mainstream Western narrative on Xinjiang stands discredited.

Analysts say that after the observation of the diplomats, critics and rumour-mongers about China's policy in the region should cease all the wild accusations and fabrications. 

Vladimir Norov, the secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and a member of the delegation, was amazed at how staple products significantly boosted the region's development. According to China's official statistics, Xinjiang's GDP between 2014 and 2019 grew from 919.59 billion yuan (about $140 billion) to 1.36 trillion yuan and averaged an annual growth rate of 7.2 percent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During the diplomats’ visits to rural water supply stations in Payzawat county, the chairman of the regional government, Shohrat Zakir, said Xinjiang had transformed significantly in the last four years in the absence of terrorist incidents. 

His claim is a testament to the Chinese government's and Xinjiang residents' commitment to fighting terrorism that has wrought massive damage on the population and the region's socioeconomic development.

The envoys also came to a mutual understanding that vocational training and education provided new avenues of livelihood for the people of Xinjiang, contributing towards peace and development in the process. 

Charge d'Affaires ad-interim of the Russian Embassy in China, Ivan Zhelokhovtsev said he did not witness any of the issues, such as mass torture or suppression of the population that Western media had peddled during his stay. 

Instead, textile enterprises in prefectures such as Aksu employing modern machinery to increase productivity and contribute to the local population's livelihoods were the common sight.

Analysts say the truth is that only through respectful bilateral cooperation can a deeper understanding of regional dynamics and respect for other state's narratives on issues be materialised.