Chinese diplomat debunks stigmatization against Xinjiang

GENEVA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes and categorically rejects stigmatization by certain Western countries and anti-China forces against Xinjiang, the Chinese Mission to the United Nations (UN) Office at Geneva said on Monday.

Denouncing the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, "together with a few other special procedures" of the Human Rights Council for maliciously distorting facts and spreading lies of "forced labor" in Xinjiang, Liu Yuyin, spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the UN Office at Geneva, said in a statement that the working group "chose a wrong target when it tried to stigmatize China."

China is absolutely a "straight-A student" in the world in protecting the rights of ethnic minorities and ensuring people's rights to labor and employment, Liu said.

The spokesperson explained that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, including the Uygurs, fully enjoy the rights and freedoms of choosing their jobs freely and working on an equal footing, and they are now creating a better life with their own hands.

Meanwhile, Liu said, China's manufacturing industry is moving towards mid- and high-end, and automation keeps accelerating in various industries including agribusiness, textile and garment, and automotive sectors.

For instance, in 2020, 70 percent of all cotton in Xinjiang was harvested mechanically, and the automation rate of some local textile companies was more than 90 percent.

"We cannot help but wonder, how can 'forced labor' exist in such an era of digital economy and smart development?" Liu asked.

"Members of the working group are actually looking at the sky from the bottom of a well, spreading completely illogical lies with little if any knowledge about China's technological progress and industrial development," he said.

According to Liu, lies about Xinjiang, including the so-called "forced labor" and "large-scale detention," fabricated by certain Western countries and anti-China forces as an attempt to "smear China, undermine China's stability and contain China's development," are condemned and spurned by all the Chinese people, including the people of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Like "a person pretending to be asleep," Liu said, the working group "turned a blind eye to authoritative information the Chinese government provided on a number of occasions and made no mention of it in its press release."

"This demonstrated clearly its political tendency," he said.

The diplomat added that by doing so, the working group seriously violated the principles of impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity of the Human Rights Council.

"Under the pretext of human rights, it wantonly stigmatized Chinese companies, damaging not only their reputation and image but also the livelihood and human rights of the Uygur workers," he said.