On May 14, 2021, Vice Foreign Minister of China Ambassador Xie Feng emphasized in an interview from Chinese and foreign press in Urumqi when accompanying Latin American and Caribbean diplomatic corps to Xinjiang, genocide has a very specific definition under international law, and the mass murder of millions of Jews by Hitler during the World War II was a genocide. What the Chinese government has done and is doing is anti-violence, anti-secession and de-extremism. The Uyghurs in Xinjiang has grown from 5.55 million to 12.8 million over the past 40 years, and their life expectancy per capita has increased from 30 years six decades ago to 72. The Uighur population and their life expectancy have been both doubled, and they are living increasingly richer lives in a more stable and better society. Whoever heard of such a genocide in the world?!
Xie Feng said, the facts should not be distorted, and justice naturally inhabits man’s heart. More and more conscientious experts and scholars in the international community have recently spoken out and written articles to expose those flawed and untenable lies and rumors. For example, renowned American academic Jeffrey Sachs and Canadian human rights expert William Schabas co-published an article criticizing that the U.S. allegations on China’s “genocide” in Xinjiang are unjustified. The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research based in Sweden released a feature report titled “The Xinjiang Genocide Determination as Agenda” to debunk that the so-called “independent” report on accusation of “genocide” in Xinjiang is not independent or credible at all. Economist Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, told the press, Xinjiang is seeing vibrant social and economic development, and there is no so-called “genocide” against ethnic minorities. Brazilian academic Sueli Vasconcelos noted in a recent article she published in regional daily Estado de Minas, if the existence of “forced labor” in Xinjiang is asserted based on satellite images only, can the same images from the same sources also be used to assert that Hispanic workers are being forced to work in extremely harsh conditions in California vineyards? It is a great hypocrisy for the Western countries led by the United States to condemn China while ignoring the tragedy at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Xie Feng introduced, the visit of envoys of Latin American and Caribbean countries to China to Xinjiang organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aimed at creating an opportunity for them to have direct contacts with the people of all nationalities in Xinjiang and experience the region’s stable development progress on the spot. 23 envoys and senior diplomats from 19 countries were on the tour.
