The 61st Press Conference on Xinjiang-related Issues by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
2021-12-17 13:51



On November 30, 2021, the 61st Press Conference on Xinjiang-related Issues by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was held in Beijing. The following is the actual memoir of the conference.

Xu Guixiang: Good morning, dear fellow media reporters! Welcome to the press conference on Xinjiang-related issues of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. I'm Xu Guixiang, the spokesman of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Sitting next to me is Mr. Elijan Anayat, another spokesman of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Today's press conference is hosted by both of us. We will also connect with the mass representatives from the grass-root level to introduce the relevant situation to you. Due to the influences of the pandemic, in addition to the media that have attended the meeting at the scene, other media will attend and communicate with all of us through on-line connection.

Today's press conference mainly focuses on the issue of "genocide". But, first of all, let me share my own views with you.

At the beginning of this year, Pompeo,"the lousiest Secretary of State in History" of the United States, issued a fallacy related to Xinjiang upon leaving his office, with his false claim that "Xinjiang's policy towards ethnic minorities constitutes a crime against humanity and a crime of genocide". For such absurd false accusations and rumors, more than 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang shared a common indignation, and they all resolutely fought back to reveal the vicious mindset and ugly faces of Pompeo and those of his kind who are "proud of lying, cheating and stealing". With regard to the shameless and evil deeds and words by Pompeo and his followers, some American politicians, instead of reflecting on themselves and their own mistakes, follow his frenzied lead. In particular, the leaders of the U.S. said in a recent public speech that "there is oppression and forced labor against Uygurs in Xinjiang". These remarks have no factual basis but insanity, which has cross the bottom line. They are basically a serious violation of international law and the fundamental norms of international relations, a serious provocation to China's internal affairs, and a serious deviation from the basic morality of human society. These remarks constitute a humiliation to the entire nation of the U.S. , and shall be strongly condemned by the Chinese people and the international community.

The so-called "genocide" problem does not exist in Xinjiang at all. Xinjiang adheres to the people-centered approach of development, prioritizes people's pursuit for a better life, follows the universal value and the will of the people, commits to acts of justice. This is the fundamental reason why Xinjiang can resolutely curb the violent attacks by terrorists which happened frequently in the past to guard the safety of people's lives and property. No case (incident) of violent attack by terrorist has been found for five consecutive years till today and I am glad to tell you that the people of all ethnic groups live and work in peace and contentment with a stable and peaceful overall social situation.

One obvious sign of "genocide" is the reduction of population. However, seeing from the population development in Xinjiang, since the founding of People’s Republic of China in 1949, especially since the implementation of reform and opening up, the population of Xinjiang, including the population of ethnic minorities, has continued to grow and the population quality has been continuously improved. From the first national census in 1953 to the seventh national census in 2020, the population of Xinjiang increased from 4.7836 million to 25.8523 million, of which the Uygur population increased from 3.6076 million to 11.6243 million. The growth rate of Uygur population is not only higher than that of the total population in Xinjiang , but also higher than that of any other ethnic minorities,with an obvious higher rate than that of the Han people. Besides, life expectancy in Xinjiang has increased significantly, from less than 30 years in 1949 to 74.7 years in 2019. If the "genocide" should have ever occurred, how come the Uygur population still increases by such a large margin? How come the average life expectancy of people of all ethnic groups, including the Uygur, increases so much?

In today's Xinjiang, all ethnic groups, including Uygur, are united as one, and we all making progress and getting prosperous together. We are united like pomegranate seeds. The awareness of the Chinese national community has been significantly enhanced. In the journey of realizing common prosperity and marching towards the modernization of socialism, we have been through pains and gains together in strong unity, and the situation is of great advancement and prosperity.

Next, we will connect with several representatives from the general public in Xinjiang through live video, and we will ask them to talk about the related situation.

Xu Guixiang: First of all, let's connect with Aykmair Turson, the Chairwoman of the Village Women's Federation in A’hu Township, Artux City, Xinjiang, who is to talk about women’s life in rural areas of Xinjiang.

Aykmair Turson: Hello there, host.

Xu Guixiang: We are holding a press conference on Xinjiang related issues in Beijing. Our friends, the media reporters home and abroad would like to know about how women are living in rural areas of Xinjiang. So now, we would like you to give us some information about this.

Aykmair Turson: My name is Aykmair Turson. I am the Chairwoman of the Village Women's Federation of A’hu Township in Artux City of Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. I am also the mother of two children.

In October 2015, when the clinic in the village knew that I was pregnant, the doctor came to give me knowledge of maternal health care in person. He regularly remind me to go to the maternal and child health hospital in the township for prenatal examination . He also gave me free healthcare products. In August 2016, my first child An’har was born. At that time, the medical expenses for hospitalization were more than 2,000 government’s medical insurance. After the birth of my first child, our country also provided the newborn with free vaccination against hepatitis B and polio, apart from free nourishment. In April 2020, my second child was born. Now, look, this is a picture of me, my husband and our two children.

Now, my eldest son is in a kindergarten Where free accommodation is available. My son has been carefully taken care of by his teachers. The subsidies given to him by our country have helped us a lot. In southern Xinjiang, children attend kindergartens, primary schools, junior middle schools and senior high schools free of charge. The conditions are very good. I am very grateful to the good policies of our country.

As the Chairwoman of the Village Women's Federation, I often publicize the national policy of employment and entrepreneurship to my counterparts in the village. Meanwhile I would learn about their employment needs to help them find satisfactory jobs. Today, I also invited several entrepreneurial representatives from our village to the scene.

With the help of the village committee, she opened her own bakery. This lady runs a supermarket and this one owns a beauty salon. She is engaged in embroidery. She also brought her work to the scene today. This is her work, a painting showing the bustle and hustle life on a festival in ancient China. You see, it's really great. Let's enjoy it. This is the tablecloth for dinner room. It's done manually. Don’t you think these flowers are very beautiful? She is really a model of our village.

In the past, these women had to stay at home, farming, cooking and taking care of their children. But now, their ideas have changed greatly. Everyone wants to find a stable job, earn more money and live a better life. Over the years, with the help of the government, some women in our village have left their hometown to work to increase the income. They have built new houses for their families and bought household appliances. They put on fashionable outfit and the living condition here is almost the same compared with that in the urban areas.

Some women even start their own businesses and become bosses on their own, while some of them have realized their dreams through vocational skills training. I'm really happy to see that everyone's life is getting better and better.

However, some people abroad have rumored that "the women of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang were forced to accept birth-control". I was very indignant when I learned about this! There are 580 women in our village, including 390 women at childbearing age. Many families have two or three children like mine. Every weekend, many children would play on the central square of the village, and it would be very lively. If women are forcibly sterilized, were these children born by jumping out of a crack in a stone? I hope you can take a walk, have a look and listen to the stories of how these women get employed and start their own businesses in our village, and feel the beautiful life of our people in Xinjiang.

Xu Guixiang: Next, let's watch the video of the dance "Maigaiti in the Sunshine". This dance was performed on the 13th Chinese Dance "Lotus Award" Competition and it has won the first place.

Xu Guixiang: Next, let's connect with the performers and the creators of the dance "Maigaiti in the Sunshine", and ask them to introduce the relevant situation.

Giauran Maimaittituson: My name is Giauran Maimaittituson. I am a student of the 2018 dance performance class of the School of Dance in Xinjiang Art College.

Founded in 1958, Xinjiang Art College is one of the eight comprehensive art colleges in China and it’s also the only comprehensive higher art institution in Northwest China. It is known as the messenger of cultural communication of the "Silk Road" and the cradle of artists at the foot of Tianshan Mountains. The school has 12 colleges such as the School of Music and Dance, and it has trained tens of thousands of cultural and artistic talents, many of whom have become leaders in the field of culture and art in Xinjiang.

In October this year, our school created and performed Maigaiti in the Sunshine, which was performed on the 13th Chinese Dance "Lotus Award" Competition and it won the first place with a score of 98.50. This work was created by our teachers when they saw the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang moving into a new era of happiness when getting down to the grass-root level in search of new inspirations in Maigaiti County, which is known as The Hometown of Daolang and The Capital of Red Dates. It vividly shows the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang living and working in peace and contentment, as well as their harmonious and happy life, and a thriving and booming Xinjiang.

"Maigaiti in the Sunshine"  was performed by 22 students from five nationalities including Uygur, Hui, Xibe and Mongolian who study in our dance school. The dance not only has the enthusiasm of Xinjiang Daolang dance, but also integrates the aesthetic artistic conception of Shandong Gu’zi Yangko, a popular rural folk dance. It fully demonstrates the broad diversity and inclusiveness of Chinese culture and is hailed by the audience from all ethnic groups. Whenever we perform, the audience would applaud and cheered warmly, taking "Maigaiti in the Sunshine" as "a classic work of Chinese national folk dance". Now, here comes our choreographer Zhang Peng.

Zhang Peng: Hello there, host!

Xu Guixiang: Hello, please introduce the background of creating the dance Maigaiti in the sun.

Zhang Peng: This time, I first participated in the activity of creating and searching for inspirations of "Going Deep into Life and Taking Root among People" of the Chinese Dancers Association, and we went to Maigaiti County of Kashgar in Xinjiang for on-the-spot research of searching for certain inspirations. We can see that today's Maigaiti County is no longer full of yellow sand in our imagination, instead there’s a lot of green belt in the village. the desolation caused by the struggle with the desert can not be found on the villagers’ faces, but the exuding happiness, expressing their appreciation to the brand new life. I saw the real-life situation of the people in southern Xinjiang today. After a comprehensive experience of creating and searching for inspirations, I created Maigaiti in the Sunshine to express what I saw and felt in the form of art, and express the satisfaction of the happy lives of the people in Xinjiang and the new atmosphere of a better life at present.

Xu Guixiang: OK, I see some students behind you are rehearsing. Can you give us a performance now?

Zhang Peng: Sure.

Xu Guixiang: Next, let's connect Muhtar and Lou Jianbo, the sponsors of the theme restaurant "All United as One Family" in Aksu City, Xinjiang, and ask them to introduce the relevant situation.

Lou Jianbo: Hello, everyone. My name is Lou Jianbo. I'm one of the sponsors of the "All United as One Family" restaurant. This is my partner Muhtar.

Muhtar Abdurosuri: Hello, my name is Muhtar Abdurosuri, and I am also one of the sponsors of the "All United as One Family " restaurant.

Lou Jianbo: Now we are in our restaurant on Wangsan street in Aksu City. This is the gate of our restaurant. Please follow me to take a look of the restaurant.

Muhtar Abdurosuri: This is our Uygur musical instrument, Dutar. This is the dinning bed used by our Uygur family to entertain guests. Usually, if our relatives and friends come to the family, they would sit on this bed to drink tea and chat with each other.

Lou Jianbo: This is our restaurant. The building area of the restaurant is 1,400 square meters. It is divided into upper and lower floors which can accommodate 500 people at the same time. The first floor of the restaurant receives individual guests, and the second floor mainly undertakes banquets. At the same time, we have also set up a exhibition hall of ethnic unity.

My brother Muhtar and I met at an entrepreneurial activity. We found that we have a lot in common. We felt that we should have got to know each other earlier, then we became partners of ethnic unity and we both wanted to do something for ethnic unity. So, in 2012, when I was having dinner with my brother Muhtar and saw the people of all ethnic groups coming and going in the streets, I suddenly had an idea about opening an "All United as One Family" restaurant in the way of crowdfunding.

Muhtar Abdurosuri: After we told this idea to our business friends around us, they were very interested, so we launched an initiative. As soon as the initiative was sent out, it immediately received a positive response from merchants along Wangsan street. Everyone offered 10,000 yuan and I offered 20,000 yuan. Finally, 920,000 yuan was raised in total by 88 merchants who belong to 7 nationalities then we opened the restaurant.

Lou Jianbo: At that time, the purpose of our restaurant was to provide a platform for communication, so that more people could participate in the activities of “All United as One Family”, help each other in business activities, make common progress, and better inherit the spirit of ethnic unity. Besides, we also spend 5% of the restaurant's profits on public welfare activities.

Please look, this is a group photo of all shareholders of our "All United as One Family" restaurant carrying out various activities. This is the photo of our Wangsan Street merchants and Xinglong Street merchants pairing to celebrate the Noruz Festival in 2018. This is the group photo of everyone after the event. This photo was taken in 2019 when the shareholders and relatives of our restaurant bought some books and went to Aksu No. 5 Middle School to carry out donation activities and give our children their favorite books. This is a photo of members of the Ethnic Unity Promotion Association celebrating the first anniversary of the pairing between Wangsan street and Xinglong Street in 2018.

Since the opening of our restaurant, the merchants in Wangsan street have spontaneously paired up with those in Xinglong Street. At present, there are 227 pairs and 454 merchants who are relatives like brother Muhtar and I in Wangsan Street. Now, we have established the Ethnic Unity Promotion Association, and we are all members of the promotion Association.

Lou Jianbo: Both of our families often have dinner together on weekends and holidays. We are very happy. We are good brothers for life.

Muhtar Abdurosuri: Now, our restaurant has become a model of ethnic unity, and more and more guests have come here for dinner. We will continue to make contributions to ethnic unity and we welcome more people to join us. We sincerely welcome you to pay a visit to our restaurant.

Xu Guixiang: Next, please watch the video from Amel Jumai, the owner of a shop selling roasted baozi in Tacheng City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

This video mainly shows the story of Amel Jumai who comes from Kashgar and started his business by opening a shop in Tacheng City. Three years ago, Amel Jumai opened a shop selling roasted baozi based on the shop selling roasted naan, and because of the particular recipe and the delicious taste, the business was very successful. Later, He tried to do live-streaming online to promote his business, dreaming of using his face as a sign for his shop and made his shop “Top 500 in Tacheng”.

Xu Guixiang: Next, please watch a video which was taken by one of our teachers on his phone in the street in Urumqi.

Xu Guixiang: As you can see, children of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have lived, learned and played together since childhood. There is no estrangement between them at all.

Through the above on-line connection and videos, can you see the existence of so-called “genocide” in Xinjiang? There is not a trace at all. On the contrary, the US claims to be a “free world” to the public while failing to eradicate domestic racism. As a result, ethnic minorities in the U.S. have suffered from bullying and exclusion, and faced long-term, extensive and systematic discrimination in political, economical, cultural, social life and other fields. The death of Floyd, an African-American man, and the large-scale protests caused by the incident expose the fact again that ethnic minorities in the U.S. are not able to “breath”. As the US national leaders acknowledged, systematic racial discrimination is a stain on the U.S.. Taking American Indians as an example, the American government had carried out such policies as physical annihilation, forced isolation, spiritual slavery and cultural assimilation to them for a long time. From the founding of the U.S. to the beginning of the 20th century, especially during the Westward Movement, the US wantonly expelled and killed Indians, in which Indians lost most of their lands and the death toll reached 25 million. It can be said that the founding history of the U.S. is the history full of blood and tears of killing and expelling the Indians.

It must be pointed out that the genocide committed by the U.S. against Indians is a systematic act led by its government, which is real and genuine “genocide”. The pernicious influence of this “genocide” is far-reaching, which will bring heavy disasters to human society. John Toland, an award-winning writer of Pulitzer Prize, wrote in his book Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography that, Hilter’s thoughts of setting up camps and of genocide were mainly from his study of American history.

Xu Guixiang: Throughout history, in order to plunder lands and resources, the US carried out Westward Movement and systematical “ethnic cleansing” to Indians, and the crimes they committed was appalling. As a native of the American continent, Indians gradually become "the race being exterminated". Let’s give the floor to Elijan Anayat to share his views.

Elijan Anayat: The behavior of carrying out genocide to Indians to plunder their lands and resources was one of the the countless colonial crimes committed by the U.S.. “The Americans living in the federal district coveted the land occupied by the Indians”. Tocqueville, a French thinker in the 19th century, incisively depicted the ugly faces of the US coveting Indian resources at that time in his masterpiece Democracy in America.

The successive American governments once released policies to encourage the expulsion and slaughter of Indians. George Washington, the founding president of the U.S., once said: "our immigration expansion is bound to uproot these barbarians.” In 1814, U.S. President James Madison Jr. issued an edict stipulating that the US government would reward the people who killed Indians $50 to $100 for each Indian's skull. From 1860s to 90s, Homestead Act issued by Lincoln brought the behavior of slaughtering Indians to a climax. The law stipulated that every American citizen over the age of 21 could obtain no more than 160 acres (about 64.75 hectares) of land in the west only by paying a registration fee of $10.

During Westward Movement in the 19th century, in order to plunder the lands of the Indians, the American Army carried out the "scorched-earth policy" on the Indian tribes, that was, burning their houses, burning their crops, killing their livestock and destroying their property to make them unable to maintain their livelihood. Especially under the temptation of lands and bounties, the white all went to the areas where Indians lived to wantonly slaughter. Sherman , a general of the US during the civil war, even left a "dictum": “only the Indians who were dead are great Indians.”

According to relevant data, by the beginning of the 20th century, the Indian population in the U.S. had plummeted from 5 million in 1492 to 25,0000, and now, the Indian population in the U.S. accounts for only 2% of the total population of the US. American media such as the New York Times once admitted that the US' treatment of Indians is the "most disgraceful chapter" in the history of their country.

Xu Guixiang: During the process that the US wantonly slaughtered Indians, they carried out “cultural genocide” against Indians: many children were caught in the boarding schools, forced to give up their own languages, being separated from their parents. Among them, tens of thousands of students died in the boarding schools.

Xu Guixiang: The policy of boarding school and foster are the main means of "cultural genocide" for Indians in the U.S.. Since the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the US has implemented a series of laws and policies aiming at assimilating Indians, set up or subsidized boarding schools nationwide and forcibly sent Indian children enter school. In 1870, Richard Pratt, an American general, asked a group of aboriginal prisoners to learn English and implemented militarized management, so as to achieve the purpose of "shaking off their reputation of slaughters". The project soon moved the federal government which wanted to "assimilate Indians" at that time. In 1879, Richard Henry Pratt founded the first boarding school outside the reservation for Indian children. He said frankly that the purpose of founding this school was to "kill an Indian to save a new human ". In this boarding school, Indian children were forced to be separated from their families on the reservation and give up traditional clothes and hairstyles, they couldn't use their own languages, and even their original names were forced to be abandoned.

There were more than 350 boarding schools for Indian children like this in the U.S.. According to the data of the National Curing Alliance of Boarding School for Indians in the US, in 1900, there were nearly 20,000 Indian children in boarding schools, and by 1925, the number reached more than 60,000. Various physical and mental abuse, such as forced labor, corporal punishment, militarized management and other abuse, which led to thousands of Indian children getting sick or even dying in boarding schools. After scandals were exposed repeatedly, these schools were either closed or transferred to Indian tribes. The physical and mental abuse that these children suffered directly affected at least two generations. Harvard Law Review wrote that these boarding schools are "cultural genocide, cultural assimilation and violation of human rights".

Just as the boarding schools for Indian children faded out of the historical stage, another assimilation policy of "cultural genocide and violation of human rights" issued by the US government appeared again--"forced foster". Since the 1960s, the "adoption program for Indians" gradually replaced the position of boarding schools. Welfare institutions across the US forced aboriginal children to live in welfare institutions under the “noble” pretext of "incompetent guardians" and even "overcrowded accommodation". According to the data of American Affairs Association for Indians, during the 30 years of the mid-20th century, one third of aboriginal children were forced to be separated from their families. Many of them suffered from various abuses in foster families and were deprived of cultural identity, which is an incurable pain throughout their life.

Indian children were forced to be separated from their families, they couldn't use their own languages, and even some people didn't know they were aboriginals when they grew up. Nowadays, most of the people who speak Indian are old people who once lived on the reservations. According to statistics, if the US government does not take measures, only 5% of Indians may speak their own language in 50 years. Facts have proved that both the policy of founding boarding schools and the policy of foster are aimed at taking aboriginal children away from the tribes and exterminating Indian cultures.

Xu Guixiang: Since the 1850s, in order to continue to occupy the lands of Indians, the US began to implement the reservation system. Indians were settled in the remote and barren reservations, their living conditions were very poor and their right to survival was threatened. Let’s give the floor to Elijan Anayat to share his views.

Elijan Anayat: When the US was just founded, it recognized the Indian tribes as an independent sovereign government. But later, it pursued the policy of genocide, terminated the governance of the Indians, took their lands, drove them to remote and barren areas, and forced the Indians to produce and live in the reservation.

The location of the reservations was remote and the production and living conditions were poor. Indian reservations were mainly located in the Midwest of the U.S., with backward infrastructures, a general lack of basic living materials such as water, electricity and food, and far behind other ethnic groups in economic and social development. In 2017, 21.9% of American Indians lived below the poverty line, and the poverty rate of American whites in the same period was 9.6%. For example, in the Navajo reservation where American Indians lived, 30% of families still do not have access to the public power grid, and 40% of families do not have tap water. In this regard, Forbes has commented: "the federal government of US did not perform its duties well, resulting in the Indian reservations becoming the poorest communities in the US."

There is a lack of medical and health security in the reservation where people are threatened by COVID-19. The medical facilities in the Indians reservation are generally weak, and the people's health is not guaranteed. For example, in the reservation in Shoshone tribe, East Wyoming, America, the average lifespan of Indians is 16.3 years lower than that of Wyoming’s, The number of deaths from diabetes and chronic liver diseases is 4.6 times and 8 times that of the whites. Especially under the COVID-19, the medical short boards of the Indian reservation are more prominent, and many Indians died due to lack of effective treatment. The report, written by special rapporteur of the United Nations on the Right of Proper Living Standard according to No.43/14 resolution of Human Rights Council, points out that the influence of COVID-19 for ethnic minorities and aboriginal residents in the U.S. is most destructive, the hospitalization rate of aboriginal residents is five times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites, and the mortality is also much higher than that of whites. The data from US Centers for Disease Control also shows that the prevalence of COVID-19 of Indians were 2.8 times that of whites and the mortality rate was 1.4 times that of the whites.

The reservation is forced to become a "trash can" to pay for the social development of the U.S.. With extremely difficult living conditions, the living environment of Indians who lived in distant and desolate reservations, is further occupied and destructed. After the 1990s, the U.S. pursued "ecological colonialism": through deception and coercion, it buried nuclear waste, industrial waste and other wastes that are harmful to human health into Indian reservations, resulting in serious environmental pollution and causing the death of many Indians. In August 5, 2020, the report, written by special rapporteur of the United Nations on the influence for human rights of managing and handling hazardous substances and wastes for harmless environment according to No.36/15 resolution of Human Rights Council, points out that the influence, that US aboriginal residents are facing, of toxic pollutants released or produced by mining industry, agriculture, and manufacturing industry including the influence of nuclear waste radioactivity, and the influence of soil and lead dust pollution caused by mining wastes on their health, are far more danger than other groups.

Xu Guixiang: The United States government has made every effort to “eliminate” the Indians from all levels of the United States society, weaken the identity and descent of Indians step by step, and eliminate the existence of Indians in the United States society.

Xu Guixiang: In the United States, Indian identity has been weakened constantly. According to The Atlantic, from being expelled, slaughtered and forcibly assimilated in history to being ignored today, the Indian who was originally the owner of this continent has a weak voice in the United States society. The whole country seems to have forgotten who was the original resident of this land.

Political rights cannot be guaranteed. Indians have been marginalized in the political system of the United States. It was not until 1924 that the United States promulgated the Indian Citizenship Act, which recognized the citizenship of Indians for the first time, and the voting right of Indians was not allowed by all state laws of the United States until 1962. However, many Indians in remote reserves are still difficult to really exercise this right until today. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior, the overall political status and political influence of Indians are still far lower than their proportion in the United States population.

The Indian “identity” was erased invisibly. On the one hand, in various fields such as census, medical data collection and statistics and so on, many departments of the United States government refuse to take Indians into account, or hastily classify them into the column of “other” with the reason of “the sample size is too small”. In this regard, Abigail Echo Hawk, chief research officer of the Seattle Indian Health Board in the United States, said: “because of the genocide, the Indian population has been very small. If we are excluded from the data, we will not exist.”

Formulate absurd ethnic division standards. The U.S. government stipulates that only babies whose mothers are pure Indians will be recorded as Indian descendants, while the father’s blood is not taken into account, which leads to the rapid dilution of Indian blood by other ethnic groups. At the same time, the United States government also stipulates that if you want to be officially recognized as an Indian, you must submit the detailed identity information of your parents, grandparents and even great grandparents, and the proportion of Indian descent should meet the requirements of different regions after calculation. The United States standard of division of Indians “special” descent has been strongly opposed by the Indian people. As an Indian youth in the United States said, “we are treated like animals. They check the purity of our descent. We are the only to be treated like this, except dogs and horses.”

Xu Guixiang: Now, please watch a video of CCTV news report about the United States Indian aborigines.

Xu Guixiang: In addition to the brutal acts of killing and expelling Indians for hundreds of years, the history of hundreds of years of trafficking, abuse and discrimination against black slaves in the United States is also shocking. Let’s give the floor to Mr. Elijan Anayat to share his views.

Elijan Anayat: The United States slave trade can be called the most shameful and despicable act in human history. As we all know, the United States is a “country based on the blood and flesh of black slaves”. It has trafficked and killed black slaves for long time, wantonly deprived black slaves of their right to survival and development, and ruthlessly squeezed the fruits of black slaves’ labor. It is a real human trafficker and anti-human criminal.

The process of hunting and trafficking blacks is a tragedy that human society can’t remember. American colonists formed a “capturing slave team” to go to Africa to sneak into villages of blacks, kill the old, weak, sick and disabled, abduct young and strong blacks and who were abducted start a miserable life. During the transporting, the blacks were hobbled in shackles and handcuffs. If they were careless, they would be severely beaten. After arriving at the coast, black slaves were led in chains to the trafficking market for slave traders to buy. After the buyers and sellers made a deal, the slave traders used a red soldering iron to mark the arms and chest of the black slaves with the company’s logo, put them in the dungeon and wait for the shipment to the destination. From Africa to America, blacks have to suffer for more than four months. Due to poor diet and rampant disease, countless blacks were buried at the bottom of the Atlantic. When they arrive at their destination, they will be sold again and taken to plantations or mines as hard labours. In 1619, the first recorded blacks were trafficked to the North American continent, and the history of black slavery began.

With the prosperity of cotton planting in American colonies, slave trafficking became more and more rampant. More and more blacks were sold to plantations and became the private property of planters. In 1661, a law in the American Virginia Colony stipulated that blacks were slaves for life; In 1671, the Maryland Colony also enacted the same law. Other colonies followed suit and successively enacted cruel laws to deprive black slaves of all their political and economic rights. For example, slaves are property belongs to their owners and work 18 hours a day; Slaves cannot assemble, cannot leave the farm without the written permission of their owners, or testify in court in white cases; Fugitive slaves must be sent back to their original masters; Slaves who committed felonies could be branded, castrated or executed, and their ears could be cut; It is not a crime for slave owners to execute slaves. In 1787, the United States formulated the Federal Constitution, which implicitly recognized the existence of slavery with “Three-Fifths Compromise”, “Fugitive Slave Clause” and “Slave Trade Clause”. According to the data of Statista Research Company in Germany, in 1790, there were nearly 700,000 black slaves in the United States; In 1860, there were more than 3.95 million black slaves in the United States, while there were less than 490,000 free African Americans in the United States, indicating that nearly 90% of African Americans at that time were slaves.

Elijan Anayat: Next, please watch some pictures about black slaves in the United States.

The appalling slave trade has caused irreparable pain to blacks. They have suffered a serious mental blow, physical torture and inhuman experience. Nowadays, although American slavery has been abolished for a century, blacks are still suffering from seriously unfair treatment and living a life of extreme material deprivation.

Elijan Anayat: Now, please watch a news report video about American slaves.

Xu Guixiang: Racial discrimination is an unavoidable problem in the United States society. From Martin Luther King’s assumption of “I have a dream”in the past to Freud’s crying of “I can’t breathe” today, both of them fully show that racial discrimination has become an insurmountable social gap in the United States.

Xu Guixiang: In terms of history and reality, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities in the United States are suffering from bullying and exclusion, and face long-term, extensive and systematic discrimination in various fields such as politics, economy, culture, social life and so on.

Racial discrimination is common in law enforcement. In the United States, African Americans are more likely to be identified as a criminal and suffer cruel treatment. UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance pointed out that people of African descent in the United States are still killed and brutalized at alarming rates by law enforcement authorities and vigilantes, who have little to no accountability. According to the data from “Mapping Police Violence” website, African Americans account for only 13% of the total population of the United States, but 28% of the number of people shot by the police. The probability of African Americans being killed by the police is three times that of whites.

Racial inequality in employment and people’s livelihood is nothing new. The Center for American Progress reported on August 7 and December 5, 2019 that, compared with whites, ethnic minorities such as African Americans face systematic obstacles in employment, resulting in higher unemployment rate, fewer employment opportunities, lower salaries, fewer benefits and greater employment instability. Affected by the epidemic, people of color face a more serious threat of unemployment. According to the report released by the United States Department of Labor on May 8, 2020, the unemployment rates of African Americans and Hispanic Americans soared to 16.7% and 18.9% respectively in April, a record high.

There are clear inequalities in access to education. Cable News Network reported on February 27, 2019 that public schools in non white-dominated school districts receive 23 billion dollars less annually than those in white-dominated school districts. In 2016, the average student expenditure in the white-dominated school district was 13,908 dollars, while in the school district mainly serving people of color, the average student expenditure was only 11,682 dollars. According to the data from United States Department of Education, African American students are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students. The best indication of racial prejudice is that 100% of the suspended students in the 84 southern school districts are of African descent. Even in kindergartens, African American children are more likely to be suspended than children of other races. African American children account for only 18% of preschool children, but nearly half of children suspended from kindergartens.

Economic inequality has further intensified. Research from the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame shows that from June to November in 2020, the poverty rate in the United States increased by 2.4 percentage points, while the poverty rate of African Americans increased by 3.1 percentage points. The data shows that the median wealth of white families is 42 times that of African Americans and 23 times that of Hispanic Americans. USA Today reported on its website on October 23, 2020 that in the first quarter of 2020, the housing ownership rate of white families in the United States was 73.7%, while that of African American families was only 44%. American Broadcasting Company News reported on October 11, 2020 that 15.7% of Hispanic Americans lived in poverty in 2019, more than twice that of whites.

Colored people are more threatened by COVID-19. In August 21, 2020, the report submitted by working group of experts on people of African descent to the United Nations Human Rights in the 45th meeting pointed that novel corona virus pneumonia infection and mortality rates showed significant racial difference. The infection rate, hospitalization rate and mortality rate of African Americans were 3 times, 5 times and 2 times of that of white people respectively. The report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on August 7, 2020 shows that racial differences in the epidemic have expanded to children. The rate of hospitalization for novel corona virus pneumonia among Hispanic children is 9 times that of white children, and the rate of African children hospitalization is 6 times that of white children. On July 10, 2020, the website of the Los Angeles Times reported that Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health in Los Angeles, pointed out that the serious impact of the virus on African and Hispanic residents is rooted in “the impact of racism and discrimination on the resources and opportunities needed for health”.

The high level of hate crimes highlights the deterioration of racial relations. According to the report released by the FBI in 2020, of the 8,302 hate crimes caused by single prejudice reported by law enforcement agencies in 2019, 57.6% involved ethnic identity, of which up to 48.4% were against African Americans, 15.8% were against whites, 14.1% were against Hispanic Americans and 4.3% were against Asian Americans. USA Today website reported on May 20, 2020 that some Americans attributed the outbreak of the epidemic to Asians, and there were more and more cases of discrimination, harassment and hate crimes against Asian Americans. According to the statistics of the civil rights organization “stop hating Asian Americans and Pacific island residents”, more than 2,300 hate crimes against Asian Americans occurred in the United States in the first seven months of 2020.

The issue of racism in the United States has aroused strong concern in the international community. On June 17, 2020, the 43rd meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council held an emergency debate on racism, which was the first time in the history of the Human Rights Council to hold an emergency meeting on human rights in the United States. On November 9, 2020, the United States was severely criticized by the international community for racial discrimination when accepting the third round of human rights review of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and other organizations pointed out that racism in the United States is shocking. White racists, Neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan openly use racist slogans to promote white supremacy and incite racial discrimination and hatred; Politicians are increasingly using divisive language in an attempt to marginalize racial, ethnic and religious minorities. Tendai archume, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, believes that for African Americans, the American legal system has been unable to solve racial injustice and discrimination.

Xu Guixiang: Next, we exchanged views on issues that our friends from the media and journalists are concerned about. First of all, since October this year, Reuters has published articles continuously, hyping and accusing the factories of American enterprises in Qinzhou, Guangxi, China of “forced labor” against Uygur workers. At the press conference on Xinjiang-related issues held on November 17, we have made a presentation. Next, I’d like to invite Mr. Elijan Anayat to introduce the latest progress.

Elijan Anayat: Reuters' claim that US companies in China are involved in "forced labor" against Uygur workers is completely groundless.

At the last press conference on Xinjiang-related issues, we pointed out that employment is the basic right of Chinese citizens. Like workers in other parts of China, all rights and interests of ethnic minority workers in Xinjiang are protected by Chinese law. They have the freedom to choose their careers, go where they want and do what they want is out of their own wills, and their personal freedom has never been restricted. Employees of ethnic minorities from Xinjiang working in factories of American companies in China have voluntarily signed labor contracts in accordance with the law. Their rights and interests are fully protected in accordance with the law. There is no such thing as "forced labor".

However, it is scandalous that Reuters and some anti-China congressmen in the US made up the so-called "forced labor" false information in disregard of the facts and forced American companies in China to terminate the employment agreement with Xinjiang employees. Their real aim is to deprive people’s rights to subsistence, employment and development of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. They are forcing unemployment and poverty and disturbing the prosperity and stability of Xinjiang. Their behavior is very disgraceful!

Xu Guixiang: Next, reporter from Global Times, please ask your question.

Global Times: Recently, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released a report entitled "The Architecture of a Repression, Unpacking Xinjiang’s Governance", attacking the measures taken in Xinjiang. Do you have any comment on that?

Xu Guixiang: As for this issue, Elijan Anayat will make comments.

Elijan Anayat: The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's report on "The Architecture of a Repression, Unpacking Xinjiang’s Governance" is full of conjecture, disinformation and slander, with serious ideological bias.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is not an academic institution at all, but an anti-China puppet under the guise of academic research, which has long been notorious in the international community. One is that the agency is not independent at all. There is evidence that the agency has long received funding from the US defense and diplomatic agencies and arms dealers. The anti-China ideology is very strong and keen to fabricate and hype all kinds of anti-China lies. It talks of independence, but in fact it is money-worshiping and loyal to its benefactors. It is willing to become the "vanguard" and "marionette" of anti-China forces in the US and the West. The second is that it does no real academic research at all. The so-called "China-related report" concocted by the institution is not based on facts, has no academic value and completely violates the professional ethics that academic research should have. The report of this institute are based on views and clues from anti-China NGO(Non-Governmental Organization) in the United States or so-called "testimony of eyewitness" that cannot be verified or traced. In particular, in relevant reports, it is absurd to refer to interactive maps as satellite photos, which is totally untenable. Third, the agency is fundamentally unpopular. The former Australian consul-general in Hong Kong, Jocelyn Chey, criticized Hamilton, a scholar of this institute, for lacking a basic understanding of China's political system. Geoff Raby, Australia's former ambassador to China, criticized the institute as "the chief architect of the China threat theory in Australia". The Australian Alert Service, a publication of the Australian Civic Party, published an article saying that the agency has spared no effort to serve the US-led "war" against China and has been completely reduced to a tool of other countries.

It must be pointed out that the anti-terrorism, eradicate extremism, social governance, employment and other measures taken by Xinjiang are in line with the expectations of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, in line with the reality of Xinjiang, and carried out in strict accordance with the law. There is absolutely no any question of human rights violations. The facts are fully proved that these measures have brought about social stability, economic development, ethnic unity, religious harmony, cultural prosperity and the improvement of peoples’ livelihood in Xinjiang, and that the people of all ethnic groups have a growing sense of gain, happiness and security. All this has been witnessed by the whole world. It is by no means possible for the anti-China "pioneers", the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and "pseudo-scholars" in the cloak of "academic" to erase it.

Xu Guixiang: Now, reporter from China Daily, your question please.

China Daily: Recently, articles in foreign media said that in recent years, more and more foreign Internet celebrities have been promoting China's policies in line with the tone of the Chinese government. Chinese authorities also use foreign Internet celebrities on Twitter to counter criticism in press conferences. The article enumerated British vlogger Lightfoot, who released Xinjiang-related videos, such as "Reveal the Lies about Xinjiang of Foreign Media". There are a large number of Internet users appreciate him for showing the real China, but the BBC, The Times and other media think Lightfoot is "the expats were driven by China’s disinformation", is "Beijing funded British YouTube blogger conduct a political propaganda", etc. Do you have any comment on that?

Xu Guixiang: Human rights situation in Xinjiang is very objective, authentic and vivid. We have made a detailed introduction to the international society on many occasions, especially in today's press conference, you also see the women and children of all ethnic groups, ethnic minority business personnel, college teachers and students in Xinjiang, their political, economic, cultural and other rights are fully guaranteed.

The international community has seen the real human rights situation in Xinjiang for a long time. Many insightful people have stood up and spoken out, such as British vlogger David Lightfoot, who released videos on Xinjiang-related issues such as "Foreign media reveal lies in Xinjiang". And Raz Galor, a popular vlogger from Israel He has lived in China for many years, and in an interview with Xinhua News Agency this year, he also detailed his feelings and views on Xinjiang. What these visionary people have done truly and objectively reflects the human rights situation in Xinjiang. It is a just act that deserves our respect.

And I want to emphasize here, Some western media like BBC,seeing Xinjiang with colored glasses, slandering against Xinjiang with the ideological bias, releasing a large number of false news, misleading international opinion and the international community entirely. Such media have lost the principle of objectivity, neutrality and truth that news media organizations should uphold. They are despised and should be condemned.

Xu Guixiang: Now, reporter from Macau Asia Satellite Television, please ask your question.

MASTV: A State Department spokesman in the US last week said that human rights violations in Xinjiang and other places in China will affect the US decision on whether to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics. But at the same time, the UN special rapporteur on minorities said that the US lacks comprehensive national human rights legislation that is more consistent with its international human rights obligations and urged the US to reform its legislation. What is the comment of Xinjiang?

Xu Guixiang: At present, Xinjiang enjoys social stability, economic development and improvement in people's livelihood. People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are enjoying unprecedented stability and peace. Their political rights, economic rights, cultural rights, educational rights and freedom of religious belief are fully protected. The US is making a decision on its participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics by citing the so-called "human rights issue" in Xinjiang. It's just self-defeating. Some US politicians should open their eyes and take a look at how ridiculous such tricks are. We advise them to stop making problems for themselves.

As the relevant UN rapporteurs pointed out, the US has its own poor track record on the human rights issue, and the legislative process of protecting human rights is slow. The US should focus its resources and energy on improving the well-being of its people and safeguarding human rights and stop talking about the human rights situation in Xinjiang. If the US continues to play the "human rights card" in Xinjiang, it will be playing a "losing card", "bad card" and "rotten card".(If the US continues to slander Xinjiang about human rights, it must be failing)

Xu Guixiang: Next, reporter from Radio Polonia, your question please.

Radio Polonia: Will the local government allow EU countries’ ambassadors to visit Xinjiang? How many foreign diplomats have visited Xinjiang in official (non-tourist) capacity this year? What countries do they represent? Due to the media report from Australia, the U.S. and the U.K., Beijing Winter Olympics is likely to face "diplomatic boycott" concerns the human rights situation in Xinjiang. Does the local government have a strategy to deal with it? What is the reaction?

Xu Guixiang: Regarding your first question, Xinjiang is an open region. Since the end of 2018, UN officials, permanent representatives of relevant countries in Geneva, foreign political dignitaries, diplomatic envoys from African, Latin American, Caribbean and Arab countries, secretariat officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, diplomatic envoys from SCO member states in China, and heads of relevant international organizations in China have been invited. As well as foreign religious groups, journalists, experts, scholars and Internet celebrity from over 100 countries and regions, 159 groups and more than 2,100 people visited Xinjiang. All of them have a good impression of Xinjiang. We also welcome friends from all over the world, including the EU, to visit Xinjiang to learn about the real situation there and avoid being blinded by hearsay and lies. I want to stress that we are opposed to anyone conducting investigations with presumption of crime or viewing Xinjiang through colored glasses.

As to the second question, according to our statistics, a total of 96 diplomats visited Xinjiang. They are mainly from 78 countries and regions in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

On the third question, sport should not be politicized, I have just been explained and will not be repeated here.

In order to make the international community truly understand the actual situation in Xinjiang, we have taken the initiative to introduce the human rights situation in Xinjiang to the international community with an generous, open and transparent attitude. Since 2016, we have issued nine white papers on Xinjiang, including The Fight Against Terrorism, Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang and Respecting and Protecting the Rights of All Ethnic Groups in Xinjiang, which provide a comprehensive and systematic explanation of relevant important issues. We held more than 60 Xinjiang-related press conferences, exposing the lies and fallacies of anti-China forces in the United States and a few Western countries with a large number of objective and true data, cases and micro-videos. Together with the Chinese embassies in relevant countries, we held nearly 28 video conferences on "Xinjiang is a Good Place", vividly introducing Xinjiang's economic and social development, exposing lies with solid figures and sufficient evidence and publicizing the truth about human rights in Xinjiang, which has won wide attention and recognition from the international community.

Xu Guixiang: Next, reporter from Radio Netherlands Worldwide, please ask your question.

RNW: Recently, Adrian Zenz has launched a new comments, criticized or expressed his opinion to the policies and measures adopted in Xinjiang by the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Xinjiang authorities, including some leaders since 2014. I think his remarks are a concern, to some extent, it also expresses the international community's concern over the local situation in Xinjiang. What is your response?

Xu Guixiang: Recently, we have also noticed that Adrian Zenz is publishing Xinjiang-related fallacies again. First of all, the situation in Xinjiang is not what Adrian Zenz described at all. In the past, violent and terrorist activities occurred frequently in Xinjiang. The basic human rights of people of all ethnic groups, including life, health and safety, have been severely violated. Xinjiang has been able to avoid violent and terrorist attacks for five years in a row by resolutely fighting against terrorism and extremism. The situation of frequent violent and terrorist activities in the past has been reversed. The actual situation of social stability and economic development in Xinjiang has strongly proved the legality, necessity and correctness of these policies and measures adopted in Xinjiang. The international community has clearly seen all this, and the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang support these measures taken by the government sincerely.

But people like Adrian Zenz are blind to the facts of Xinjiang. They spread a lot of lies and fallacies in the international community, which go against the facts in Xinjiang and the aspirations of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, as well as the views of many insightful people from the international community who have visited Xinjiang. Adrian Zenz acted as the spokesperson, tool and puppet of the anti-China forces in the US and the West for his own ulterior political purpose. We warn people like Adrian Zenz not to run around in the guise of academic fraud, and we have noticed that the relevant authorities are taking legal steps to pursue the legal responsibility of pseudo-scholars like Adrian Zenz.

Xu Guixiang: Are there any questions from journalists? If not, this is the end of today's press conference and live communication. Next, let’s watch a video and relax.

Now, the apple has ripe in Aksu, Xinjiang. The Aksu apple is the vivid symbol of Xinjiang(the town of melons and fruits). The Aksu apple is more special, what makes it special? Let's start with a video.

Xu Guixiang: Dear journalists, in the video you can see that the apple has a transparent core, which we called "crystal sugar heart". This is because of the big temperature difference between day and night in Xinjiang Aksu Prefecture, the sunshine duration is long, and the accumulation of sugar is abound, so it is crisp and sweet. Just like the quality of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, introverted, rich and sweet, I hope you have the opportunity to taste it.

Dear journalists, today's press conference is over. Thank you all! Good bye!