Xinjiang safe, stable and harmonious: FM

The fact that tourists from home and abroad made more than 100 million visits to Xinjiang in 2017 and nearly 80 million in the first seven months of 2018 shows the overall stable and harmonious situation of the autonomous region in Northwest China, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Thursday.

Geng made the statement in response to a question raised at a routine press conference.

The questioner mentioned some Chinese Uyghur people abroad claimed they had been out of touch with their families at home for over a year.

Geng said he was unaware of the specific case mentioned, before providing some new statistics.

In 2017, the number of visits to Xinjiang reached 100 million, a year-on-year increase of 32.4 percent. In the first seven months of 2018, 78.33 million tourists from home and abroad visited Xinjiang, 38.7 percent more than the same period of last year, “sufficiently demonstrating the safe, stable and harmonious situation in the region,” Geng said.

Policies implemented in Xinjiang are designed to promote regional stability, development and to unite the people and improve their livelihood, Geng said. Policies are also “cracking down on criminal activities of national separatism and violent terrorism,” he said.

Geng noted that Xinjiang society enjoys overall stability and a great economic development momentum, and Xinjiang people live in harmony and are entitled to full freedom of religious belief.

Earlier in July, senior editors of 23 media outlets from 18 countries including Russia, India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, spent five days touring Xinjiang, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

It took the group of senior editors to Urumqi, the regional capital, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili.