Xinjiang debunks lies in PBS documentary
The Uygurs, who appeared in a PBS documentary on Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and also frequently in some Western media, are “liars” and members of a notorious separatist group, the Xinjiang regional spokesperson said at a press conference in the regional capital Urumqi on Wednesday.
“There are many people from Xinjiang living abroad, why do some media love to interview these few?” said Eljiang Anayt, the spokesperson of Xinjiang.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary titled China Undercover attacked Xinjiang’s vocational education and training centers as well as its ethnic religious policies. It alleged that Xinjiang “suppressed ethnic Muslims such as Uygurs through biological information DNA and “facial recognition” programs.
The spokesperson said that the “documentary” is full of lies and fallacies. In order to catch attention and smear Xinjiang, they invited “actors” and told heaps of lies. They used groundless and distorted footage of interviews pieced together to churn out “stories” that had been debunked.
The documentary alleged that “the mosques of Xinjiang are dismantled. Religious believers dare not to go to the mosques for fear of trouble. Some are warned to give up their religious belief.”
“These are all rumors with ulterior motives. I would like to respond to their fallacies with data. The number of mosques in Xinjiang is 24,000 in total compared with 2,000 in the early stages of opening-up and reform. Are they reflections of religious freedom or a result of ‘dismantling mosques?’” Eljiang said.
The documentary also claims that Xinjiang is making use of surveillance technology including facial recognition to “suppress” Uygurs and other Muslims.
“These [claims] are nothing but preconceptions without any proof. Xinjiang lawfully installs surveillance cameras in public areas to improve its social governance and effectively prevent and strike against crimes,” the spokesperson noted.
Eljiang explained that the producers of the documentary entered into Leon Tech under the pretense of holding a business negotiation but secretly filmed and coaxed words from the staff.