Locals depict true Xinjiang in emails to UN human rights chief

Recently, residents from China’s Xinjiang voluntarily sent emails to UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to share the true situation in the region and debunk lies made by antiChina forces from the US and other Western countries that smear the region, the Global Times learned from the Xinjiang regional government.

Residents from Xinjiang who wrote the emails to Bachelet ranged from victims of terror attacks to former trainees at vocational education and training centers, as well as religious leaders, scholars and migrant workers from the region, and they expressed hopes for the UN High Commissioner to listen to their voices and take an objective view of the region’s human rights situation, based on her visit in May.

Bachelet made a visit to Xinjiang in May and said in a statement that she had wide interactions with people from different sectors in Xinjiang.

Bachelet’s statement clearly disappointed anti- China forces from the US and some Western countries, as they have been hyping “genocide” allegations and smearing the human rights situation in the region. After Bachelet’s visit, they kept pressuring her to release a “full report” on Xinjiang situation.

In response to the smear campaign against Xinjiang, many residents expressed their anger in their emails to Bachelet, the Global Times learned. For example, Zaynur Namatqari, a former trainee from a vocational education and training center in Shufu county of Kashi Prefecture, wrote in the email that female trainees’ rights had been protected and no one had been assaulted.

“The so- called reports on ‘ female trainees being sexually assaulted,’ ‘ male trainees being tortured,’ or the training centers are ‘ concentration camps’ are lies made by the BBC and other Western media!” said Zaynur.

Residents in Xinjiang have witnessed the fundamental changes of the region, from being battered by terrorist attacks to the current stability. Some victims of terror attacks shared their stories in the emails.

For a long time, biased reports on China’s Xinjiang, disinformation and lies made by anti- China forces were widespread and affected many people in the international community, including Bachelet, who were under great pressure if they wanted to call for a fair view of Xinjiang.

Wang Jiang, an expert at the Institute of China’s Borderland Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, said that the emails showed Xinjiang residents’ sincere hope that the international community was not being fooled by anti- China forces.