Countries pledge to deepen economic ties with Xinjiang
A number of countries have vowed to develop closer economic ties with the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region as it seeks to expand its international influence amid human rights abuse allegations.
Attending a reception organised by Xinjiang officials in Beijing on Wednesday, ambassadors from South Africa, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Syria and Turkey told the region’s authorities that they hoped to strengthen economic ties.
More than 50 diplomats from 49 countries, including 21 ambassadors, attended the reception. It was the largest of several similar events organised by the region’s officials in recent years.
The event coincided with Eid ul-Fitr, the Muslim festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Xinjiang is home to 25.85 million people, 14.93 million of whom are members of ethnic minority groups, including the Muslim Uygurs and Kazakhs.
Beijing has been accused of human rights violations and using forced labour in Xinjiang – which it has denied. The Xinjiang government has become more proactive in recent years in promoting the region’s economic development, especially its status as a core area of the Belt and Road Initiative, in the hopes of improving its international image.
Turkish ambassador Ismail Hakki Musa said Xinjiang could play a role in the Middle Corridor, also called the Trans-Caspian
International Transport Route (TITR), an Ankara-backed Eurasian trade route.
The Uygurs, who speak a Turkic language, share cultural and linguistic ties with Turkish Muslims. Relations between Beijing and Ankara were once strained over Xinjiang but have eased in recent years as a result of closer economic relations.
Kazakhstan’s ambassador, Shakhrat Nuryshev, said Xinjiang had a “special place” in his country’s ties with Beijing. Around 1.6 million ethnic Kazakhs live in Xinjiang.
Central Asian countries are a priority for Xinjiang authorities in developing external relations.
Ties have warmed over the past decade as Xinjiang’s security situation has improved and countries in the region have played a growing role in the belt and road – Beijing’s ambitious plan to build global trade and infrastructure links.
In a speech at the reception, Syrian ambassador Muhammad Hassanein Khalil Khaddam decried the “lies of some Western countries”, referring to allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Mohsen Bakhtiyar, Iran’s ambassador, said his country “links China and the West through Xinjiang”, adding that there were great opportunities for cooperation between Iran and Xinjiang in areas such as energy and minerals.
Pakistan’s ambassador, Khalilur-Rahman Hashmi, said Islamabad hoped to deepen cooperation with Xinjiang in trade, investment and other areas.
Xinjiang has sent multiple official delegations abroad in the past two years, and the region has frequently hosted foreign envoys, religious representatives and media figures.
Erkin Tuniyaz, Xinjiang’s regional government chairman and one of the officials sanctioned by the US for alleged human rights abuses, said the region had protected religious freedom, particularly the “healthy and orderly development” of Islam.
Chen Xiaodong, vice-minister of foreign affairs, said Beijing would actively promote Xinjiang’s opening to the outside world. He added that he hoped the envoys would promote Xinjiang to the world and resist “lies about forced labour”.
Ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Dominica, Georgia, Pakistan, Qatar and Serbia, among others, also attended the reception.