BEIJING, Dec 24 (APP)::China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region enjoys social stability and sound economic development while people belonging to all ethnic groups including Muslims are living in complete harmony, a senior official said on Tuesday.
“Our anti-extremism and anti-terrorism efforts are not against any particular
religion or ethnic group,” Xi Guixiang, Deputy Director of Publicity Department
of Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region and relevant experts said while briefing
foreign media here.
He said the region’s government fully protects normal religious activities and needs of believers and makes great efforts to improve the conditions of religious venues and activities.
“We protect believers’ normal religious activities and needs and make great efforts to improve the conditions of religious venues and activities,” he added.
About efforts for fighting and preventing terrorism, the official said from 1999 to the end of 2016, separatist, terrorist and extremist forces launched thousands of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, killing ordinary people, assassinating religious leaders, endangering public security, attacking government organs, and planning riots.
So far, Xinjiang has seen no violent terrorist attack for three consecutive years, with infiltration of extremism being effectively contained, he added.
He said the training centers and vocational education are designed to save those who committed minor crimes or offences, adding, all the trainees have graduated and got jobs with the support of government.
Xu informed that China and Islamic countries have friendly relations and China believes in non-interference. “Islamic countries have given us strong support, Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) adopted a resolution in our support and appreciated China for protecting the rights of people particularly Muslims.”
He said that ambassadors and senior diplomats and journalists from various countries visited Xinjiang and expressed their complete satisfaction over the situation in the province.
In a joint declaration, a number of foreign ambassadors based in Beijing rejected propaganda against China regarding its measure to bring stability in Xinjiang.
Rexiati Musajiang from Hotan said, Xinjiang is the biggest province that has borders with eight countries. It is home to multi-ethnic minority groups and 24 million local people practice different religions.
Xinjiang has seen a tourism boom in recent years. The number of tourists to Xinjiang exceeded 150 million last year, up 40.1 percent. The region is expected to welcome over 200 million tourists this year, he added.
He said the more than 200 million people including foreign tourists have visited Xinjiang this year.
About poverty alleviation efforts, he said more than 2.38 million people in Xinjiang have been lifted out of poverty since 2014 and the people in the region are now enjoying a growing sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.
In Xinjiang, there are more than 24,000 mosques, representing a mosque for every 530 Muslims on average.
A short video containing CCTV camera recordings of different terrorist attacks in Xinjiang during the last decade was also shown during the briefing.
