The recent “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020,” recently signed into law by the U.S., reflects the country’s extreme ignorance of human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Though some U.S. politicians repeatedly vowed to defend “human rights” in Xinjiang, 25 million residents living in the region were never asked what they want.

A lively food market in Xinjiang. Photo by Cui Meng / Global Times

China Media Group's China Global Television Network has released three documentaries on the fight against terrorism in Xinjiang since last year, attracting 1 billion views.

Chinese netizens have highly aligned views on the documentaries: they want to see a stable Xinjiang with lasting peace. “As a resident in Xinjiang, I really appreciate counter-terrorism officers for saving lives in the region and feel sad that some foreign politicians slandered their efforts. I wish peace in my hometown, a beautiful and affluent land,” said a netizen from the region.

From the 1990s to the end of 2016, thousands of violent terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang as a result of instigation by the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other terrorist forces. Victims of those violent terrorist attacks testify to the hypocrisy of the new so-called law.

When Dilqemer Tursun, a girl who is good at singing and dancing, lost her leg to a bomb attack in 2014, did U.S. politicians see?

When Rozalahong, an ETIM member, forced his six-year-old son to shoot, did U.S. politicians hear the boy crying?

When Xia Yeling, a psychologist, said she has been treating patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for the past decade due to the July 5 riots in 2009 in the capital city of Xinjiang, what did U.S. politicians think?

However, when no violent terrorist incident has occurred in Xinjiang for over 40 months since China has taken counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures, some U.S. politicians, agitated and flustered, signed into law the unwarranted act.

The right to life and development are the most basic human rights. It is China’s counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures that guarantee such rights for tens of millions of residents in Xinjiang.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xinjiang’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 8.5 percent, and the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents rose by an annual average of 8.4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively.

From January to October in 2019, Xinjiang received over 200 million tourists, generating over 300 billion yuan (over $42 million) in revenue, an average increase of more than 40 percent year-on-year.

The vocational education and training centers established in accordance with law in Xinjiang, which are not essentially different from the community corrections programs launched by the U.S. and the UK’s Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP), have effectively curbed the breeding and spread of terrorism.

U.S. magazine International Focus published an article titled “A Journey to the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China” in its May 2019 issue, saying that people in the centers were learning a vocational skill and being taught a better way of life. “They were well fed, and they had good sleeping conditions,” the article reads, adding that people there have their freedom of religious belief fully protected.

"If the centers had not existed, those young culprits would have ended up in prison. I wonder if those in the West who harshly criticize the centers in Xinjiang would be happier for the fate of those young people?" said Vadim Pisarevich, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Some U.S. politicians were impatient to label vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang tabloid “concentration camps” and “re-education camps” based on interviews with eight people. They were playing with words, so as to cover up the truth with lies, spread rumors despite facts, and make trouble regardless of reason and justice.

The move is nothing more than what U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “We lied, we cheated, we stole...” in a speech in 2019.

The “human rights issues” in Xinjiang fabricated by the U.S. reflect its attempts to split China and hinder the country’s growth under the cloak of human rights.

It is the U.S. that should have seriously reflected on its human rights conditions after the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council condemned violent policing on June 19, after the death of George Floyd, an African-American man.

According to an annual report issued by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on June 18, an unprecedented 79.5 million were displaced as of the end of 2019. Among the countries with a large number of refugees, Syria, Venezuela and others are sanctioned by the U.S.

The U.S. has long been notorious for its double standards on issues including counter-terrorism and human rights.

People who fan the flames of trouble are accomplices. Some U.S. politicians had better not to do so. The international community will surely realize the truth about Xinjiang, and the autonomous region will enjoy lasting peace.