Alleged "demographic genocide" totally baseless, says Xinjiang report

A family spends time together in Bachu county, Kashgar prefecture, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on July 21, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

URUMQI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The population in Xinjiang has grown continuously in recent years and the so-called "demographic genocide" is baseless, said a research report released by northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Thursday.

According to the report by the Xinjiang development research center, the growth of the Uygur ethnic group is higher than that of the total population of the region, and the rights of ethnic minorities, including Uygur people, have been fully guaranteed.

Adrian Zenz, an anti-China scholar in Germany, one-sidedly quoted data and reports with ulterior motives, claiming that "Xinjiang's natural population growth has declined dramatically," said the center's report, which was published on the website of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.

Zenz's claim neither conforms to scientific research methods and academic norms nor accords with the reality in Xinjiang, it noted.

From 2010 to 2018, Xinjiang's permanent population increased by 3.05 million, or 13.99 percent, to reach 24.87 million. In the period, the Uygur population increased by 2.55 million, or 25.04 percent, to 12.72 million, while the population of the Han ethnic group in the region increased by 176,900, or 2.0 percent, to reach 9 million, said the report.

The report pointed out the growth of the Uygur population is higher than that of the region's total population, the population of all ethnic minorities, and the Han ethnic group.

A decline in Xinjiang's population growth in 2018 is a result of the full implementation of the family planning policy, the economic and social development as well as the change of fertility ideas of people of all ethnic groups, said the research.

The trend of world population development shows that the higher the level of economic and social development, the stronger the people's concept of self-value realization and healthy birth and upbringing.

Xinjiang is an arid region which faces desertification, a rapidly growing population, and a shortage of arable land, according to the report.

The implementation of family planning by Xinjiang is not only an implementation of the basic state policy, but also the objective demand for achieving coordinated and sustainable development of the population, economy, society, environment, and resources, the report said.

With the continuous economic and social development in Xinjiang, the living conditions of people of all ethnic groups have fundamentally improved, which has promoted the steady improvement of population quality, it added.