Everything Xinjiang has done is above board: local lawmaker

A joint video promotion event for Xinjiang with the Chinese embassy in Britain is held in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Everything that China's Xinjiang has done is open, above board, and for the well-being of people of all ethnic groups in the region, said the head of the regional legislative body on Friday.

Xinjiang once suffered deeply from ethnic separatism, violent terrorism, and religious extremism. From the 1990s to 2016, the "three forces" at home and abroad committed thousands of terrorist cases in Xinjiang, resulting in the deaths of many innocent people and incalculable property losses, said Shewket Imin, director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The region has taken various preventive counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures, such as through vocational education and training, to fight terrorism in line with the law and the principle and spirit of UN anti-terrorism resolutions, he said.

The lawmaker made the remarks at a joint video promotion event for Xinjiang with the Chinese embassy in Britain.

In the past four years, the region has reported no terrorist cases, meeting the aspirations of local people for security and stability, Shewket Imin said.

He also briefed on the region's economic and social development achievements, such as railways and expressways that now connect all prefectures and cities in the vast region.

In recent years, the region has implemented targeted poverty alleviation policies through developing industries, employment, and resident relocation from inhospitable places to win the battle against poverty, he said.

Xinjiang's achievements in eradicating absolute poverty have benefited 3.07 million rural residents, who now have access to medical insurance, compulsory education, safe housing and safe drinking water, he said.