Interview: Turkish journalist refutes U.S. mud-slinging at China on Xinjiang

ISTANBUL, July 21 (Xinhua) -- "In contrast to how it is presented in the West, I witnessed a different Xinjiang," a veteran Turkish journalist told Xinhua recently, refuting the Western rhetoric of so-called "human rights" violation or "forced labor" in the region.

Recalling his nearly two-week tour in Xinjiang in 2019, Tunc Akkoc, the former general manager of Turkish daily Aydinlik, said, "It was fascinating to explore how happy those people were."

"I have been quite impressed by the cultural liberty," he said, adding that he was amazed by Xinjiang's economic and social development when seeing many modern hospitals, high-technology factories, and smart farming facilities.

However, the West, especially the United States, has been using and provoking "people with separatist and extremist sentiments" in Western countries to launch and conduct "hostile political campaigns" against China on the so-called Xinjiang issue, the analyst said.

To defame China, "the United States fabricates fake news, employs phony witnesses, and schemes," repeatedly accusing China under the pretext of "human rights," trumping up "forced labor" in Xinjiang, Akkoc noted.

"In other words, this is a comprehensive smear campaign rarely seen in the international arena," he said.

In Akkoc's opinion, the United States is not eligible at all to be a "human rights" lecturer.

"Let's name it, the U.S. is not a democratic country. It is a country where human rights violations are very intense," he said.

"On top of it, the U.S. has been committing crimes against humanity for decades all over the world," he added, referring to its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

What comes after the "smear campaign" is that the United States uses the "forced labor" allegation to justify imposing embargoes on Chinese cotton, seafood, electronic equipment, and many other product categories and imposing sanctions on Chinese companies.

Akkoc said he believes that behind all these fake news and sanctions lies is the U.S. growing anxiety over losing its status of dominating the world economy to China.

"Therefore, the U.S. has decided not to play the game by the rules," said the analyst, noting that Washington has made the world increasingly unsafe by following a "dishonest and unjust" path and has undermined globalization through a series of embargoes.

"On the other side, the United States also shoots itself in the foot because the strategy of decoupling from the world economy will cause more damage to its economy in the medium and long term," he noted.