Commentary: Lies about China reveal Western hypocrisy

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The fact that some Western politicians and media outlets are practicing double standards on human rights and using it as a weapon in an information war against China is becoming the consensus of more and more people.

Examples of Western hypocrisy include allegations concerning boarding schools in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region and so-called "forced labor" in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China.

Boarding schools are common in China and the world. In sparsely-populated Xizang, it ensures fair education. These schools, which are totally voluntary, provide traditional culture courses, such as Tibetan language and literature and folk dance and traditional food. Students are free to wear traditional dresses at school.

It must be pointed out that boarding schools in Xizang are totally different from those aimed at "forced assimilation" in history in some Western powers. For example, in the 19th and 20 centuries, Indian children in the United States were forced to attend boarding schools and banned from speaking their native language, wearing their traditional clothes, or carrying out traditional activities, thus erasing their language, culture and identity in an act of cultural genocide.

The attacks and smear campaigns against boarding schools in Xizang amount to attempts to destroy the children's right to education and depriving the region of its right to development and progress.

Lies are lies. The "forced labor" in Xinjiang, which some Western countries have alleged, is the same kind of lies with the same despicable purposes. An audit commissioned by Volkswagen has been a slap in the face for rumormongers. No indication of forced labor was found at the company's plant in Xinjiang, the German carmaker said in December last year.

The myth of "forced labor" in Xinjiang has also been debunked by other firms. Responding to reports alleging forced labor at a shoe factory in south China it sources products from, Skechers said in a March 2021 statement that none of its multiple audits of the factory -- in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 -- had revealed any indication of the use of forced labor or other concerning labor conditions.

As a matter of fact, the United States is fraught with serious forced labor. The University of Denver's website disclosed that there are currently at least 500,000 people living under modern slavery and forced labor in the United States. Forced labor is a particularly prominent and prevalent issue across 23 industries, such as domestic service, agriculture, planting, tourism sales, catering, medical care and beauty.

Both Xizang and Xinjiang have achieved unprecedented progress in human rights. The two autonomous regions are the epitome of China's human rights development and progress. With a people-centered human rights philosophy, China has found a path toward better human rights that follows the trend of the times and fits its national realities, and made historic progress in its human rights cause, with people from all ethnic groups enjoying a greater sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.

China's human rights progress has gained prevailing recognition internationally. Western lies will never cover up the truth and the facts, only to expose more about the true hypocrisy and double standards of the rumormongers.