Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang at the press conference Photo: Foreign Ministry website

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent remarks on Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are "clichés full of political bias and lies," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday.

What Pompeo said has once again "exposed his double standards on issues of anti-terrorism and de-radicalization" and clearly showed "his malicious attempt of using Xinjiang issues to interfere with China's domestic affairs." 

 Pompeo told a press conference on Tuesday that a recent leaked document "confirmed" China is committing "human rights abuses" in Xinjiang, Reuters reported. 

BBC reported on Sunday night that it got "official" documents which detail China's "brainwashing" of Muslims in Xinjiang. It said the leak was made to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has worked with 17 media partners, including BBC Panorama and The Guardian newspaper in the UK.

Some media are using despicable methods to hype China's domestic affairs in Xinjiang and smear China's anti-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts, Geng said on Monday. 

Geng reiterated China's stance on Xinjiang policies on Wednesday and said there are no issues related to ethnic groups, religion or human rights in Xinjiang. The regional government is taking measures to counter terrorism and extremism. 

Geng noted there were a few thousand terrorist attacks in Xinjiang between 1990 to 2016 which caused numerous deaths and property losses. Since Xinjiang began anti-terrorism measures, there has not been a violent attack in three years. 

People in Xinjiang are living a happy life now. In Pompeo's logic, "should these people object to these active measures? Should they rather live under the shadow of extremism and terrorist attacks," Geng said. 

The Chinese government constitutionally protects all its citizens' religious freedom. China has a religious population of 200 million, with more than 20 million of them being Muslim. Xinjiang has 24,000 mosques which is approximately a mosque for every 530 worshippers. 

"All this information can be found in the seven white papers on Xinjiang released by the Chinese government since 2015. Apparently, certain people in the US don't lack  access for more information. They just have no conscience or courage to admit the truth," Geng said. 

Geng also mentioned that China has always welcomed foreigners who insist the principle of justice and objectivity to visit Xinjiang. There have been more than 1,000 foreign diplomats, officials from international organizations and media who visited Xinjiang and saw the achievements made in anti-terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang with their own eyes. 

"I also need to reiterate that Xinjiang affairs are China's domestic affairs and we allow no anti-China forces to point fingers," Geng said. 

"We will carry on implementing policies in Xinjiang as the region's prosperity, ethnic solidarity and social harmony would be the best response to rumors on Xinjiang," Geng said.