U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters after a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation at the United Nations headquarters in New York, December 12, 2018. Photo: Xinhua

China again strongly responded to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday against his false and misleading accusations against China's governance in its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. 

This is the second day in a row for the Chinese Foreign Ministry to criticize Pompeo for his false statements. On Monday, the Chinese FM said Pompeo's remarks on the security risks of Huawei were "filled with lies and fallacies."

"Mr. Pompeo lacks a basic understanding of Xinjiang and has no intention of knowing what a real Xinjiang is like," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at Tuesday's press conference.

"The more he performs, the more he exposes his real aim… And any attempt under the disguise of religion and human rights to interfere in China's internal affairs is doomed to fail," Geng added. 

Pompeo recently claimed that there are at least a million Muslims detained in "re-education camps" in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and China has long undermined religious freedom for local Muslims.

Geng said that Pompeo's remarks were all "trumped-up," as there are no "re-education camps" at all. "The reality is that the local government of Xinjiang is setting up vocational skills education and training centers to help China's ethnic minorities threatened by terrorism and extremism to acquire skills and better integrate in society," Geng said.

He also noted that there are 24,400 mosques in Xinjiang, 10 times more than in the US. People, media and publishing houses also have the right to use their own language according to China's law.

"Pompeo's words and deeds are improper for a US secretary of state. He is not only detrimental to the interests of the US, but also detrimental to the prospects of China-US relations," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Li also noted that Pompeo is aiming to erode China's soft power globally. When it comes to China's issues, he doesn't care about what is right and wrong and goes straight to tarnishing the image of China, which is disgraceful.

The expert said the US habit of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is caused by their superiority complex. However, it is funny to see the superiority complex in sharp contrast to America's anti-globalization behavior, which brings harm to the people of the world.

"China has its own pace, and I hope Pompeo's statements are just a bump in the two sides' relations, as the stability of China-US relations is in both countries' interests," Li said.