Photo: Xinhua

 
The regional government of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region  mounted a firm rebuttal on Thursday at the latest smear campaign against China's policy in the region by foreign media outlets based on the so-called leaked Karakax list, saying the list is purely baseless assumption and has "no value" whatsoever.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, the spokesperson of  the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region clarified that among the 311 people mentioned in the so-called Karakax list, only 19 have overseas relations, who have never received vocational education and training, which is completely different from what is provided in the so called leaked list.   

Adrian Zenz's "research report" is completely based on subjective assumptions and groundless conjectures, which cannot stand scrutiny, does not conform with the facts, and has no value at all, the spokesperson said. 

Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow in China Studies at the far-right Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, released a report on Monday, claiming that he obtained a new series of "leaked documents" on Xinjiang, which he referred to as the "Karakax list."

The documents on which Zenz made his “research” were fabricated and made by “East Turkistan” forces and colluding domestic and overseas forces, the spokesperson said.

The "Karakax list" are documents that have 137 pages, 667 records of the personal details of more than 300 people who Western media alleged had been to the training centers in Xinjiang as well as some information of their family members in the county of Karakax, a place called Moyu in the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang. 

Some Western media outlets, including CNN, cited Zenz in their reports and criticized Xinjiang's counter-terrorism measures.

Zenz alleged that the 311 people in the list who all came from Moyu county, Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang, all had overseas relations and were detained at vocational education and training centers due to various reasons. 

However, the Xinjiang regional spokesperson said that after careful investigation, they found that the majority of the 311 people on the list have been working and living normally, except for a very few, who had been affected by religious extremism and committed minor offenses, and thus had received vocational education and training. 

While denouncing Adrian Zenz's "research report" as baseless, the Xinjiang spokesperson said that some Western media went so far as to see this groundless list with one eye, citing Adrian Zenz's ridiculous conclusion to hype the stories of the so-called victims.

"They are simply reusing corny tricks to mislead public opinion and to try to deceive the people of the world," the spokesperson told the Global Times.

File photo: GT

 
Truth about persons listed  

By identifying the person and other information on the "Karakax list," the Global Times tried to trace a person, Memet Eli, who fits most of the description on the list. However, by talking to Memet, the Global Times found that much of the information about him on the list was distorted. 

Memet lives in Bositan street in Moyu county. He got to know his information was revealed on the list when he accepted the Global Times interview.

The information about Memet in the list said he lives in Yipulazha community, his father died and her 65-year-old mother is named Abasihan.

However, Memet actually lives in the Xiwang community of Bositan. His father is still alive and his mother is actually 72 years old, whose name is Mayishan.

The list also claimed his second elder brother has been sentenced to 19 years in jail for participating in a terrorist organization and his second younger brother was sentenced to 10 years in prison for disturbing social order in February 2018. 

However, Memet told the Global Times that he only has one elder brother and his second younger brother has never been to jail. "I just spoke to him on the phone," he said.

Memet said he had volunteered to study at the vocational education and training center from August 2018 to May 2019. 

He said that he developed the extremist ideas from watching terrorism videos and also violated the national family planning policy. 

"Later, I heard that law was taught in the vocational education and training center. Although I think my Putonghua is okay, my legal knowledge is poor. So I wanted to go to the center to study law and other skills for better development." 

Fresh attack on China 

The so-called Karakax list released since Monday was the third round of siege started by some Western, US-based NGOs and Western scholars against Xinjiang to smear China's Xinjiang policies. And judging from the way these topics were hyped, there is a possibility that some intelligence agencies may also be involved, analysts said.

Zenz had his own ambitions.  He has been lifted out of obscurity and become a "world leading" expert by hyping topics on Xinjiang to collude with the US and make trouble for China,  a scholar who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Some Western reports as well as Zenz's article also noted that like other information on Xinjiang, the "leaked documents" were also provided to them by "Uygurs in exile" and the interviewees in the reports are living overseas. 

The anonymous expert said that "East Turkistan" forces are always a major source to some Western media as they offer negative news, "leaked documents" to cater to anti-China's forces' purpose and seek personal gains. How could these sources be reliable given their main purpose is to smear China?

China's counter-terrorism expert who preferred to be called Hua Xiqiang told the Global Times that it has become routine that some East Turkestan terrorist organizations or religious organizations supported by the US and Europe receive foreign funding and use the voices of Western MPs and media to criticize China under the banner of human rights issues.

Hua said it is possible intelligence agencies of Europe and the US are involved in the "document leak" and the hyping of the topics.

Training center graduates 

The spokesperson of Xinjiang told the Global Times on Thursday thatI would like to reiterate that Xinjiang's vocational education and training program has always been based on facts, laws and followed judicial procedure, and has been carried out according to law," the spokesperson said. 

"It is fair to say that the only standard for deciding who should receive the education and rehabilitation at the centers was whether the person had committed terrorist or extremist offenses or crimes, regardless of his or her ethnic, religious, social relations and cultural background," said the spokesperson. 

So far, all the trainees participating in education and training programs of standard spoken and written Chinese, understanding of the law, vocational skills and deradicalization at the centers have graduated and found stable jobs with the help of the government. 

They now have a better quality of life. Some of them work for factories and companies, some have started their own businesses, and some have chosen to enhance their capabilities by going for further study at secondary vocational schools or higher vocational colleges. 

The trainee graduates who work in enterprises sign labor contracts with the employers according to the Labor Law and Labor Contract Law, just like other employees. They get paid not lower than the minimum wage standard specified by the local government. Thanks to that, families of many graduates have gotten rid of poverty, according to the spokesperson. 

Despite accusations from some Western media, more countries in the world and the international community have recognized China's policies in Xinjiang. Thanks to the sacrifice and efforts made by Xinjiang people, there have been no violent attacks in Xinjiang, which has brought stability to Central Asia and contributed to the world's counter-terrorism efforts, Chinese experts said.

West's political tool 

Erkin Oncan, a Turkish journalist who has followed Xinjiang issues for years, told the Global Times on Thursday that one should not think of Western media as an independent institution. It is no secret that the Western media act according to the political agendas of the Western countries and serve as their propaganda tool.

"They continue to publish the same reports [about Xinjiang], although they have been proven many times that they were lies. In other words, they don't know the story, but they're still trying to write the book," Oncan said. 

What matters to them is not the Uygur people, but hostility toward the Chinese government, he said.

Oncan found the article about the list not a "surprise" for people who have read too many Xinjiang articles from Western media. 

For example, you cannot see a serious difference in an article published last year on the same subject as the latest article. Arguments, fiction, testimonies are always the same. And the target is the same: the Chinese Communist Party, he said. 

"Historically, whatever and who the Western countries targeted, it is possible to see news institutions working in parallel with that 'target' - mostly for manipulation and orientation purposes."