Photo: GT

Ambassador Liu Xiaoming slammed Western media fake news on issues relating to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during a press conference Thursday, noting that the issues have nothing to do with human rights, ethnic groups or religions, but rather the fighting against violent terrorism, separatism and extremists.

There are many fallacies and lies that permeate Western media and some Western countries have been using Xinjiang related issues to discredit China and interfere in China's internal affairs, Liu noted.

Liu refuted a video clip the BBC showed him during a recent interview, which claimed to show a large number of Uygurs detained in Xinjiang. The video is actually showing a normal transfer of prisoners in the region, according to local authorities.

"The fact is Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region is one of the five ethnic autonomous regions in China. It is home to many ethnic groups, including 13 ethnic groups…the Chinese government protects the lawful rights and interests of people of all ethnic groups, big or small in population," Liu noted. 

Liu played a variety of videos introducing the real Xinjiang during the press conference. 

One of the videos shows a terrorist attack on July 5th, 2009, which killed 197 and injured more than 1,700 people in Xinjiang. 

Since the regional government of Xinjiang struck back at violent terrorist activities in accordance with law and adopted de-radicalization measures, there has not been a single terrorist attack for more than three years in Xinjiang, Liu noted.

UK has changed 

Liu also made remarks on China-UK and China-US relations.

China's willingness to develop a partnership with the UK has not changed, but there have been major changes and serious deviations in the UK, including its criticism of the national security law for Hong Kong and its recent ban on the use of Huawei equipment in the country's 5G network, said Liu.

In answering a question about Huawei's connection to the China government, Liu explained that he thinks there's no question the government is working for the business interests of the country. "We treat every Chinese business as equal. We hope we were succeeding. It's a win-win," he said.

The issue of Huawei is not about how the UK sees and deals with the Chinese company, it is about how the UK sees and deals with China. Does it see China as an opportunity, a partner, or a threat and rival, according to Liu. 

China-UK relations should be based on basic three principles: mutual respect; noninterference in each other's internal affairs; treat each other as equals and partners, according to Liu.

No interest in new cold war 

"It's the other side of the Pacific Ocean [the US] that wants to start a new cold war with China. So we have to make response to that. We have no interest in any cold war," Liu said in response to rising US-China tensions. 

"The US wants to blame China for its problems and US politicians think they need an enemy or a cold war to win the election, but we have no interest," Liu said. 

"We keep telling Americans that China is not your enemy. China is your friend, is your partner. Your enemy is the virus. I hope the US politicians focus on fighting the virus, focus on saving lives instead of blaming China," he said.