People dance outside the Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, May 22, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

The government of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Monday slammed the New York Times' latest report on Xinjiang, stating the article based on the so-called internal documents, is news fabricated by anti-China forces at home and abroad with evil intentions.  

The article, based on the so-called leaked files from Xinjiang released by the New York Times was fabricated by internal and external anti-China forces which colluded with each other. The article was full of lies and maliciously made, a Xinjiang spokesperson said in a statement released on ts.cn on Monday.

The New York Times released a report on Saturday, claiming that more than 400 pages of internal Chinese documents shared to the newspaper "provide an unprecedented inside look at the crackdown on ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region." 

"Making fake news to attract attention is the usual way used by the New York Times, and the newspaper once suffered a trust crisis due to fake news.  It played tricks again. And the despicable deeds would be despised by the international community," read Xinjiang's Monday statement.

More than 1,000 foreign officials, members of international organizations, media groups, religious groups and experts have visited Xinjiang and praised Xinjiang's experience on counter-terrorism and de-radicalization, according to the Monday statement.

Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson also on Monday slammed The New York Times' latest report on Xinjiang, stating the so-called internal document is a "lousy patchwork" and is cherry-picked out of context to smear China's counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts in Xinjiang.

Since 2015, China has released seven white papers on Xinjiang-related issues, including those on Xinjiang's counter-terrorism and deradicalization efforts as well as the work on vocational education and training in Xinjiang, which help explain all issues clearly, Geng said.  

From 2009 to 2016, hundreds of terrorist attacks gripped Xinjiang, claiming many innocent lives. Under this circumstance, Xinjiang has taken strict measures to fight against terrorism and deal with the problems from the root to protect residents' basic human rights and safeguard communities from the threat of terrorism and extremism. 

There have been no violent attacks in Xinjiang for three years and people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang sincerely support the regional government's counter-terrorism measures, Geng said.  

The New York Times turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the above facts and tried to smear China's efforts on counter-terrorism in Xinjiang. "What is its purpose?" Geng said. 

"We will continue to do our own jobs well; implement our policy in Xinjiang and carry on to build Xinjiang into a better place. Xinjiang's sustaining development and prosperity, the unity among different ethnic groups and the harmony of the society would be the best response to some media and people's accusations," Geng said. 

Global Times