Artists play music in Kashi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on June 12, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese people, especially those living in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are more qualified than those who live in Europe and have never been to Xinjiang to speak about what is really happening in the region, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a press conference on Friday, in response to the European Parliament's accusation on China's Xinjiang policies.

"We have reiterated our stance on the Xinjiang topic many times and released seven white papers since 2015… Xinjiang affairs are China's domestic affairs. We firmly oppose anyone, any force, who interferes in China's domestic affairs by hyping the Xinjiang topic," Geng Shuang, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry told a press conference on Friday. 

A press release from the European Parliament on Thursday said MEPs "express serious concern about China's repression of the Uyghurs" and "called on the Chinese government to close" the vocational training and education centers in Xinjiang. 

"We urge the European side to avoid double standards on countering terrorism and make concrete and positive efforts to promote China-EU ties," Geng said. 

The spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the EU responded in a release on Friday that "Xinjiang-related issues are not about human rights, ethnicity or religion, but about the fight against violence, terrorism and separatism."

The spokesperson said that recently, the Chinese media released two documentaries on Xinjiang's counter-terrorism work and disclosed the terrorist group, the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" (ETIM), was the black hand behind many terrorist attacks in China. It's a pity to see that the European Parliament showed no attention to the truth but streamed some videos that claimed terrorist activities were due to China's "oppression" of ethnic groups and smeared China's policies in Xinjiang. 

These deeds were against the truth, turned white to black and made lies. They go against the morality and conscientiousness, the basic principle of international laws and relations and interfered with China's domestic affairs," said the spokesperson. 

Some European politicians claimed that there are millions of trainees in the training centers. However, the spokesperson said that trainees who had been influenced by extremism graduated and they now have stable jobs and live happy lives. 

Improving and developing human rights are a shared mission for every country in the world. It is confusing to see that some members of the European Parliament do not engage in serious research on how to deal with their own problems on the human rights issues of refugees, racism, violence crimes or gender discrimination, but are eager to judge and smear other countries' human rights situation, said the spokesmen. 

He called on EU Parliament members to cast away bias and put more efforts to deal with their own problems.