Children have fun in an alley at Qianjin Village in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 18, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Adrian Zenz, an anti-China pseudo-scholar from Germany, recently published a report accusing China of restricting Uygurs and other minority groups. Zenz made false claims that China was imposing sterilization procedures on ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It cited false statistics and highly misleading interviewees. 

His analysis and conclusion are neither in line with scientific research standards or spirit. Nor do they conform to the reality in the region. The rights and interests of Uygurs and other minorities have been fully protected with the finest family planning guidance.

Statistics show that the population in Xinjiang has continued to grow in recent years. From 2010 to 2018, the Uygur population increased by 25 percent, rising from 10.17 million to 12.71 million. 

In 2018, the birth rate of Uygurs in Xinjiang was 11.9 per thousand, compared with 9.42 per thousand of the birth rate of the Han population. It was also higher than the figure of the entire Xinjiang which stood at 10.69 per thousand. It is thus ridiculous, as Zenz blatantly does, to allege that China is carrying out a "demographic campaign of genocide".

Since 2018, population growth in the region has declined. Still, the region's population growth rate is higher than the average figure in other parts of China. In 2019, Xinjiang's population growth rate is 3.69 per thousand, while the number of the entire country is 3.34 per thousand.

This is a direct result of the successful implementation of the country's family-planning policy as well as local people's decisions to organize their families with fewer children. Ethnic minorities have enjoyed preferential treatment in China, particularly the national family-planning policy is relatively loose on them.

With the promotion of poverty alleviation program, as well as improving living standards and quality of education, more and more people from minority groups are tending to voluntarily delay marriage and childbirth.

Such reports as the one fabricated by Zenz are based on rumors and false material provided by pan-Turkists, and extremists who advocate Xinjiang's secession. Western scholars like Zenz, who have already held an anti-China stance, produce so-called academic papers to find faults with China. They are actually coordinating with the US strategy to contain China and disrupt our development. 

For quite a long time, certain forces in the international community (especially those from the West) keep hyping up Xinjiang-related affairs with erroneous information. Now, they are using population issues as a new lever to smear China. 

But their attempt is doomed to fail. They may bring some trouble to the Chinese people, as the government and think tanks have to show proof to refute their claims. But this is an opportunity to present the true side of the story to the world. 

Some Westerners wave a banner to "promote human rights in China". But the human rights of Uygurs and the Chinese people are never on the minds of these Westerners. By conflating sensational Xinjiang-related issues, they are trying to drive a wedge between different ethnicities in Xinjiang. They incite ethnic hatred in China. 

It is worth noting that Xinjiang has re-opened after 45 days of lockdown due to the coronavirus epidemic. But now, ethnic minorities in the US are still struggling in limbo due to the US government's poor handling of the epidemic, and the deep-rooted racial discrimination in US society. Now, a German "scholar" attacked China and Xinjiang, which is coordinating Western governments.

The human rights issue is the best tool the US and the West is deviously employing to attack China. This is not because they are on moral high ground. It is because China has different concepts regarding this topic. 

Those who attack China's human rights never dare to face the realities. Chinese people's living standard has greatly improved. Terrorism and violence in Xinjiang have been brought under control. People there now live in peace and tranquility. The extremely opinionated and inflated attacks on Xinjiang will never affect governance there - or anywhere in China. 

Western radical forces are expected to continue to play dirty tricks, like the latest accusation concerning Xinjiang's population, to pressure China. People in Xinjiang and the rest of China should not be affected by Western opinion. Preserving peace and stability fits the interests of all ethnicities in China. Compared with stability in Xinjiang and local people's welfare, what the West said is featherweight.

The article was compiled based on an interview with Li Weijian, a researcher at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn