Local residents dance while attending a feast with neighbors in Tacheng, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheng Li)

An online event was held to introduce Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to more outsiders on Thursday with ambassadors from many countries attending to listen to stories of former trainees of Xinjiang's education centers, imams, and female representatives.

The event, themed "Xinjiang is a Wonderful Land" was jointly held by the Xinjiang regional government and China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland via video link. Diplomats from many countries, including Laos, Pakistan and Zimbabwe as well as officials from UN agencies attended.  

Ambassador Chen Xu said at the event that over the years, Xinjiang has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development and improvements of people's livelihoods. At present, Xinjiang enjoys stability and people there live and work in peace and happiness.

"However, certain countries and forces hate to see what Xinjiang enjoys today… They deliberately distort facts, wantonly slander and smear China... Some politicians have concocted lies and accused China of committing the so-called 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity,' Their acts are firmly opposed by the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," Chen said. 

Lies repeated a thousand times are still lies. They can neither change the fact that Xinjiang is prosperous and developing, and the people of all ethnic groups enjoy a happy life, nor can they stop Xinjiang's strides forward, said Chen. 

Erkin Tuniyaz, vice chairman of the region, also delivered a keynote speech and noted the event is intended to present the real Xinjiang for attendees to come to their own conclusions amid lies by some Western and the US politicians who accused China of committing genocide, forced labor and forced sterilization in the region. 

Representatives of graduated trainees from former vocational education and training centers appeared at the event and told stories of how they were influenced by extremism and how their lives have been changed after graduating from the centers. Representatives of residents and imams also attended the event to debunk the lies. 

Ramagul Hudabardi, a Uygur mother of three children, introduced her experience to refute the forced sterilization rumor. 

The old idea that women must stay home and give birth to tens of children has changed, and her three children are better cared for by the family and the social welfare system, she said, noting she got regular health checks during pregnancies and her children can receive free education until the end of high school. 

At the event, a video on how livestreaming promotion and e-commerce channels are helping Xinjiang residents sell their local specialties across the country was streamed and a video which introduced a student's life and study at a Xinjiang Islamic Institute gave audience a general impression of the reality in the region. 

Ambassador Kham-Inh Khitchadeth from Laos recalled his experience in visiting Xinjiang in 2019 and said that there is no "one-fit-for-all" approach in development patterns and the Chinese government has made great achievements in social development and human rights protection. 

The ambassador also suggested people should visit Xinjiang rather than listen to "fake news" about the region. 

In response to Cuba Ambassador Juan Quintanilla's question on how people in Xinjiang reacted to US former secretary of state Mike Pompeo's "genocide" accusation against Xinjiang, Gu Guixiang, a senior regional official said that this is a farce and the "lie of the century."

Anti-China forces' attempts to make trouble in Xinjiang or to draw Xinjiang back to the previous nightmare of frequent terrorist attacks are doomed to fail, Xu said.