Modern agriculture gaining ground in Xinjiang's cotton fields

The China Cotton Association on Thursday strongly condemned the restrictions launched by some US-led Western countries against the textile industrial chain and related products in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The association welcomes overseas industry organizations, brands and third-party institutes to visit Xinjiang for field studies. 

"We will promote environmentally-friendly, high quality and a traceable industry mode of cotton production and promote the image of Chinese cotton and related products," the association said in a statement on its official website on Thursday.  

The statement came after a press conference held by the Xinjiang regional government on Monday in which local officials said foreign enterprises are welcome to visit Xinjiang cotton producing areas and textile companies, talk to cotton growers to make a wise choice. They also denounced Western countries for putting a "genocide" label on Xinjiang.

Photo: ts.cn

On Tuesday, a delegation of 30 diplomats from over 20 countries including Russia, Iran, Nepal, and Pakistan visited Xinjiang.

Local media said during the visit, the delegation would visit Urumqi, Kashi, Aksu and other cities to take a tour of places for religious activities, poverty alleviation programs, boarding schools and other places.

The delegation also visited the exhibition on the anti-terrorism fight and understood the present situation of Xinjiang as well as de-extremism efforts in the region. They made positive comments on China's achievement on counterterrorism and hoped that the Chinese government will continue to take tough measures against terrorism and extremism.

On Thursday, the Iranian Embassy in China said on its official Sina Weibo account that Iranian diplomats went to a cotton factory in Aksu, Xinjiang. "We cannot say we have come to Xinjiang if we did not see the top quality Xinjiang cotton. What we saw is that the factory is at full speed to meet the demand," the embassy said.   

Some people made up "genocide" lies in Xinjiang. The root cause is they don't want to see China's development. What we saw there is an effort to eliminate poverty, which leads local people to better lives, said the Iranian Ambassador to China, who is visiting Xinjiang. 

Global Times