Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Photo:Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"The door of Xinjiang is open, and we welcome people from all countries to visit Xinjiang and exchange opinions," said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday. 

While some forces with ulterior motives keep hyping the affairs in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the truth is that over the past 60 years, the total economic volume of Xinjiang has increased 160 times, the per capita gross regional product has increased 30 times, the population of the Uygur ethnic group has grown from 2.2 million to about 12 million, and the life expectancy has increased from 30 to 74.7, Wang pointed out when addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday. 

"For every 530 Muslims in Xinjiang, there is one mosque, a higher ratio than in many Western and Muslim countries," Wang said. "The so-called genocide, forced labor and religious oppression are all fabricated lies."

Wang said that China welcomes all unbiased foreigners to visit Xinjiang, and that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is welcome to visit China and its Xinjiang region in the near future. 

It is the unremitting pursuit of the members of the Communist Party of China to respect and protect human rights, Wang said, noting that China's 770 million rural people have been lifted out of poverty and the problem of absolute poverty has been addressed. 

"In the fight against COVID-19, we put people first and life first, and we have protected the life and health of every person." 

Wang said that China will unswervingly follow the path of human rights development, which is in line with the trend of the times and appropriate to its national conditions in the future. It will also adhere to the people-centered concept of human rights, continuously develop people's democracy in the whole process, promote common prosperity for all people, and protect the human rights of the Chinese people at a higher level. 

China will also continue to actively participate in UN human rights affairs as a true practitioner of human rights protection, a faithful guardian of people's interests, an active contributor to common development, and a firm defender of fairness and justice.

Wang noted that the Beijing Winter Olympic Games successfully ended a week ago, injecting confidence and strength into the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Winter Paralympic Games are about to kick off.

"Let us unite to carry forward the common values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, and jointly promote the healthy development of global human rights and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind," Wang said.

The high-level segment of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council runs from Monday to Wednesday.