Dear Editor,
The Great philosopher Socrates encourages his students to use three sieves, i.e truth, goodness and usefulness to speak of others. As the Chinese Embassy has noted that some newspapers in Guyana covered the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) “assessment” on Xinjiang, we wish the readers to be aware of the following truth and facts.
First, OHCHR drafted and released the so-called assessment without the mandate from the Human Rights Council or the consent of the Chinese Government, which is a serious violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and undermines the credibility and impartiality of the OHCHR. The so-called assessment is based on the presumption of guilt. It takes the words of a few anti-China separatists as the main source of information, while deliberately ignoring the authoritative information and objective materials provided by the Chinese Government, and therefore has no credibility. The so-called assessment distorts China’s laws and policies, smears China’s efforts against terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang, and diverges significantly from the statement issued by the High Commissioner for Human Rights after her visit to China. It has seriously tarnished the professionalism and integrity of human rights work, and interfered in and undermined the international human rights cooperation.
Second, the so-called assessment is purely a farce plotted by some Western countries and anti-China forces. They have been consistently pressing the High Commissioner and the OHCHR, and demanding the release of a so-called “assessment” on Xinjiang, so as to bring ammunitions to their political manipulation of Xinjiang-related issues. It is completely a politicized document that disregards facts, and reveals explicitly the attempt of some Western countries and anti-China forces to use human rights as a political tool.
Third, the so-called assessment is totally inconsistent with the actual situation in Xinjiang and finds no support. China pursues a people-centred approach and upholds that living a happy life is the primary human right, and has embarked on a human rights development path which conforms to the trend of the times and suits China’s national conditions. Xinjiang is a place that once suffered hugely from terrorist attacks. Yet thanks to the efforts against terrorism and extremism in accordance with law, Xinjiang has not had any terrorist incident in the past five years, and the human rights of people of all ethnic groups have been well protected. The people in Xinjiang are in the best position to tell the world what the human rights conditions are like there. People who have been to Xinjiang all agree that Xinjiang is a wonderful land. Fair-minded people can tell right from wrong. In recent years, nearly 100 countries have spoken up at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, etc. every year to support China’s legitimate position on Xinjiang-related issues. More than 60 countries have sent a co-signed letter to express their serious concerns over the so-called assessment. Nearly 1,000 non-governmental organizations from across the world have written to the High Commissioner to express their opposition. The attempt of some Western countries and anti-China forces to use UN bodies to manipulate Xinjiang-related issues is doomed to fail.
Fourth, what the international community should really be concerned about is the genocide, including cultural genocide, of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples by some Western forces, the contemporary forms of slavery and forced labour realized by human trafficking from abroad, the systematic racism against ethnic minorities, the gun violence resulting in tens of thousands of civilian casualties every year, the historical regression in women’s rights, the torture and ill-treatment in overseas detention facilities, the indiscriminate killings of civilians in overseas military operations, and other stains of the century in the human rights track records of some Western forces. OHCHR should earnestly listen to the cries for justice from developing countries, immediately investigate human rights violations of some Western forces, and issue a report thereon, so as to show accountability to the world and the vast number of victims.
Yours faithfully,
Chen Xilai
Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Guyana