Measures in Xinjiang protect human rights

Special: Xinjiang

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has never tolerated actions that violate human rights in the name of combating terrorism and extremism, a senior public security official of the region said.

"The region has been implementing measures to fight terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law. There have never been so-called internment camps in Xinjiang, but schools were set up to help people who were influenced by terrorism and extremism. Furthermore, the human rights of the trainees have been fully respected and protected," Yalkun Yakup, deputy director of the Xinjiang regional public security department, said at a news conference on Xinjiang-related issues on Tuesday.

Yalkun's comments came as Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is in China for a six-day visit, which will include Xinjiang.

Yalkun said that from 1990 to 2016, separatists, extremists and violent terrorists plotted and carried out thousands of violent terror attacks in Xinjiang. They killed many innocent civilians and several hundred police officers and caused immeasurable property losses.

Determined to protect people's lives, the regional government has taken a series of measures to fight and prevent terrorism since 2014, including bolstering the ability of the police to respond to plots and attacks and setting up vocational education and training centers to help those who may be influenced by terrorism and extremism. According to the regional government, all trainees have graduated.

Since 2014, a total of 1,588 violent and terrorist groups have been busted, 12,995 violent terrorists arrested and 2,052 explosive devices seized. Such operations have significantly improved public security and protected the right to life, right to health, right to development and other basic rights of people of all ethnic groups, Yalkun said.

While choosing to ignore Xinjiang's achievements in fighting terrorism and extremism, some in the Western media have recently published reports on the region with hostile intent and biased information from the very beginning, Xu Guixiang, a spokesman of the regional government, said at the news conference.

"Such acts should be condemned. It's clear that those in the Western corporate media have chosen to become a tool used by Western anti-China forces," Xu said.