BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- National lawmakers from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have dismissed a series of U.S. sanctions on the region under the pretext of so-called "forced labor." They also welcomed individuals from all over the world to see the real Xinjiang with their own eyes.
About 100 Chinese and overseas journalists from more than 70 media outlets on Friday attended an open panel discussion of the Xinjiang delegation to the third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC).
Commenting on the U.S. so-called "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act" and "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act," Ma Xingrui, an NPC deputy and secretary of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China, said the two documents "aim to hinder Xinjiang's progress and plunge the region back into poverty and backwardness, which could breed separatism that contains China's development."
Noting that last year's World Media Summit in the regional capital of Urumqi welcomed 200 representatives from over 100 international media outlets, Ma said foreign correspondents conducted field investigations across the whole region, and their observations revealed no evidence substantiating claims of "forced labor" or "genocide."
"I invite global journalists to embark on field investigations across the region to see a real Xinjiang, rather than be blindfolded by certain media focused on slandering Xinjiang," he added.
Wang Mingshan, another NPC deputy who is also deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Xinjiang, said sanctions imposed by certain countries under the pretext of "forced labor" had severely infringed upon the rights and interests of Xinjiang enterprises, thus creating "forced unemployment" and "forced impoverishment."
According to the International Labour Organization, the definition of "forced labor" entails three elements: "menace of any penalty," "involuntariness" as well as "work or service."
"People of all ethnic groups can choose where to work and what to do based on their own will," said Wang. "The so-called 'forced labor' in Xinjiang is an outright pseudo-proposition."
After visiting Xinjiang last year, Alena Douhan, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, said the unilateral sanctions threatened the rights of vulnerable groups in China and called for them to be lifted.
"Xinjiang will never allow itself to be exploited or bullied," said Wang, adding that a 2024 resolution, passed by the region opposing U.S. sanctions, has provided enterprises with strong measures to combat hegemonism and power politics.
"We encourage more enterprises to take up legal weapons and defend their legitimate interests and rights," Wang said. ■
