China hits back at US over Uighurs of Xinjiang
China has censured the United States for an accusation "totally inconsistent with the facts" that Beijing is operating concentration camps for ethnic Uighur minority in the far western region of Xinjiang.
"The relevant words and actions of the relevant person in the United States are a gross interference in China's internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
"We also once again urge the relevant person in the United States to respect the facts, abandon prejudice, speak and act cautiously, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs through the issue of Xinjiang."
Randall Schriver, who leads Asia policy at the US Defense Department, said at a press briefing on May 3 that overall the "concentration camps" are understood to contain "at least a million but likely closer to three million citizens out of a population of about 10 million."
Geng said Schriver's remarks "absolutely did not accord with the facts," and that Xinjiang was stable and its people were living in peace.
"At present, Xinjiang is politically stable, its economy is developing, and the society there is harmonious."
"The people live and work in peace."
The vocational training centers, as the Chinese official put it, are part of measures "carried out completely in line with the law."
These measures "have had a good social effect," the official said.
Xinjiang is a vast region home to millions of Uighurs and other Muslim minority people.
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