Global Times: Western media’s smear campaign against Xinjiang is a preconceived opinion and targeted defamation

Editor's Note:

Despite some Western political forces continuing to run smear campaigns against Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, they won't deter the people in the region from embracing peace and prosperity, nor will they halt Xinjiang society's steady development. Seeing is believing, and facts and truth will eventually debunk all lies. In the "Xinjiang Upclose" series, the Global Times (GT) will publish conversations with and articles from scholars and observers from around the world who have visited the region, sharing their firsthand experience of traveling to Xinjiang and observing the daily lives of its people. Through their insights and experiences, we aim to present an authentic perspective on Xinjiang.

Beat Schneider (Schneider), emeritus professor at the Bern University of the Arts in Switzerland, has visited Xinjiang twice. He told GT reporter Qian Jiayin that he was deeply impressed by the high level of modernization in the economy and infrastructure, as well as how the Chinese government promotes the local traditions and cultures of the Uygurs and other ethnic groups. This is the second piece of the series.

GT: You have visited Urumqi, Kashi and Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. How does your firsthand experience in Xinjiang differ from the portrayal of the region in Western media?

Schneider: I have been to the wonderful, vast and colorful Xinjiang twice - a region as large as Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined. When I saw this region with my own eyes, had my own experiences, received firsthand information and was able to talk to local people, I became aware of the extent of the misinformation and lies spread by the Western media. It was a kind of positive shock. The reality has nothing to do with the ideas spread by the West. Nothing about "forced labor," let alone "genocide." In my many personal contacts on the ground, I was assured that the threat to the region from terrorism and separatism had been successfully overcome and was a thing of the past, that the Uygur population in Xinjiang was doing well and that, for most people, modest prosperity, social security and a good future-oriented education are the main priority.

What left a strong impression on me was the high level of modernization in the economy and infrastructure, the relatively high prosperity of the population, and how the vast region of Xinjiang, between deserts and glaciers, is being developed through great scientific and technological efforts under harsh ecological conditions. None of this is reported in the Western media.

GT: As a scholar focused on the history of culture, how do you assess the region's cultural characteristics and diversity during your visit?

Schneider: My observations as a cultural scientist are in blatant contradiction to what the Western media say about the authorities' treatment of regional culture. These reports lack any scientific basis and are not based on personal experience, but rather serve a preconceived opinion and targeted defamation.

It was impressive to see how the government promotes the local traditions and cultures of the Uygurs and other ethnic groups. I experienced the opposite of the so-called "suppression of cultural identity."

In Urumqi, I visited a theological college for the training of Muslim clergy and engaged in an extensive discussion with the imam of the Id Kah Mosque in Kashi Prefecture of southern Xinjiang about the practice of Islam. Regarding the Id Kah Mosque, one of the largest mosques in China, a lie was spread in the West that it had been "demolished by the government." The truth is quite the opposite. It was renovated and restored with state funds.

GT: How would you evaluate the current state of development in Xinjiang? In January, the US banned imports from 37 additional Chinese companies under the claim of "Uygur forced labor." Western countries have frequently imposed sanctions on Xinjiang-based businesses under similar accusations. How might these sanctions affect Xinjiang's development?

Schneider: It is a great injustice that companies in Xinjiang are suffering from sanctions imposed by Western countries. The justification of the so-called "forced labor" of Uygurs in the cotton harvest is an argument that has no basis in reality. The widespread Western narrative of the so-called "forced labor" in the cotton harvest is absurd, given the fact that it makes no economic sense at all. I saw in Korla, a large cotton region, how the cotton harvest is fully mechanized and automated from the fields to the factories and requires very little human labor.

I doubt that the sanctions will significantly hinder the development of Xinjiang, as it is a thriving hotspot, including tourism. The development of Xinjiang is a testament to the Chinese government's West Development strategy, which aims to overcome the disparity between the wealthier eastern region and the less wealthy west of China. If I am correct in my predictions, Xinjiang will be the next economic miracle. It is a bridge between China and Eurasia. I experienced Kashi as a central logistical hub of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The projects of the BRI are impressively visible in the region.

The Western corporate media, which serve the Western governments, are not objective and truth-driven; instead, they aim to help slow down the rise of China and the Global South. However, the successes in Xinjiang are so obvious that, over time, the facts will inevitably leak out into the Western media.

GT: From the hype surrounding "forced labor" to accusations of "genocide," why did the West choose to put Xinjiang - a region many Westerners know little about - into the spotlight?

Schneider: The Western media spread false information about the region precisely because the West knows very little about it.

With its ideological war against the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Xizang, which have been part of China for centuries, the West is targeting China as a whole. It seeks to sow separatism and undermine China's unity. And with false information and lies, it aims to create an anti-China sentiment among the Western public in order to legitimize its containment efforts against China.

GT: You have said that you intend to reveal the truth to the West. In your opinion, how has the misinformation in Western media influenced the Western public's understanding of Xinjiang? What kind of response do the true stories you tell get?

Schneider: The misinformation about Xinjiang has a great influence on Western public opinion. Even good information, which despite everything also reaches the West, has little chance against the counter-propaganda of the huge corporate media and opinion-forming industries of the US and its vassals.

My small contribution to spreading an alternative view of China consists of publishing books about the real China and my texts and essays in the Western media. I am lucky that my books are read and that I can place my texts in some Western media from time to time. Unfortunately, there are only a few authors in the West who can really assess Xinjiang objectively.

This article first appeared in the Global Times: 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202502/1329051.shtml