China respects and protects human rights including Xinjiang people: Chinese ambassador

The Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Li Jiming said that his country respects and protects the human rights of all citizens, including Xinjiang people.

"Xinjiang-related issues have nothing to do with human rights, ethnic groups, or religions, but everything to do with fighting against violent terrorism, separatism, and extremism," he added.

He spoke as the keynote speaker at a webinar titled "Western countries, including the United States, are playing the Xinjiang card against Chinese sovereignty," hosted by the Bangladesh-China Silk Road Forum on Thursday.

He further said unlike what some of the Western media and politicians spread, Xinjiang is just the model of human rights protection in terms of civil, political, economic, and cultural rights as well as rights to education, social rights, rights of women, and children, and freedom of religious belief.

He alleged that the US was involved in starting propaganda against China by playing the 'Xinjiang card' in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic despite its conspicuous and questionable silence on other Muslim-related issues, including Kashmir and Palestine. "The US fears the unity between the Confucian and Islamic civilizations."

Senior Consultant in the Private Sector of World Bank and Acting General Secretary of Bangladesh China Silk Road Forum ABM Khorshed Alam conducted the Webinar.

General Secretary of Communist Party of Bangladesh (M-L), and Chairman of Bangladesh China Silk Road Forum Dilip Barua presided over the Webinar.

Chairman of the Workers Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon, Dipak Ranjan Datta, former chairman of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Mushahid Ahmed, member of Central Committee of the Bangladesh Communist Party (M-L), Abu Abdullah, a civil society representative, and other dignitaries attended the Webinar.

Speakers at the webinar said that Western countries, including the United States, are using the minority Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region to spread false propaganda against China's sovereignty for their own interests. They shared their real experiences of religious freedom and human rights in China on the webinar.

Strict restrictions on freedom of religion and belief, freedom of movement and expression, strict control over Uyghur culture, and extensive surveillance of Uyghurs as well as other minority members, have been described as false and baseless. They call it a conspiracy to harm China. They think that the people of Xinjiang are enjoying the development of China.