China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region would maintain peace and stability regardless of changes in neighbouring Afghanistan, Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson of the Xinjiang regional government said on Monday.
“No matter how the outside situation has changed, we will maintain stability and peace,” he said while addressing a press conference on Xinjiang-related issues here.
He said the authorities in Xinjiang had taken a series of measures to fight against terrorism and extremism and had some success.
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“No matter how the outside situation has changed, we will stick to the overall goal of ensuring stability in Xinjiang, economic development and social prosperity and the happy lives of local residents of all ethnic groups,” he added.
Xu informed that during the last four years, there was not a single incident of terrorism in Xinjiang.
He said as China shares a border with Afghanistan in its Northwest Xinjiang region, terrorist groups that once gathered in Afghanistan, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), posed threats to China’s national security.
The spokesperson called upon the Afghan Taliban to break off with all kinds of terrorism and firmly crackdown on them.
Elijan Anayt, another spokesperson of the Xinjiang regional government said for a long time, the ETIM and other terrorist groups tried to split the Xinjiang region from China through extremism.
They incited, plotted and conducted a series of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, which brought great damage to local residents’ lives and property, he added.
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The Xinjiang region’s resolution to crack down on terrorism and safeguard social stability and national sovereignty would not change. Any forces that wanted to disturb Xinjiang’s development were doomed to fail, he added.
Terming terrorism as anti-human and anti-civilization, he said this menace was the common enemy of the international community.
“We wish that the Afghan Taliban will break off with all terrorist organizations, including the ETIM, and firmly crackdown on them in order to help with regional cooperation on security and development,” he added.
Associate Researchers, Institute of History in Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, Mahmut Abduwali and Associate Professor, School of Marxism in Xinjiang University, Ramila Shawkat speaking on the occasion rejected the criticism from the western countries regarding human rights issues in Xinjiang.
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Via APP with inputs from GVS