White paper praises Xinjiang “achievements” while ignoring decades of repression, forced labor, and genocide.
By Alp Uyghur
China released a new white paper on September 22 claiming “unprecedented economic and social progress” in Xinjiang and presenting the 70th anniversary of the so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as a success story. Titled Communist Party of China Guidelines for Governing Xinjiang in the New Era: Practice and Achievements, the 21,000-word report boasts improvements in infrastructure, GDP growth, and “people’s well-being.”
The paper includes statements like “people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang cherish the current prosperity and are determined to safeguard social stability,” and dismisses accusations of forced labor as “groundless” and politically motivated.
Critically, this document is part of China’s long-running propaganda campaign. In addition to state media, global media operations, trolls, bots, paid Western influencers, and “genocide tours” from allied countries, Beijing has repeatedly issued white papers and press releases to whitewash ongoing human rights abuses. For Uyghurs, the report highlights 70 years of occupation, mass surveillance, cultural erasure, and genocide, not prosperity.
Alp Uyghur is a Uyghur volunteer journalist for Uyghur Times. He covers human rights issues in China and reports on the Uyghur diaspora.