Top officials in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have hosted a group of international students from the US and other countries this week in an effort to debunk Western narratives about the region.
Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party chief of Xinjiang, and Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the regional government, had “in-depth and friendly exchanges” with a delegation of foreign university students in regional capital Urumqi on Tuesday, according to a report by the official Xinjiang Daily on Wednesday.
Ma noted that most of the students were visiting the region for the first time, and said he hoped they would feel “the true situation in Xinjiang and its beauty, harmony, unity and happiness”.
He said he hoped they would realise that the “slander by some international forces” was “completely a lie”, adding that this included allegations of forced labour and genocide in Xinjiang, according to the report.
Ma said Xinjiang’s opening-up efforts were “for real” and that he hoped to see more international students in China visit Xinjiang to “deepen exchanges and cooperation and enhance understanding and mutual trust”, according to the report.
The report did not say how many students were in the delegation, nor did it identify them or their universities.
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