U.S. should focus on its own race issues, not China's religious policies

Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs".

United States Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo each delivered a speech at a conference in Washington on Thursday slandering China by saying that it "oppresses" people's freedom of religious belief and "violates" human rights. Both Pence and Pompeo branded China's vocational education and training centers in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as "re-education camps," and wrongfully accused China of "persecuting" Tibetan Buddhists. The United States is pushing itself into China's internal affairs under the guise of freedom of religion and human rights, attempting to stir chaos and encourage separatists in China. This will have a strong negative impact on China-U.S. relations.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (left) and Vice President Mike Pence. [Photo: China Plus]

On average in Xinjiang, there is one mosque for every 530 Muslims, which makes the total number of mosques in the region around 24,400. The local government established vocational education and training centers and introduced courses mainly aimed at teaching the national language, law, professional skills, and de-radicalization. The centers use education to help people who are slightly criminally inclined so as to nip terrorist acts in the bud. Xinjiang has been free of violent terrorist attacks for three years, which shows that the precautionary measures against terrorism have achieved great success and are supported by the people.

In Tibet, there are over 1,700 venues for religious activities housing more than 46,000 religious employees. Many policies, such as establishing the Tibetan Buddhist College, protecting practices and rituals in Tibetan Buddhism, and publishing texts on religion, demonstrate that people in Tibet fully enjoy the freedom of religious belief stipulated by China's Constitution.

Diplomats from various countries who have visited Xinjiang or Tibet in recent years agree that China's government has done many things to effectively protect human rights, especially the rights of people from the ethnic minority groups. The United Nations ambassadors from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and 34 other countries jointly submitted a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council praising China's development and achievements in human rights, as well as in de-radicalization and its fight against terrorism.

Meanwhile, race relations keep deteriorating in the United States. Statistics from Gallup show that 42 percent of people in the United States worry about race relations a "great deal"; another poll by the Pew Research Center shows that three-quarters of Muslim American adults say there is "a lot" of discrimination against Muslims in the United States.

Certain people in the United States who have never even been to Xinjiang or Tibet turn a blind eye to the protection of religions and human rights there. Fair evaluations from the international community also fell on their deaf ears. These people adopt double standards against China and call its lawful acts towards illegal religious activities "oppression." They even went so far as to meet with criminals, offering them support to interfere in China's internal affairs. This not only harms China-U.S. relations, but also tarnishes the reputation of the United States and damages its interests.

Cooperation between China and the United States is the right path to follow and it is what the people in the two countries want. Pence, Pompeo and other high-level officials from the United States should work to advance the ties between these two countries, instead of doing the opposite.