The Hami Solar Thermal Power Plant in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

Despite some Western political forces continuing to run smear campaigns against Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, they won't deter the people in the region from embracing peace and prosperity, nor will they halt Xinjiang society's steady development. Seeing is believing, and facts and truth will eventually debunk all lies. In the "Xinjiang Upclose" series, the Global Times (GT) will publish conversations with and articles from scholars and observers from around the world who have visited the region, sharing their firsthand experience of traveling to Xinjiang and observing the daily lives of its people. Through their insights and experiences, we aim to present an authentic perspective on Xinjiang. 

Natalie Benelli (Benelli), a Swiss sociologist and the co-founder of Switzerland's independent community-based press organization Neue Presse, has visited Xinjiang twice. She told GT reporter Wang Zixuan that she was deeply impressed by the economic development and high technology in the region, and pointed out that the media campaign against Xinjiang is part of the Global North's plan to try to weaken China. This is the fifth piece of the series.

GT: You visited Xinjiang last year. What left the strongest impression during your trip? How do you evaluate the current development in Xinjiang?

Benelli: This was actually my second trip to Xinjiang. I briefly visited the region in October 2023 on a broad tour of China, and then again in June of last year. It was very impressive because we could literally see Xinjiang developing economically before our eyes. China has a holistic approach to development, which is planned and implemented based on local conditions and needs. 

We visited a family of cotton farmers who leases their land to a cooperative as a way to produce cocoons more efficiently and provide living wages for the farmers and their families. We then visited a brand-new high-technology cotton processing plant that provides jobs to the local population, as well as apartments, schools, childcare facilities, shops and other infrastructure for the people who work at the plant. We also visited a high-tech dairy production plant that processes milk from local dairy farms. 

In terms of economic development, I was very impressed to see the huge photovoltaic plant in the Taklimakan Desert, which not only provides employment to the local population and renewable energy, but also serves as desert control, with thousands of desert bushes and medical herbs being planted to stop the desert from expanding, turning parts of the desert into a habitat for humans and animals.

GT: In what ways did your personal experience in Xinjiang differ from the portrayal of the region by some Western media outlets? Can you share what the real conditions are like for ethnic minorities in Xinjiang?

Benelli: To be perfectly honest, before my first trip, I pictured Xinjiang as a rather backward and underdeveloped place. But I was very wrong. Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, is a very modern city with skyscrapers, huge apartment buildings, beautiful parks and modern infrastructure. There is a visible effort to safeguard and promote ethnic minority culture. For example, we visited the office of Qapqal News, a newspaper that is published in the Xibe language, which is one of China's minority languages. 

Then, we visited several tourist areas in towns and villages where the Chinese government has been investing funds to protect and promote local culture as part of the local economy, including Uygur, Tatar, and Kazakh cultures. We also visited several mosques as well as the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, where we were welcomed by the director, who gave us a tour of the new campus. This institute is an important teaching facility for Islam in China.

GT: From the allegations of "forced labor" to "genocide," why has Xinjiang become the target of accusations and smears by some US and Western media outlets?

Benelli: I think China is really an example of how to build a society where no one is left behind. Internationally, China has fostered and promoted trade relations and cooperation based on mutual respect, solidarity, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries through the Belt and Road Initiative. 

This is in stark contrast to the countries of the Global North, whose wealthiest people have built their economic wealth by exploiting the resources and labor of the countries and peoples of the Global South. They interfere in the affairs of developing countries and blackmail them into submission to the economic interests of the Global North. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to do this, as more and more countries naturally prefer the way China and other nations are working cooperatively with each other toward sustainable development for all people. The media campaign against Xinjiang is part of the Global North's plan to try to weaken China.

GT: As the co-founder of an independent community-based press organization, how do you think the misinformation of some Western media outlets has affected the public's understanding of Xinjiang? What response have you received after sharing the truth?

Benelli: Definitely, the mainstream media has an impact on the opinions of people in the West, and the way they think. Think about China in general and the Xinjiang region in particular. Most people don't have the chance to travel to Xinjiang and see the reality with their own eyes. As an independent, all-volunteer and community-based press organization, we can provide a different perspective, based on facts and firsthand experience. 

At first, a lot of people are surprised when they receive a different perspective on China and the reality of life for people in China. Most people appreciate the fact-based, firsthand reporting that we provide about China and other countries that are misrepresented by the Western mainstream media. We think the people of the Global North have a right to know the truth about China and other developing countries that are not following the path that the US and European financial powers want them to follow and to learn about their achievements in providing people with the material basis to have a decent life. 

GT: Some Western countries have repeatedly fabricated the "human rights" issue in Xinjiang while staying silent about their own human rights issues. In your opinion, are the US and the West manipulating the concept of "human rights"?

Benelli: We can say that the countries in North America and Europe instrumentalize human rights issues to attack countries that do not submit to the foreign policy of the US and their allies. They do not care about or bother to look at the facts of what these countries are actually accomplishing, or the deadly effects and impact of the sanctions imposed by Global North countries on those in the Global South. The well-being of the people is not their goal. 

Some European governments have greatly increased their arms expenditure in the past few years. Actually, they just announced that they will increase it even more. At the same time, they are reducing social services and investment in public infrastructure, thus expediting the immiseration of ever larger percentages of their own populations.