Viewpoints
Opinion

China Encourages Its Western Critics to Come See Xinjiang for Themselves. I Did

China Encourages Its Western Critics to Come See Xinjiang for Themselves. I Did
Police officers patrol in Kashgar, in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on June 4, 2019. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Grayson Slover
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Commentary
During a March 7 press conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was asked about accusations by Western nations that China is committing genocide in its far-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. After listing several examples of the West’s own history of oppressing ethnic minorities, Yi dismissed the accusations as “a rumor, fabricated with ulterior motives, and a lie through-and-through.” The best way for Westerners to debunk these “rumors,” he insisted, is to visit the region themselves.
Grayson Slover
Grayson Slover
Author
Grayson Slover is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the author of “Middle Country: An American Student Visits China’s Uyghur Prison-State,” a story about the week that he spent as a “student tourist” in Xinjiang during the summer of 2019.
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