Foreign experts, officials praise China's ethnic policy

• Source: Xinhua
• [11:20 July 25 2009]
• Comments

Some foreign experts, scholars and officials are praising China's ethnic policies and voicing support for its efforts to defend its sovereignty and social stability in the wake of a deadly July 5 riot in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The riot in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, killed 197 people and injured more than 1,680 others.

Antoine Harb, an official with Lebanon's education ministry, told Xinhua that he learned of the incident with great shock and regret.

"China's economy is growing rapidly, and people there live happily...There are no reasons for such things to happen," he said.

Harb said he was impressed by China's prosperity and the hospitality of the Chinese people when he visited Nanchang and Beijing last year.

"China's policies on minorities set a good example for the world to learn from, so I believe the riot must be instigated by some forces outside China," he said.

Massoud Daher, president of the Lebanese-Chinese League for Friendship and Cooperation, also praised China's policies on minorities.

"I have visited northwestern China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region," Daher told Xinhua. "I saw that Muslims went to mosques to pray. It was an ordinary lifestyle of the local people. I did not find any limits on the freedom of religion."

Daher, also a history professor at Lebanese University, has visited a number of Chinese cities, including some in ethnic minority regions.

Concerning the deadly riot, Daher said that media have often been used by those who have ulterior motives, giving false accounts of the facts.

"Attempts to split the country will never succeed," and "I believe that the incident would not undermine China's integrity and unity," the scholar added.