Genocide accusation senseless and absurd: China Daily editorial

The findings of the Seventh National Population Census fly in the face of the accusation by the United States and some Western countries that China's policy toward the ethnic groups in its Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is genocidal.

Of the total population of 25.85 million in the region, the Uygur ethnic group accounts for 44.96 percent — 11.56 million — which is an increase of 16.2 percent from a decade ago, much higher than the country's average.

While all Han couples in Xinjiang were allowed to have only one child between 1981, when the strict family planning policy was introduced for them, and 2015, when Han couples were allowed to have two children, Uygur couples could have as many children as they liked until 1992 when a policy was introduced allowing urban Uygur couples to have two children and rural couples to have three. In 2017, this policy was extended to all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Starting from late last month, all couples, of any ethnicity, can have three children.

Discrimination against ethnic groups is the last thing the country's central government wants to see in its policies, as it attaches importance to the unity of all ethnic groups.

With its rapid economic development in recent decades, apart from other preferential policies, the country organized economic aid from 19 developed municipalities directly under the auspices of the central government and provinces to support the economic development of Xinjiang starting from 2010. The result of this aid has found expression in the rapid urbanization of Xinjiang, whose urban population reached 14.61 million by the end of 2020, and the urbanization rate of the region has risen by 13.73 percentage points over the past 10 years, hitting 56.53 percent.

The natural birth rate of the resident population in Xinjiang has been dropping in recent years as a result of its improved living standards.

The more developed an economy is and the higher the living standards the people enjoy, the less willing they are to have children. The Uygur ethnic group is no exception to this. Better educated and enjoying higher living standards, the perception of Uygur couples of marriage and child-bearing has changed. An increasing number of Uygur couples are choosing to have children later than usual.

If not with ulterior motives, it must be a lack of common sense that makes Western countries attribute the lower population growth rate of the Uygur ethic group to a "policy of genocide" rather than the region's economic development and social progress.