Xinjiang vows to counter US sanctions

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region vows to actively strike back at the United States' crackdown on the region and firmly defend the rights of Xinjiang enterprises as well as people's rights to work and pursue a better life, the chairman of the regional government said on Sunday.

"We will stand our ground on issues related to Xinjiang in accordance with the law, expand our means for countering foreign sanctions and enhance policy support for enterprises affected by sanctions from the US, including key industry chain enterprises and small and medium enterprises, so as to safeguard the stability and security of our industrial and supply chains," Chairman Erkin Tuniyaz said.

He made the remarks while delivering the government work report during the annual session of the 14th Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, which kicked off in the regional capital of Urumqi on Sunday.

Some Western countries, especially the US, have been smearing Xinjiang with baseless claims on matters such as "forced labor", and the US has even tried to crack down on businesses that source materials such as cotton, tomatoes and photovoltaic products from Xinjiang by imposing a series of sanctions.

According to the Xinjiang government, by the end of 2023, sanctions had disrupted operations at more than 100 local enterprises. Sanctioned textile and garment factories were forced to cut production or shut down entirely, resulting in significant layoffs.

Regional government spokesman Xu Guixiang said the government and people of Xinjiang have continued to show strong support for the enterprises affected by the "unfair "sanctions, and that it's the regional government's responsibility to help these companies explore new international and domestic markets.

"Xinjiang is determined to strike back, and they (Western countries) won't achieve their goal of containing China by curbing Xinjiang's development," Xu said.

Li Xuan, deputy director of the Xinjiang Regional Bureau of Commerce, said the goal of the US is to remove Xinjiang's source materials from international supply chains by imposing sanctions, and the list of sanctioned Xinjiang enterprises will get longer.

"We will continue to promote top-quality source materials produced in Xinjiang in international markets, especially in non-US markets. Preferential policies will also be given to affected enterprises as they expand in domestic markets," Li said. "Of course, the businesses will be affected by the sanctions imposed by the US, but we are confident we can help them get through the difficult times."

Xie Yingzhou, deputy director of the Xinjiang Regional Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the enterprises are vulnerable when facing such groundless accusations and sanctions.

Taking the tomato industry as an example, more than 90 percent of the production of tomatoes and tomato sauce in Xinjiang is mechanized, and the so-called forced labor issue simply doesn't exist, Xie said.

"The best way to help sanctioned businesses in the tomato industry is to invite international business partners to Xinjiang and see the whole production process. We have nothing to hide," Xie added.

Despite the crackdown, Xinjiang's GDP exceeded 2 trillion yuan ($273 billion) in 2024 and achieved a growth of 6.1 percent year-on-year, which is higher than the country's GDP growth rate of 5 percent in 2024, according to the work report.

The region's foreign trade volume increased 21.8 percent year-on-year, according to the regional government report. Xinjiang has made significant progress in developing the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, actively contributing to the China-Central Asia transportation corridor, it said.

The region has particularly enhanced cooperation with Central Asian countries. A delegation of Xinjiang Party and government officials has visited the five nations in the region, and several heads of state and government leaders from those countries have visited Xinjiang. The mutual visits resulted in the signing of several economic and trade cooperation agreements, and the imports and exports to the five Central Asian countries accounted for 67.9 percent of the region's total trade last year.

In addition, as a result of many trips from foreign delegations of politicians, diplomats, reporters, scholars and entrepreneurs to Xinjiang, and a series of international symposiums in the autonomous region, international society has gained a better understanding of the real Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz said.

"The region has also shown the world that it's confident in further opening-up and having more friends and partners," he said.

Meanwhile, the region has continued to improve its law-based routine counterterrorism and stability maintenance system. By taking firm legal measures to crack down on and prevent the activities of separatists, religious extremists and terrorists, Xinjiang is determined to resolutely eliminate the risks of violent terrorism at its inception, keeping terrorist threats outside its borders, the chairman said.