Op-ed about Xinjiang by H.E.Song Yumin, Chinese Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, on Guardian

　　2019年8月9日，驻特立尼达和多巴哥大使宋昱旻在特多主流媒体《卫报》发表题为《稳定、多元、繁荣的中国新疆》的署名文章，全文译文如下：

　　新疆维吾尔自治区位于中国西北边陲。在这166万平方公里的土地上，生活着维吾尔、汉、哈萨克、回、蒙古、塔吉克、满等47个民族。新疆自古以来就是多民族聚居、多文化交汇、多宗教并存的地区。著名的“丝绸之路”在此将古代中国与世界联系起来。

On 9 August 2019, Ambassador Song Yumin's op-ed about Xinjiang was published by Guardian. Here is the full text of the article:

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) is situated in the border areas of northwest China. Forty-seven ethnic groups including Uyghur, Han, Kazak, Hui, Mongol, Tajik and Manchu are flourishing across this vast land of 1.66 million sq km. For thousands of years, Xinjiang has been home to various ethnic groups, where diverse cultures converge and different religions coexist. It was also the heartland of the famed Silk Road connecting ancient China with the rest of the world.

　　中国政府一贯高度重视新疆各民族优秀传统文化的挖掘、传承与保护。鼓励各民族相互学习语言文字，促进各民族交往交流交融。推进各民族文化现代化，增强文化自信。在依法推广国家通用语言文字的同时科学保护各民族语言文字。在司法、行政、教育、新闻出版、广播电视、互联网、社会公共事务等领域，少数民族语言文字均得到广泛使用。以少数民族学生为主的各类学校，在课程设置和各类考试中重视民族语言的学习和使用。广播、电视节目、报纸、刊物均以多种语言文字播出、出版。

The Chinese government has always endeavored to discover, conserve and promote valuable traditional ethnic cultures in Xinjiang. Ethnicities influence, assimilate and integrate with each other in spoken and written languages, customs, arts and other aspects of social and cultural life. Each becomes more confident of its own cultural strength as it adapts to the ever-changing modern world.

The government promotes standard Chinese for the convenience of cross-ethnic communication and protects the individual's right to use ethnic spoken and written languages in accordance with the law. Ethnic minority languages are extensively used in the judiciary, administration, public affairs, education, publishing, media, and on the internet. Schools and other educational institutions enrolling ethnic minority students highlight the study and use of ethnic languages in curriculum and assessments.

　　中国政府依法保障公民宗教信仰自由的权利。在新疆，伊斯兰教、佛教、道教、基督教、天主教等多种宗教并存。中国法律保护正常的宗教活动，政府提供有效服务满足信教公民正常宗教需求。仅在新疆就有2.44万座清真寺，平均每530位穆斯林拥有一座清真寺，比例甚至高于部分伊斯兰国家。

The Chinese government protects citizens' right to freedom of religious beliefs in accordance with the law. Various religions like Protestantism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Catholicism coexist in Xinjiang. The government supports lawful religious activities and fulfills reasonable religious needs of believers. There are 24,400 mosques in Xinjiang alone. To put it in another way, every 530 Muslims in Xinjiang share a mosque, an even higher proportion than that of some Islamic countries.

　　新疆也深受恐怖主义之害。上世纪90年代以来，特别是美国“9•11”事件以后，受国际局势变化和恐怖主义、极端主义全球蔓延的影响，中国境内外“三股势力”（民族分裂势力、宗教极端势力、暴力恐怖势力）逐渐形成并制造事端。他们在新疆策划实施了数千起暴力恐怖事件，疯狂残害大量无辜的各族群众，肆意践踏基本人权，严重危害公共安全。罪魁祸首“东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动”早已被联合国和众多国家认定为国际恐怖组织。

Xinjiang was once a terror-stricken place. Since the 1990s, especially after the September 11 attacks in the US, with rapidly shifting international landscape, terrorism and extremism have started to spread globally. The "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism inside and outside China gradually emerged and ran rampant. Adversaries plotted and launched thousands of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, killing large numbers of innocent civilians, trampling on human rights and endangering public security. The major actors"East Turkestan Islamic Movement"have long been recognized as an international terrorist organization by the United Nations and many countries.