Chinese Ambassador to India H.E. Sun Weidong Gave Interview to Press Trust of India on Xinjiang, Hong Kong & China-India Relations

　　2019年12月11日，驻印度大使孙卫东接受印度最大新闻通讯社印度报业托拉斯（PTI）总社负责人马奈什专访，就涉疆、涉港问题阐明中方原则立场，强调新疆、香港事务纯属中国内政，中国坚定维护国家主权、安全和发展利益，坚决反对外部势力借涉疆、涉港问题干涉中国内政，西方势力借此遏制中国发展壮大的图谋绝对不可能得逞。孙大使还就中印关系等问题回答了记者提问。印度主流媒体对孙大使上述采访内容予以广泛转载报道。采访内容全文如下：

　　关于涉疆问题

On December 11th, 2019, Chinese Ambassador to India H.E. Sun Weidong gave interview to Press Trust of India (PTI), sharing facts and China's position on Xinjiang and Hong Kong related issues and his views on China-India relations. The full text of the interview is as follows:

On Xinjiang Related Questions

　　问：如您所知，近期印度媒体十分关注涉疆话题，但印各界对新疆了解仍然有限，新疆究竟是个什么样的地方？有关涉疆问题的实质究竟是什么？

　　答：中国新疆维吾尔自治区地域辽阔，风景壮美，资源丰富，文化多样，民众能歌善舞，热情奔放。新疆是一个好地方。

Q: As you know, recently the Indian media have paid much attention to issues related to Xinjiang, but actually the Indian society still know little about Xinjiang. So could you please enlighten us what kind of place Xinjiang is? What are the Xinjiang related issues about?

A: China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region enjoys vast land, magnificent scenery, rich resources and diverse cultures, and its people are talented dancers and singers full of passion. Xinjiang is a wonderful place.

　　新疆目前处于历史最好发展时期。新疆抓住机遇，加快发展，成为中国向西开放的门户。2012年以来，新疆地区生产总值年均增长8.5%，城乡居民人均可支配收入年均分别增长8.4%、8.2%。2018年接待境内外游客达到1.5亿人次，今年前10个月接待游客已突破2亿人次。新疆脱贫攻坚也取得了明显成效，2014年以来累计实现238.53万贫困人口脱贫，这是历史上从未发生过的巨变。

Xinjiang is now in its best period of development in history. Xinjiang has seized the opportunity to accelerate its development and become a gateway for China to open up on its western frontier. Since 2012, Xinjiang's GDP has been growing at an average annual rate of 8.5%, and per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents there has increased by 8.4% and 8.2% respectively. In 2018, Xinjiang received 150 million domestic and overseas tourists, and over 200 million in the first 10 months of this year. Since 2014, more than 2.38 million people have been lifted out of poverty in Xinjiang, which is an unprecedented change in history.

　　新疆历来是多种宗教并存的地区，交融共存是新疆宗教关系的主流。新疆各族人民依法享有宗教信仰自由、使用本民族语言文字、继承本民族传统文化等各项权利。新疆的清真寺由改革开放初期的2000多座增加到现在的2.44万座，平均每530位穆斯林就拥有一座清真寺，教职人员由3000多人增加到2.9万多人。

Xinjiang has long been a region where different religions coexist and converge. The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang enjoy freedom of religious belief, the right to use their own spoken and written languages and to practice their own cultural traditions. The number of mosques in Xinjiang has increased from more than 2,000 in the early years of the reform and opening-up to 24,400 today, with an average of one mosque for every 530 Muslims, and the clerical staff has increased from 3,000 to over 29,000.

　　与此同时，新疆也是恐怖主义的受害者。20世纪90年代以来，境内外民族分裂势力、宗教极端势力、暴力恐怖势力大肆散布极端思想，鼓吹“杀人殉教进天堂”等歪理邪说，蛊惑煽动实施暴力恐怖活动。1990年至2016年底，这些势力在新疆等地制造了数千起暴力恐怖案件，造成大量无辜群众罹难，数百名公安民警殉职，对各族人民生命财产安全造成极大危害。震惊世界的新疆“7·5”事件造成197人死亡，1700多人受伤。这些暴力恐怖犯罪惨无人道，触目惊心，令人发指。血淋淋的事实证明，极端主义一日不除，暴恐活动就难以杜绝。涉疆问题的实质，不是宗教、民族或人权问题，而是反暴恐、反分裂的问题。

Xinjiang was also a victim of terrorism. Since the 1990s, ethnic separatists, religious extremists and violent terrorists at home and abroad have spread extremist ideas, advocated such heresies as "killing and martyrdom leads to paradise" and instigated violent and terrorist activities. From 1990 to the end of 2016, these forces committed thousands of violent and terrorist cases in Xinjiang and other places, resulting in the loss of numerous innocent lives and the death of hundreds of public security officers, which greatly jeopardized the lives and property of people of all ethnic groups. The "July 5 Incident" in Xinjiang in 2009, which shocked the world, left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured. These violent terrorist acts are inhuman, shocking and heinous. The bloody facts prove that if extremism is not eliminated, it's impossible to end violent terrorist activities. The Xinjiang related issues are not about religion, ethnic groups or human rights, but about fighting violence, terrorism and separatism.