On March 29, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, together with a few other special procedures of the Human Rights Council, maliciously distorted facts and spread lies of "forced labor" against China out of bias and political purposes. China firmly opposes and categorically rejects the accusations.

China is a socialist country in which the 56 ethnic groups, as equal members of the big family of the Chinese nation, are closely united like the pomegranate seeds. The Chinese government adheres to a people-centered philosophy and eradicated absolute poverty nationwide by the end of 2020. The Chinese central government has been putting enormous efforts into promoting development in regions home to ethnic minorities. From 2012 to 2018, it earmarked a total of RMB 1.61 trillion yuan for Xinjiang's development. More than 70% of Xinjiang's fiscal expenditure is directed to improve local people's livelihood, covering a series of projects in employment, education, health and housing. The disposable income per capita in Xinjiang has increased by more than 100 times since 1978. People of all ethnic groups, including the Uygurs, fully enjoy the rights and freedoms of choosing their jobs freely and working on an equal footing. They are now creating a better life with their own hands. China is absolutely a "Straight-A Student" in the world in protecting the rights of ethnic minorities and ensuring people's rights to labor and employment. The working group chose a wrong target when it tried to stigmatize China.

Meanwhile, China's manufacturing industry is moving towards mid- and high-end. Automation keeps accelerating in industries mentioned by the Working Group, i.e. agribusiness, textile and garment, and automotive sectors. For instance, in 2020, 70% of all cotton in Xinjiang was harvested mechanically, and the automation rate of some local textile companies was more than 90%. As industries move fast to digitization and smart development, China has become a top runner in "Internet+" era in the world. Every village in China has access to 4G network, with fast strides being made in 5G. Rural residents across China, including those in Xinjiang, have long been selling their agricultural produce on the internet. We cannot help but wonder, how can "forced labor" exist in such an era of digital economy and smart development? By naming themselves "experts", members of the Working Group are actually looking at the sky from the bottom of a well, spreading completely illogical lies with little if any knowledge about China's technological progress and industrial development. This will only make them laughing stocks of the world.

Certain western countries and anti-China forces, in an attempt to smear China, undermine China's stability and contain China's development, have fabricated lies on Xinjiang, including the so-called "forced labor" and "large-scale detention". Their acts are condemned and spurned by all the Chinese people, including the people of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang. The Working Group is active in collaborating with anti-China forces, acting willingly as a "mouthpiece" and "amplifier" for them. On the other hand, as "a person pretending to be asleep", it turned a blind eye to authoritative information the Chinese government provided on a number of occasions and made no mention of it in its press release. This demonstrated clearly its political tendency. By doing so, the Working Group has seriously violated the principles of, among other things, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity of the Human Rights Council. Under the pretext of human rights, it wantonly stigmatized Chinese companies, damaging not only their reputation and image but also the livelihood and human rights of the Uygur workers. We cannot help but ask: were special procedures created by the Human Rights Council to promote and protect human rights or to facilitate experts' violation of human rights?

We welcome fair and objective people from various countries to visit China including Xinjiang, but those biased with the attempt to conduct the so-called investigation in China under the presumption of guilt are not welcomed. We hope that the Working Group could seriously reflect on its mistakes, cast away its bias against China, get its homework done in performing its duties, improve professionalism, and stop making erroneous remarks publicly out of political purposes while ignoring basic facts and authoritative information of member states.