China vice minister: Terrorism in Xinjiang to be solved using Chinese way

BEIJING: China will find a "Chinese solution" in dealing with terrorism in the Xinjiang autonomous region, says its vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Jiang Jian Guo.

He said terrorism was a common enemy of all, and China would not bow to any pressure from external parties.

"The problem will be solved using a Chinese solution so the trainees can continue with their lives (after the re-education)," he told the Malaysian and Indonesian media delegation at the Department of Central Publicity here.

The meeting was aimed at strengthening relations between China and the media from Asean countries.

Jian was asked to respond to calls made by Turkey for China to close detention camps holding ethnic Uighurs following the reported death of a renowned musician from the minority group.

The Uighurs are a Muslim Turkic-speaking minority based in the north-west Xinjiang region of China, which has come under intense surveillance by Chinese authorities.

Their language is close to Turkish and a significant number of Uighurs have fled to Turkey from China in recent years.

Jiang reminded Turkey that both countries were comprised of multi-ethnic groups and faced threats from terrorism and religious extremism.

"I think this (call made by Turkey) is out of the distorted mentality of their country, which has lost the status of a big country. ,

"So I don’t think it appropriate for them to make (such) accusation," he said.

Jiang added that at this stage, there had been a large number of trainees who had found employment, returned to their family, and there were also a large number of people who had completed training and were waiting for employment.

"There are still some people who are continuing with the training.

"There is small number of people who have not yet solved their problem of extremism, so it all depend on actual effects. 

"When the expected result is achieved, the training centers will be close naturally," he said.

Asked how many such centres there were in Xinjiang, Jiang said he had no exact figures.