China on Tuesday praised Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for his "positive comments" in support of Beijing's position on the situation in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, stressing that attempts by "some countries" to spread falsehoods will never succeed.

"President Tokayev's remarks on the relevant issue showcased the traditional friendship and high-level mutual trust between the two countries. His words also made a strong rebuff to the falsehoods told by some countries. People can tell right from wrong," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference in Beijing.

"The Xinjiang-related policies the Chinese government has rolled out have won positive comments across the international community. Some countries have been making an issue of Xinjiang. They have gone so astray from facts and the mainstream opinion of the international community that their attempts will never succeed," she added.

Hua's remarks came after Tokayev, speaking to the German media on December 4 ahead of his Berlin visit, said that the situation in Xinjiang is being sensationalized as part of geopolitics amid rising China-U.S. friction. Acknowledging Xinjiang as China's internal affairs, the Kazakh leader asserted that his country would not be dragged in a "global anti-China front."

"Some international human rights organizations have offered false information and they are exploiting and sensationalizing the situation of the ethnic Kazakh minority on purpose," Tokayev said.

"What has been set up in Xinjiang are education and training institutions, and those claims that China has looped all the ethnic Kazakhs in the 'concentration camps' could not be further from the truth. The ethnic Kazakhs in China are first and foremost Chinese citizens and what happens in Xinjiang is China's internal affairs," he asserted

"According to international law and agreements between the two sides, Kazakhstan has no right to interfere in China's internal affairs, just like China has never interfered in the internal affairs of Kazakhstan," the Kazakh president added.

Hua, meanwhile, highlighted that China and Kazakhstan are friendly neighbors that have forged a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership earlier this year. "President Tokayev's visit to China this September was very fruitful, during which the two presidents reaffirmed stronger support to each other and pledged to deepen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative for common development and prosperity."

Also on Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao highlighted that the year 2019 has been significant in terms of achieving many tangible results in the development of Sino-Kazakh relations.

"In 2019, the first president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and [current] President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited China. Tokayev's visit lifted the relationship to a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. This is unprecedented," China's Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang as telling reporters in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan.

The ambassador noted that Nazarbayev was awarded the Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China for his outstanding contributions to the development of Sino-Kazakh relations.

Stating that Kazakhstan's participation in the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai was a complete success, Zhang revealed that "contracts worth 160 million U.S. dollars were signed, which would increase access of Kazakh products to the Chinese market."

Two-way trade is expected to reach a new record of more than 20 billion  U.S. dollars in 2019, said Zhang, adding that a number of important industrial and investment projects have also been launched.

"New impetus has been injected into cultural exchanges. The first Sino-Kazakh film 'The Composer' gains widespread recognition in both countries," he said.

The Chinese ambassador vowed to continue high-level political dialogues on bilateral relations and on international and regional issues while stressing that cooperation will focus on the development of relations between young people, think tanks, educational institutions and art groups of the two countries.