Wang Yi answers questions on Xinjiang, Taiwan, South China Sea in Munich

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday reiterated China's stance on issues related to China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Taiwan region as well as the South China Sea, when he answered media questions during the "China in the World" session at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Purpose of Xinjiang-related lies is to prevent China's development

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, refuted the fallacy that there is "genocide" and "forced labor" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region while meeting with the press.

The so-called genocide is a "monstrous lie," Wang said, noting that the freedom of religious belief of all ethnic groups is well protected in Xinjiang, and the languages and cultures of various ethnic minorities, including the Uygurs, have been protected and inherited.

China's rapid development has caused discomfort and anxiety in some countries, and their purpose of spreading falsehoods about Xinjiang is simply trying to create chaos in Xinjiang and then further hinder China's development and revitalization, he said.

"But China also has the right to develop. The modernization of 1.4 billion people will be a huge progress in the process of human civilization," Wang said, adding that the formation of China's super-sized market will also provide new development opportunities for all countries and help the world achieve common development and prosperity.

Taiwan has never been a country and will never be one

Wang said Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times and the Cairo Declaration issued in 1943 stipulated that all the territories Japan had stolen from China, including Taiwan, should be restored to China. The Potsdam Proclamation signed in 1945 reiterated the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out.

All this points to the incontrovertible fact that the Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, said Wang, stressing Taiwan has never been a country and will never be one, which is a basic historical fact and an universal consensus of the international community.

China always exercises restraint in South China Sea

Wang also refuted the fallacy that China has acted "aggressively" in the South China Sea, saying that the islands in the South China Sea have been Chinese territory in ancient times and were successively occupied by several countries in the 1960s and 1970s, but China has always exercised restraint and insisted on solving problems through consultation.

He noted that China is working with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to advance the consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea at a faster pace, striving for an conclusion of effective and substantive regional rules that are in line with international law to help control differences, stabilize the situation in the South China Sea and promote cooperation.

(Cover: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at the "China in the World" session at the Munich Security Conference, Munich, Germany, February 17, 2024. /Chinese Foreign Ministry)