Ji Chen

In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China, then it spread in various provinces of China.. At that time, the entire China was in the Lunar New Year holiday of 2020, and the number of people returning home for the Spring Festival was huge. The enterprises and factories that produced medical equipment such as surgical masks and ventilators were basically in the state of holiday and shutdown, which made the situation of epidemic prevention in China at that time more difficult. Especially in Wuhan, Hubei Province, there was an acute shortage of surgical masks, protective suits and other much-needed epidemic prevention materials. At that time, in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic raging in China, that “When disaster struck, help came from all sides” became the truest historical moment for Chinese people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the Communist Party of China to overcome all difficulties and overcome the epidemic. Since then China’s prevention and control measures of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has been tough and effective

Xinjiang was first to Rush to Wuhan’s Aid despite Risks of Infection

COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and Xinjiang quickly mobilized medical staff to assist Wuhan. On January 28, 2020, the first batch of medical teams supporting Hubei in Xinjiang, consisting of 142 medical staff from the Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University set out immediately. On the evening of February 4th, 102 medical staff from Xinjiang formed the second batch to support Hubei medical team to set out. Then, on February 6th, the third batch of 142 medical staff from Xinjiang rushed to Wuhan, including 78 Chinese Communist Party members.

In order to alleviate the shortage of epidemic prevention and living materials in Wuhan and Hubei provinces, enterprises all over Xinjiang make every effort to organize the production of medicines and materials. Xinjiang Lebeier Trading Co., Ltd, took the lead in resuming the production of masks on January 26, 2020, ensuring the daily production of 20,000 surgical masks. By February 2nd, two enterprises in Xinjiang had resumed work in an all-round way, making full efforts to produce much-needed epidemic prevention materials such as medical masks. Since February 2020, various pharmaceutical enterprises in Xinjiang accelerated the speed of resuming production, and donated medicines with Xinjiang characteristics to hospitals in Wuhan and other first-line anti-epidemic provinces and cities through various channels to help fight the epidemic. On February 15, the temperature in Wuhan City dropped sharply due to wind and snow. At 3:00 pm on the same day, a 13-meter-long truck stopped at the first batch of support Hubei Medical Team in Xinjiang, carrying fresh apples from Xinjiang, which were supplied to medical staff and quarantine patients. At the same time, the loving fruit donated to Hubei Province by various regions in Xinjiang were also transported to Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang and other cities in Hubei. By February 19th, 22 pharmaceutical production enterprises in Xinjiang had resumed production, producing and supplying relevant materials needed for epidemic prevention and control in Wuhan and other regions with good quality and quantity.

All Parts of Country Support Urumqi to Fight COVID-19 Epidemic

On July 16, 2020, a newly confirmed local case was reported in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and three asymptomatic infected persons were found among the close contacts of the case. Prior to this, Xinjiang had no newly confirmed cases reported for 149 consecutive days. In order to better help Xinjiang to carry out epidemic prevention and control work and improve the nucleic acid detection ability in Urumqi, the State Council rushed to Xinjiang to assist Xinjiang in epidemic prevention and control, medical treatment and epidemiological investigation. At the same time, National Health Commission of the PRC organized more than 200 people from 10 nucleic acid testing medical teams in 10 provinces to arrive in Urumqi to help local hospitals carry out nucleic acid testing.

Among the 10 medical teams, Wuhan Medical Team of Hubei Province also supported Xinjiang in fighting against COVID-19 epidemic. In the evening of July 16th, three hospitals in Wuhan received an urgent notice from Health Commission of Hubei Province and Wuhan Municipal  Health Commission, being instructed to deploy excellent medical personnel to form a medical team to support Xinjiang. On July 18th, 21 medical staff from Hubei Province assisted Xinjiang Medical Team set out from Wuhan with professional medical equipment. Before leaving, the members of the medical team said, “At the early stage of the Covid-19 epidemic, the people of the whole country including Xinjiang supported Wuhan. Today, we are going to the frontier of our motherland to give full play to our professional expertise and help the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang overcome the epidemic situation.”

Urumqi Fought against COVID-19 Epidemic Effectively

After the COVID-19 outbreak, Urumqi immediately launched an emergency response plan. Urumqi Municipal Government set up 15 special working groups to strictly implement various prevention and control measures, and the whole city entered a “wartime” state of epidemic prevention and control. Community staff in Urumqi City got involved in epidemic prevention since the evening of July 16, investigating suspected cases and providing food supplies for people in quarantine at home. The 181 task forces stationed in the community in Urumqi were immediately transformed into epidemic prevention and control task forces, and 420 cadres were transferred from the whole city to form a “vanguard of party members” to participate in community epidemic prevention and control and serve the masses. Each district mobilized and organized property companies, enterprises, resident party members, volunteers and enthusiastic residents in its jurisdiction to assist in the work of body temperature detection, screening, environmental disinfection, serving the masses, psychological counseling, popularization of protection knowledge, and publicity of infectious disease prevention and control law. Urumqi carried out free nucleic acid detection in batches and orderly according to the degree of risk.

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the Party Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with the strong support of the people of all ethnic groups in China, and through the joint efforts of the people of all ethnic groups in Urumqi, as of the morning of July 19th, Urumqi completed the nucleic acid detection of existing medical observers and key groups, and gradually extended the detection scope to all residents in the city. On July 28th, the first batch of 6 confirmed patients and asymptomatic infected patients in Urumqi recovered and were discharged on July 28th, which was the first batch of discharged patients since the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in Urumqi. On August 25th, the overall situation of epidemic prevention and control in Urumqi was actively expanded to a better situation, and the phased results of prevention and control work were further consolidated. In order to ensure the health and life safety of the people of all ethnic groups in Urumqi, after the second nucleic acid test in the key districts of Urumqi, the epidemic prevention and control policies were further adjusted to ensure the normal production and living order of Urumqi gradually restored. At this point, the Urumqi COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control work achieved basic victory.

Under CPC Leadership Xinjiang Will Certainly Get Better and Better

Xinjiang has been a multi-ethnic area within the territory of China since ancient times, and the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have always been brothers and sisters connected by blood of the Chinese nation. Xinjiang’s affairs have always been China’s internal affairs. The Chinese government and the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang will never allow any country, organization or “anti-China forces” in the world to interfere in China’s internal affairs and disrupt the normal production and living order of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang by means of the so-called “Xinjiang issue”.

Recently, western “anti-China” countries and organizations headed by the United States concocted the so-called “forced labor”, “forced sterilization”, “genocide", “mass sexual assault” in Xinjiang, maliciously hyping cotton, which is the main agricultural product in Xinjiang, into “political cotton”. These despicable words and deeds are totally arrogant and prejudiced against the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. These people disregard the historical achievements of the Communist Party of China in governing, building and developing Xinjiang since 1949, and point fingers at the human rights situation of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. They intend to discredit the positive image of the Chinese government in the world, cover up the great success of the Communist Party of China in building Xinjiang in the past 70 years, and undermine the unity and friendship of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. The words and deeds of the western “anti-China” countries and organizations involved in Xinjiang are wrong and doomed to fail. Countries and people with conscience all over the world will support the correct measures taken by the Communist Party of China to lead the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang towards a better future.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has attached great importance to Xinjiang’s work, examined, planned and deployed Xinjiang’s work from a strategic and overall perspective, deepened the understanding and grasp of the laws governing Xinjiang, formed the Communist Party of China’s General Plan for Governing Xinjiang in the new era, and promoted Xinjiang’s work to achieve great results. Xinjiang presents a good situation of social stability and people of all ethnic groups living and working in peace and contentment. As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the regular press conference on June 2, he called on the international community not to be deceived by the political conspiracy of “anti-China” forces with ulterior motives. “The door of Xinjiang is always open, and we welcome people from all walks of life from all over the world to enter Xinjiang without prejudice, feel vivid stories one by one, and restore the real Xinjiang scene by scene”.

(Ji Chen is a Ph.D candidate at the School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China, P. R. China)