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State Council Information Office Hosts Xinjiang Media Seminar for Foreign Journalists

On April 14, 2024, the State Council Information Office (國務院新聞辦公室), together with the China International Communications Group (中國外文局) and the propaganda office of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region CCP Committee, hosted the Silk Road Economic Belt Joint Construction Countries’ Media Head Seminar (絲綢之路經濟帶共建國家媒體負責人研討班), bringing 26 media figures, writers, and scholars from 21 countries to tour Urumqi, Kashgar, and the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. Addressing participants in Urumqi, Ma Xingrui (馬興瑞), then Xinjiang’s CCP secretary, said the party would “to the greatest possible extent, ensure that the people’s rights to subsistence and development are not violated (最大限度確保人民的生存權和發展權不受侵害),” a formulation the CCP has used to rebut international criticism of its treatment of Uyghurs. Fifteen of the attendees, according to the same report, said Western media had “distorted facts to smear” (歪曲事實來抹黑) Xinjiang. As of April 2026, Ma was under investigation by China’s central discipline and supervisory authorities for a “serious violation of discipline and law,” a term typically denoting corruption.

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