KABUL – China had not been a land of ethnicity-based discrimination or restrictions on the freedom of religious beliefs, and like Afghanistan, it is a multi-ethnic nation with 56 ethnic groups, said Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu in Kabul on Tuesday. 
Addressing a press conference in China’s Embassy in Kabul, Wang said, “China has never been a land of ethnicity-based discrimination” and “The Chinese Constitution stipulates that all ethnic groups are equal, that the state protects the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic minorities, and that discrimination or oppression against any ethnic group is prohibited.”
Regarding the issue of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Wang said that Xinjiang had been as peaceful as other parts of China. However, since 1990s, “ethnic separatist forces and extremely violent terrorist forces in Xinjiang have learned extreme religious ideas from abroad, spread them widely in Xinjiang.,” Wang said adding that 2,000 innocent people had been killed on 5 July 2009. But China had opened vocational education and training centers to educate people affected by extremist ideology, which produced very good result, he maintained.
Answering to a question about Hong Kong, Wang said that Hong Kong had sustained heavy damages and “rioters” continued a rampage of smashing, setting fires, attacking police officers in a coordinated way and assassinating Hong Kong legislators. He added, “They [protestors] have turned universities into criminal bases and besieged and attacked mainland students.” Reporting the damages, he said, “Chaos had seriously damaged Hong Kong’s economic and social governance. No country in the world can tolerate this kind of violent crimes.” Reiterating that Hong Kong was an internal affair, he urged “outside forces to stop interfering in Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs in any way or conniving at violent crimes in Hong Kong.”
Wang reiterated strong friendly relations between China and Afghanistan as well as mutual understanding and people-to-people exchanges. Referring to the idea of “building a community with shared future for mankind”, Wang said that Afghanistan’s peace and development were in the interests of China. He said, “China cherishes its friendship with Afghanistan. We do not want to see Afghanistan take sides in the great power game or get harmed in any way for this reason.” Saying that Afghans understand the value of peace, Wang concluded, “I sincerely hope that friends from Afghan media organizations will not be misled by some Western media with ulterior motives.”  (Daily Outlook Afghanistan)