because i really believe people in xinjiang of so many different ethnic groups, they benefit from stability and development and their living standards are improving and they do not buy all these fabrications about the bad situation in xinjiang. why? because they are not true. that s the fundamental point about xinjiang. now, when we get to hong kong, you have said to me that everybody who faces any sort of government action and repressive action in hong kong is a supporter of independence and the hong kong republic. that patently is not true. there are many activists who simply want the one country, two systems principle to be recognised, and they believe that the national security law imposed from beijing fundamentally undermines that system. i m mindful, for example, ofjimmy lai, the pro democracy activist, but also the editor of the newspaper apple daily that s
and in china, there is a shortlist of red button issues you are not allowed to talk about, for example, tibet s independence, xinjiang independence, or hong kong independence. for example, if anyone wanted to declare hong kong as a republic of hong kong, it will be wiped out immediately. it s not part of the freedom or democracy, as we understand in china. but you cannot say that the rest of the system in china is not freedom or human rights. i would make one point without empowering the people, you cannot change china from a very backward country to the second largest economy in the world today. and also, don t forget, the chinese economy is larger than that of the united states today, if you use purchasing power parity, so we are talking about revolutionary change. all right, but the thing is. and don t deny that china has its inner qualities and strengths that maybe some western countries fail
it will remain part of china for thousands of years and longer to come, and the uyghur brothers and sisters are part of our nationalfabric. no one can change these two megatrends involving xinjiang. i will go to xinjiang next month. i will be very proud in hopefully reporting to your bbc colleagues about what i see with my own eyes, with my own conscience about the realities in xinjiang, because i really believe people in xinjiang of so many different ethnic groups, they benefit from stability and development and their living standards are improving and they do not buy all these fabrications about the bad situation in xinjiang. why? because they are not true. that s the fundamental point about xinjiang. now, when we get to hong kong, you have said to me that everybody who faces any sort of government action and repressive action in hong kong is a supporter of independence and the hong kong republic. that patently is not true. there are many activists who simply want the one country,
up, repressed, surveilled, robbed of what we in the west call basic human rights. allow me to disagree with you again why? because i would say any society everywhere in the world today has some taboo list. it may differ from one country to another, but don t tell me that there is any country that you have freedom of speech in absolute terms rather than conditional terms, where you have freedom of expression without any conditions to it. no. i would say freedom or human rights all exist not in a vacuum, but relative to rights and obligations. in china, we have our own freedom. we have our own democracy. it s conditioned to circumstances in china. and in china, there is a shortlist of red button issues you are not allowed to talk about, for example, tibet s independence,
situation in xinjiang. why? because they are not true. that s the fundamental point about xinjiang. now, when we get to hong kong, you have said to me that everybody who faces any sort of government action and repressive action in hong kong is a supporter of independence and the hong kong republic. that patently is not true. there are many activists who simply want the one country,