
URUMQI/KASHGAR, China/TOKYO -- As pressure mounts on China from Western democracies that have accused it of locking up over a million ethnic Uighurs in the country's Xinjiang region, Beijing is intensifying a campaign to justify its policy.
On the 10th anniversary of the July 2009 uprising by Muslim ethnic minority Uighurs in the region's capital, Urumqi, China published a white paper and hosted news conferences to convey its views. It also allowed a group of journalists from foreign media, including Nikkei and some Western news organizations, to visit the region on a guided press tour.