China will not stir up trouble, but it is not afraid of trouble either. That was the unequivocal message Beijing conveyed to the world last week.

Showing that it refuses to be threatened by any political blackmail, and demonstrating its determination and resolve to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, China responded in kind to the sanctions imposed on Chinese individuals and an entity by the European Union and some Western countries on the pretext of alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

China immediately rebutted the lies and misinformation and imposed sanctions in three batches on individuals and entities of the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

This was a necessary and justified response by China to the troublemaking of some anti-China forces in the US and other Western countries who have fabricated rumors and lied to distort what China is doing to combat extremism and terrorism in Xinjiang.

Thanks to the effectiveness of these efforts to raise community resistance to extremist ideology, people of all ethnic groups and religions in Xinjiang enjoy peace and prosperity. But these efforts to safeguard people's lives and livelihoods and maintain peace and stability in the region are being deliberately misportrayed by those hoping to foment unrest in the region to turn it into a pressure cooker creating internal pressure within China.

In this process, think tanks, institutes, media outlets, social organizations and political advisory bodies are vying with one another to mount the stage in full regalia. Despite the diversity of their identities they cannot hide their links with the anti-China forces in the West or that their claims about Xinjiang are inevitably based on the lies, distorted facts and doctored data from knowledgeable sources who invariably prove to be advocates of terrorism, secessionism and extremism.

And some, out of ideological prejudice, would rather believe in the lies concocted by these few anti-China elements than listen to the voice of the 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang and face squarely their approval of the measures and basic facts of development and progress in Xinjiang.

As Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, the so-called Uygur issue in Xinjiang is just a strategic conspiracy staged by some Western politicians and media outlets who whether knowingly or not are colluding with extremist and separatist forces against China. And these individuals and entities have brooked no delay in integrating themselves into Washington's strategy to contain China.

The lies on Xinjiang do not withstand scrutiny, and the region's development achievements are the most powerful repudiation of them. As always, human rights are nothing but a fig leaf the West is using to cover up its true intentions.