Mihrigul Tursun, a Uyghur woman who claimed she came from the Xinjiang vocational education and training centers, which the West calls “re-education camps,” cried out to reporters in the National Press Club of the US. She said she was locked in a 37-square-meter cell with 67 others, nine of whom were tortured to death in three months. It’s easy to tell the woman was lying and there must be someone who taught her to speak like this. She might want to obtain asylum in the US.

Global Times reporters recently visited two vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang. What they saw was totally different from the woman’s depiction. Rather than prisons, the centers are schools that help trainees rid themselves of extreme thoughts and master vocational skills needed to return to society. Even a real prison in China is not like Tursun portrayed.

It’s startling that no reporters on the scene question the stories fabricated by Tursun. If these so-called “re-education camps” were so horrible, how did she escape?

Tursun’s stories cater to the needs of some Western media. Demonizing China is an industrial chain in Western media. Defining what China is doing from an extreme perspective or using interviewees to manipulate facts is all possible. Few will correct the wrong in the current Western society.

The ideological gap between China and the West is deepening. Both sides need to explore the reasons and take necessary measures to stop the trend. China hopes to further opening, and this is welcomed by the West. However, the ever-intensifying ideological conflicts are clearly inconsistent with such willingness by both sides.

China and the West have different governance approaches due to different political systems, cultural traditions and histories. But both sides shouldn’t have a misjudgment of common sense toward the other. This often happens in the West’s perception of China.

China is making progress in economy and society, which has laid the foundation for continuous improvement of human rights. As a country that has opened quite widely to the world, it is impossible to allow a malicious violation of human rights. It cannot be accepted both domestically and internationally.

Most of the Western accusations of Chinese mainland violations of human rights concentrate on dissidents in China, governance of ethnic minorities in border areas, a few people who illegally possess Chinese and other nationalities or Chinese who hold a foreign passport but still live in China. But the mainland is pursuing its own justified goals: safeguarding social order and stability, preventing national split and terrorism activities and securing national security.

China’s governance is based on goodwill. But some Westerners interfere because of the difference between China and the West in governance.

Although not all of the West’s accusations against China’s human rights are malicious, they are biased, rude and impatient.

China has maintained peace for 30 years, but major Western countries suffered from many wars in the three decades. China concentrated most of its efforts on improving people’s life.

Instead of rejecting a Western human rights concept, China critically assimilates it according to its national situation. China has been reiterating that restoring Xinjiang’s peace and stability is the top priority of human rights. Few Westerners accept such a plain truth.

China’s population is larger than that of all the Western countries. Chaos, war and misery were frequent during the process of Western modernization. Marching forward peacefully is China’s great undertaking of recent decades. Please respect the achievement of China’s development and the will of 1.4 billion Chinese people, and stop stigmatizing China’s governance.