BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday urged US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to spend some time on managing domestic affairs before pointing finger at others.

Zhao said that one can never wake a person who pretends to be asleep. The lie of "one million Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang" was actually made up by an NGO funded by the National Endowment for Democracy after interviewing only eight persons

Speaking via videolink at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit and in some recent interviews, Pompeo attacked China on a range of issues including Xinjiang-related matters.

In response, Zhao said at a regular press conference that Mr Pompeo has been launching unwarranted attacks and slanders against China on every possible occasion.

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"However, lies repeated a thousand times are still lies. His groundless cliches expose deep-rooted Cold-War mentality, a zero-sum game mindset, ideological bias, and his nature of 'lying, cheating and stealing'," Zhao said.

Zhao said that one can never wake a person who pretends to be asleep. The lie of "one million Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang" was actually made up by an NGO funded by the National Endowment for Democracy after interviewing only eight persons.

And Mr Pompeo blindly cites it with no verification. China has stressed time and again that the vocational education and training centers lawfully set up in Xinjiang are active attempts on and useful exploration of preventive counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures.

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They are essentially the same as other countries' practice to this end, and they have already yielded good results.

Xinjiang hasn't seen a single terror incident in the past three years or so. By the end of 2019, all trainees who received trainings including standard spoken and written Chinese, understanding of the law, vocational skills, and deradicalization had completed their courses, secured employment, and started a life of tranquility.

Zhao said that the Chinese government protects its people's freedom of religious belief. In China, there are nearly 200 million religious believers, of which over 20 million are Muslims.

There are more than 380,000 clerical personnel, approximately 5,500 religious groups and more than 140,000 places of worship registered for religious activities.

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Xinjiang now has 24,400 mosques, one for every 530 Muslims. By contrast, the number of mosques in the whole of the US is less than one tenth of those in Xinjiang.

"Mr Pompeo's repetition of lies just cannot change those facts," he said.

According to US media reports, the country is witnessing paltry efforts on handling COVID-19, an economy falling into recession, serious systemic racism, social disturbances, drug abuse and frequent mass shootings, Zhao said.