Lianhe Zaobao:

In recent years, China has been promoting the use of standard Chinese in ethnic minority areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet. Some people believe that this might be detrimental to the development of ethnic minority languages and cultures. What's your response to that? How does China protect ethnic minority languages and cultures? Thank you.

Zhao Yong:

Thank you for your attention to Xinjiang, Tibet, and ethnic minority areas in general. I have noticed that some Western media have made a lot of interpretations over a period of time, some of which may not know the facts, but it is also possible that some of them may have ulterior motives. In fact, China's Constitution and Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language explicitly stipulate the legal status of popularizing modern standard Chinese and protecting the rights of ethnic minorities to learn and use their own languages. While popularizing standard Chinese in accordance with the law, the Chinese government fully respects and protects the freedom of ethnic minorities to use their own languages, creating conditions for them to learn and use their own languages. In terms of learning, we have set courses of standard spoken and written Chinese in primary and middle schools. At the same time, we also set courses of spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities, especially in ethnic autonomous areas. And it is generally the case in areas where ethnic minority populations are concentrated. Ethnic minority people who want to learn their own languages all have the chance to learn and use their own languages. For those who have left school and entered society but have not yet been proficient in standard Chinese, we also offered training on standard spoken and written Chinese language for them and at the same time, guarantee their rights to learn their own languages. We have also created conditions in ethnic minority people's political and social life as well as in the field of press and publishing. Take political life as an example, documents issued during China's NPC and CPPCC sessions are available in ethnic minority languages. In judicial work, we have also provided conditions for ethnic minority people to use their own languages in litigation. Places such as Xinjiang and Tibet have set up radio and television stations in ethnic minority languages and issued a variety of periodicals in ethnic minority languages to facilitate the lives of ethnic minority people. Ethnic minority people can also freely access information, study, and communicate on the internet in their own languages.

And as for how to protect the languages and cultures of ethnic minorities, I think supporting their use is the best method of protection. At the same time, we have also noticed that there are 53 ethnic minorities in our country with their own languages, except the Hui and Manchu ethnic groups who use the Chinese language, and 22 ethnic groups have 28 written languages. So, we are also using modern means to protect such languages and specially designed the Chinese Language Resources Database to collect, compile, develop and utilize these languages. In short, there is absolutely no obstacle for ethnic minorities in learning and using their own languages in their work and lives. And there is absolutely no such thing as the "cultural genocide" smear used by some Western media.

Thank you.

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