by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States is fabricating false claims regarding China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in a smear campaign, and using it as a tool to hamper China's development, said a prominent Egyptian politician in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"The United States sees China as a strong barrier in the way of its dream to continue unilaterally leading the world, and therefore it tries to disrupt China's progress with such false allegations," said Ahmed Bahaa El-Din Shaaban, secretary-general of the Egyptian Socialist Party.

"They never look for facts, but they would rather fake issues about the situation in Xinjiang," Shaaban said, referring to the U.S. claims as "lies that we have become accustomed to in our region."

"It is surprising that Washington launches such accusations while it is the United States that exercises racism against African Americans, committed crimes against humanity during its invasion of Iraq, and earlier in history committed genocide against the Native Americans," he said.

The Egyptian politician, who is currently writing a book on China's development experience, noted that he has visited China in recent years, and learned and read a lot about the development and the improvement of life in Xinjiang.

Shaaban said that the Communist Party of China (CPC) would take necessary procedures in its battle against terrorism and secession attempts, to preserve the stability, security and unity of China, regardless of whether such attempts happen in Xinjiang or elsewhere in the country, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

"China has the right to defend its territorial integrity," the Egyptian party chief stressed, noting that Egypt has experienced similar Western false claims of human rights violations during its own anti-terrorism campaign.

"This unjust Western campaign will continue even if Xinjiang has become an earthly paradise. If there was no Xinjiang, they would create one to target China," he said.