(Xinhua) — ON the occasion of this year’s Chinese New Year, or Year of the Ox, many leaders and dignitaries of foreign countries have extended greetings or congratulations, conveying their best wishes and positive expectations.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday wished the Chinese people a happy new year.
“A happy new year to the government and the people of China. May this year bring health, happiness, prosperity and success to our friends in China, to the people of Zimbabwe and to humanity as a whole,” Mnangagwa said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on Friday sent his warm wishes to the Chinese people on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2021.
“Wishing the people and government of China a happy Lunar New Year,” the Ethiopian prime minister said, as he expressed his commitment to further strengthening China-Ethiopia ties.

“Ethiopia will continue to build on its existing bilateral relations and cooperation with China in the Year of the Ox,” Ahmed said in his message to the Chinese people and government via Twitter.
With a video message and multilingual tweets, French President, Emmanuel Macron, has extended his greetings online to all people celebrating the Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year.
On Friday morning, Macron shared a video on Twitter to “all our compatriots who celebrate the Lunar New Year,” wishing that “the Year of the Ox (be) full of joy, hope and happiness.”
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, on Friday, sent his greetings in a video to people celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year, wishing them “a happy and prosperous” Year of the Ox.

In the one-minute video posted to his Twitter account, Johnson first sent his new year wishes and thanked the British-Chinese community “for the incredible contribution you make to our country, consistently achieving so much in everything from education to business and medicine.”
Looking ahead to the Chinese New Year, he noted that Britain and China “have many shared challenges” from defeating COVID-19 to tackling climate change and supporting a worldwide economic recovery.
Vella said that as the Year of the Ox brings prosperity and good health to all, both countries should be committed to resolute action and political will to ensure that no one is left behind.
Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Sola, on Friday, sent greetings to the Chinese people for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
“Happy New Year to all the people of the People’s Republic of China and in particular to the community living in Argentina. May the Year of the Ox bring prosperity to all,” Sola tweeted.

Development of Xinjiang debunks rumors about human rights abuses, says Egyptian politician
(Xinhua) — ANTI-CHINA forces in the United States and some other countries raised false claims of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region only in a bid to hinder the region’s development, an Egyptian politician has said.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Hassan Badawi, member of the political bureau of the Egyptian Communist Party, said that the United States’ moves against China are “baseless fabrications.”
The US administration has been promoting such lies for a long time, but failed to be fair in what has been achieved in Xinjiang, he said.
He rejected the disinformation about Xinjiang and highlighted the progress made in many fields in Xinjiang by the Chinese government over the past years.
From 2014 to 2019, the GDP of Xinjiang increased from 919.59 billion yuan (about 142 billion US dollars) to 1.36 trillion yuan (210 billion dollars), with an average annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent, official statistics show.

As the per capita disposable income in Xinjiang increased by an average annual rate of 9.1 per cent during the same period, Badawi said the fact signalled “the efforts exerted by the Chinese government for promoting the citizens’ welfare and prosperity.”
He also spoke highly of the optimised infrastructure network in Xinjiang, which connects vast regions and offers convenient public transportation to locals.
“I wondered how the Western media are spreading rumors about genocide crimes occurring in Xinjiang while its residents enjoy equal rights as the other Chinese people in free education, health insurance, holidays, wages, work safety and practice of politics,” Badawi said.
After the United States and Britain recently issued a series of sanctions against Xinjiang on the ground of forced labor, Badawi suggested that China should exert more efforts via media channels in cooperation with its friends to raise awareness against the Western gigantic media machines that spread poisonous lies about the country.

“The tensions created by the West haven’t impacted the relations between China and Arab and Islamic countries,” Badawi stressed, noting that China cooperates with other countries on the basis of mutual respect and with the goal of improving well-being for more people.
Additionally, China’s fight against terrorism could be a field of cooperation with Egypt, he said, as the latter has been suffering the same problem that left hundreds of security personnel and civilians killed during terrorist attacks on the country’s institutions.
“Fighting terrorism in China will also benefit the world,” he said, adding that only when the world is free from extremism can resources and funds be entirely devoted to promoting socioeconomic development.