As an Iraqi Muslim who has visited China, I was so shocked and sad when I read reports of the July 5 violence in China's Xinjiang province, especially when I learned from the Western media of clashes between the Han Chinese and Uygurs, and government troops cracking down on the Uygurs.
I could not believe it, not from my experience in China.
So I immediately contacted my friends in China, from whom I learned that the reports by the Western media were purposely biased and to a certain extent, politically motivated -- just as their versions of the U.S. occupation in Iraq.
I have been to China twice -- first for a visit of two weeks, and then for a year's stay, from August 2006 to August 2007. During my visits, I was impressed by the way China's 56 ethnic groups, with Hans in the majority, live peacefully together and religious freedom respected.
When I was in Beijing, I prayed every Friday at a mosque at Niujie, a Muslim-dominated district in the Chinese capital.
As an Iraqi, whose country at the time was suffering from daily explosions, shootings and kidnappings, I remember I was often touched by the good wishes extended to me by complete strangers, among them Han people who visited the mosque, which has a history of more than 1,000 years.
