China has demanded the United States give a reasonable explanation about US diplomats reportedly acknowledging that Washington has hyped up issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in an attempt to contain China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news briefing on Monday that any attempt to damage Xinjiang's harmony and stability and contain China's development will never succeed.

It was reported, according to a Phoenix TV reporter, that Sheila Carey and Andrew Chira, officials in the Economic and Political Department of the US Consulate General in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, told guests privately at a reception in 2021 that "nothing is wrong" in Xinjiang.

Global Times reported that Carey and Chira had said that nothing is wrong about Xinjiang, but to attack their human rights policies is an effective means to make Xinjiang break away from the international industrial chain and to make Uygurs unhappy and restive and then fight against the Chinese government.

Zhao said, "I am not surprised at all if the information is authentic," adding, "This is not the first time US officials spoke their true mind".

Zhao cited a speech by retired US Army officer Lawrence Wilkerson in 2018, who said that if the US Central Intelligence Agency wanted to destabilize China, the best way to do so would be to foment unrest by using members of the Uygur ethnic group in Xinjiang.

In addition, Zhao referred to comments made in 2015 by Sibel Deniz Edmonds, a former contract translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who said that the US did not care about people in Xinjiang at all. Edmonds had said that allegations were made about Xinjiang in order to disrupt the region.

Zhao also pointed to remarks made by former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who had said that "the glory of America's continuous exploration and progress" was based on the fact that "we lie, we cheat, we steal".

Zhao said, "The so-called genocide in Xinjiang is the lie of the century concocted by US politicians and the classic masterpiece of the US diplomacy of lies."

Xinjiang's ethnic unity, social stability and economic prosperity serve as the best and most forceful challenge to the lies fabricated by the US, he added.

Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying said on social media on Sunday that she was waiting for an explanation about the US diplomats' remarks, calling them "a rare truth from US officials who've been lying through their teeth".

Zhao said that the US has been obsessed with making Xinjiang an issue to encircle and contain China. The Biden administration will begin enforcing the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" on June 21, which will bar products made with "forced labor" in Xinjiang from being exported to the US.

The US State Department released on Thursday the "2021 International Religious Freedom Report", hyping up lies, Zhao said.

The US has no justification to point fingers at China, he said. "Every time it releases such a report, the US will further expose its hypocrisy and double standards."