T

he July 5 rioting in China's Xinjiang province has claimed more lives of the majority Han people than the minority Muslim Uighurs, said a Chinese diplomat Tuesday, in response to the criticism that has been directed at the embassy from local religious organizations.

"We have recorded that 184 people have died, 137 of whom were Han people and 46 who were Uighur," said Yang Lingzhu, the Chinese Embassy's Charge d'Affaires.

Yang said the Chinese government regretted media coverage, especially Western media, which reported that the persecution of Muslims was a result of the tension between the two ethnic groups. The reportage has sparked criticism from local groups that have accused the Chinese government of killing minority groups in China.

"The Chinese government has been accused of discriminating against the Uighur minority... We don't discriminate against anybody on the basis of ethnicity, religion and language. The riots have nothing to do with religion and ethnicity.

"The riots were instigated by outside forces," Yang said.

Yang said the government has given many privileges to ethnic minorities in China, including policies that allow them to have more than one child. People are allowed to have only one child in populated China, but exceptions are made for ethnic minorities, including the Uighur and Tibetan people, who have fought insurgency battles for decades.

"We have special policies for minorities. They are not subjected to the child restriction policy like other Chinese people... The government has also helped to build mosques in Xinjiang," she said.

She said the government had also given many scholarships to minorities to study in other more developed provinces so they can keep up with the growth in other places," she said.

Xinjiang is located in the border area of northwest China, covering about 1.66 million square kilometers. It accounts for one sixth of the total Chinese territory.