URUMQI - Chinese scholars have slammed anti-China politicians in the United States for plotting to deprive Xinjiang people of development opportunities by fabricating lies of "forced labor" in the region.

They made the denouncement at a press briefing held Friday in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Cao Wei, an associate professor at Lanzhou University, said that out of fear of sanctions from the United States, some enterprises dare not employ workers of Uygur ethnicity, which will result in rising unemployment rate and declining living standards of the Uygur population.

Those anti-China politicians in the United States are the culprits who are depriving Xinjiang residents of their development opportunities under the guise of human rights, said Cao.

Ildos Murat, vice chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Xinjiang, said that in fact, the United States is the country where forced labor is still deeply rooted in the 21st century, with the immigrants being the main victims, and the US government has evaded its obligations to protect them.

"According to research by academic institutions in the US, at least 500,000 people in the US are subjected to modern-day slavery and forced labor," said Ildos Murat. "No matter how viciously anti-China forces in the US smear Xinjiang over labor issues, they can never cover up the ironclad proof that the United States has violated labor rights."