'A GOOD LIFE'
The situation in Xinjiang has stirred concern in Western capitals.
At least 15 Western ambassadors wrote to Xinjiang's top official, Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, late last year seeking a meeting to discuss their concerns. Chen did not meet reporters on the trip.
Diplomatic sources told Reuters the ambassadors did not get a response.
The United States has said it is considering sanctions against Chen, other officials and Chinese companies linked to allegations of rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch researcher, said international pressure needs to increase.
"The fact that they feel they need to put on a show tour is a sign that this pressure is working," she told Reuters.
Both Wang and Dilxat Raxit noted that the tight control over the visits and interviews showed China's concern about their true nature.
Over a lunch of lamb kebabs, horse meat and naan, Urumqi party boss Xu Hairong told Reuters that "all of the reports are fake" when it comes to foreign coverage of Xinjiang. He dismissed worries about U.S. sanctions.
"We, including Party Secretary Chen, are working all out for the people of Xinjiang to have a good life," Xu said. "If the U.S. won't allow me to go, then I don't want to go there. That's the truth."
The government says its goal is for Uighurs to become part of mainstream Chinese society. Shohrat Zakir said in parts of southern Xinjiang people couldn't even say hello in Mandarin.
Officials point to a lack of violence in the past two years as evidence of programme's success.
Urumqi's Exhibition on Major Violent Terrorist Attack Cases in Xinjiang, normally closed to the public, displays graphic images and footage from what the government says are attacks.
"Only with a deeper understanding of the past can you understand the measures we have taken today," Shi Lei, Xinjiang's Communist Party committee deputy propaganda chief, told reporters.
One member of the Chinese armed forces, who has served in Kashgar, said the security situation had improved dramatically.
"You can't imagine what it was like there in 2014 and 2015. There were attacks all the time, bombings, stabbings. It was chaos," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
In Kashgar, Hotan and Karakax, petrol stations are still surrounded by barbed wire and heavy security barriers. Residential areas are dotted with small police stations.
The stations have broader public service in mind, Zhang Yi, commander of one of the stations, told reporters. The one reporters visited provided pamphlets on a wide range of subjects, including how to legally change your sex.
Kashgar deputy party chief Zark Zurdun, a Uighur from Ghulja in northern Xinjiang, where many ethnic Kazakhs live, told Reuters that "stability is the best human right."
"The West should learn from us" on how to beat extremism, he said, dismissing concerns Uighur culture was under attack.
"Did Kazakh vanish in the USSR when they all had to learn Russian?" he said. "No. So Uighur won't vanish here."
