China has gone on a media offensive to defend its controversial policies in Xinjiang, such as the detention of at least one million ethnic Uighurs in what it has called vocational centres.

Major state media outlets such as China Daily yesterday ran reports claiming that Xinjiang was under Chinese control as far back as the Han Dynasty, and that the authorities had for years battled the "evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism that have exaggerated cultural differences between Xinjiang and the rest of China.