China has claimed that all of its citizens, including more than 20 million Muslims, are enjoying unprecedented human rights and freedoms while living more happily than ever before.

The statement comes after US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday slammed the country's human rights situation and its crackdown on Muslims.

Pence said: 'Millions of ethnic and religious minorities in China are struggling against the [Communist] party's efforts to eradicate their religious and cultural identities'.

Beijing has faced widespread criticism after being accused of detaining at least one million Muslims in re-education centres in the far-western region of Xinjiang.

Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region on September 4, 2018. China has hit back at US Vice President Mike Pence and claimed its people are living happily

An ethnic Uighur is seen posing on the street in a small village on the outskirts of Shayar in Xinjiang on September 12, 2019. Beijing has faced widespread criticism after UN experts accused it of detaining at least one million Muslims in re-education centres in Xinjiang

'The Chinese government values, protects and promotes human rights highly,' said Hua Chunying, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry.

'Chinese people are enjoying unprecedented rights and freedoms - an undeniable fact to anyone who is not wearing tinted glasses,' Hua was quoted saying at a daily press briefing today by state news agency Xinhua.

She went on to comment on the country's religious population, highlighting that people are free to choose their faiths.

'There are nearly 200 million religious people in China, among whom more than 20 million are Muslims,' she said.

Hua also said that China's rapid economic growth meant that it people were feeling happier and happier.

US Vice President Mike Pence yesterday slammed China's human rights situation and its crackdown on Muslims. Pence is seen giving the speech at the Wilson Center in Washington

Hua Chunying (pictured), a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticised Pence for his 'arrogance and hypocrisy'. 'The Chinese government value, protect and promote human rights highly,' said Hua, adding the Chinese citizens are happier and happier

Pence yesterday delivered a speech on the future of the relationship between the United States and China.

He accused China of curtailing 'rights and liberties' in Hong Kong and blasted American company Nike and the NBA for siding with Beijing in a disagreement over free speech.

He also slammed Beijing for clamping down on Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.

He said: 'To uphold the values of freedom-loving people everywhere, we've also called out the Chinese Communist Party for suppressing freedom of religion of the Chinese people.

'Millions of ethnic and religious minorities in China are struggling against the party's efforts to eradicate their religious and cultural identities.'

In response to the speech, Hua claimed that Pence had 'intentionally twisted' China's social system as well as its human rights and religious situation.

'[Pence's] speech showed complete arrogance and hypocrisy and was filled with political bias and lies. The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it,' Hua said.

A pervasive security apparatus has subdued the ethnic unrest that has long plagued China's north-western Xinjiang region. Chinese officials have largely avoided comment on the re-education camps, but some said that ideological changes are needed to fight separatism

Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have been told to vow loyalty to the Communist Party of China and the country's leader Xi Jinping. Pictured, a woman walks past a screen showing images of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kashgar on June 4, 2019

Authorities in China have reportedly rounded up an estimated one million mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into internment camps in what they call an 'anti-terror' campaign

UN experts and activists have claimed that at least one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in the detention centres in Xinjiang.

China describes them as 'vocational training centres' which they say could help stamp out extremism and give people new skills.

Former detainees previously revealed that Muslims were forced to eat pork and speak Mandarin in those internment camps.

China has also kept thousands of Uighur children away from their Muslim parents before indoctrinating them in camps posing as schools and orphanages, studies show.

China describes Xinjiang's internment facilities as 'vocational education centres'. Beijing also claims to have arrested nearly 13,000 people it describes as terrorists in Xinjiang since 2014

Dozens of students are shown at their desks learning Chinese and law in the programme aired by CCTV that introduced the 'professional vocational training institutions' in Hotan

A recent drone video purports to show hundreds of shackled and blindfolded Muslim prisoners being transferred in Xinjiang.

The footage, uploaded to social media and unverified, captures the detainees being led by SWAT officers from trains with their heads shaven, eyes covered and hands bound.

Authorities of Xinjiang claimed the officers were carrying out 'normal' judicial activities.

United States has been increasing its pressure on Beijing over what it says is the systematic oppression of Muslims.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave his toughest criticism for China in a keynote speech at a Vatican conference on religious freedom.

Social media footage purports to show Uighur Muslim prisoners being transferred in China

With their heads shaven, eyes covered and hands bound, the detainees are seen wearing purple vests with the words 'Kashgar Detention Center' written on their backs in the clip

'When the state rules absolutely, it demands its citizens worship government, not God. That's why China has put more than one million Uighur Muslims ... in internment camps and is why it throws Christian pastors in jail,' he said.

'When the state rules absolutely, God becomes an absolute threat to authority,' he said.

Pompeo had previously called Beijing's treatment of the Uighur minority among 'the worst stains on the world'.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this month said China 'demands its citizens worship government, not God' in a keynote speech at a Vatican conference on religious freedom

Beijing slammed Pompeo's remarks as 'lies'.

'The lies of American politicians can't trick people around the world and will only further expose the purpose of their hidden political motives,' said Hua Chunying.

Muslims make up about two per cent of the 1.4 billion population in China. However, as the country is so populous, its Muslim population is expected to be the 19th largest in the world in 2030.

The Muslim population in China is projected to increase from 23.3 million in 2010 to nearly 30 million in 2030.