URUMQI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- There was and is no forced labor in cotton production in Xinjiang, said Li Xuejun, a senior regional lawmaker on Friday.

Li, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said this at a joint video promotion event for Xinjiang with the Chinese embassy in Britain.

He said that cotton production in Xinjiang has already achieved a high degree of mechanization. There is not a large number of cotton-picking workers even in the busy picking season.

Li noted that cotton enterprises in Xinjiang are legally registered and operate according to laws and regulations. Workers' rights to payment, rest, culture, welfare, and others are fully guaranteed, he said.