Rohingya Refugee Camps Are the Next Frontline in COVID-19 Fight

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Min Aung Hlaing¡¯²õ statement is telling. It reveals that China is putting unprecedented pressure on its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is important to note that Min Aung Hlaing praised China as an ¡°eternal friend¡± during a visit to Beijing in 2019. He thanked China for its and for countering international pressure on Myanmar over its treatment of Rohingya civilians, a Muslim minority in Rakhine State.  

The senior general has turned on Beijing at a sensitive time. China is facing international criticism for the spread of the COVID-19 disease, its of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region and for its aggression toward its neighbors. Yet it could be seen as part of a longer pattern in Myanmar.

Turning Away from China Not Easy

More than 10 years ago, the then-ruling military junta decided to reduce Myanmar¡¯²õ economic dependence on China. At the heart of this decision was the goal of reducing China¡¯²õ excessive influence in Myanmar.

When retired General Thein Sein was president from 2010 to 2015, he ushered in initiatives to repair relations with India, the West and ASEAN. At first, these initiatives led to increased international aid, but it was short-lived due to the military crackdown on the Rohingya insurgency in the Rakhine state. Myanmar has faced international condemnation, isolation and sanctions since. By 2017, the brief ¡°honeymoon¡± was over and China was back to its old games, with the West losing its window of opportunity in Myanmar.

China has been known to support the United Wa State Army (UWSA). The UWSA is an armed force of an ethnic minority that runs an autonomous region with little interference from central authorities. As per the , the ¡°UWSA¡¯²õ relationship with China is a pillar of its autonomy.¡± China uses the UWSA to exert leverage within Myanmar. It also benefits economically because minerals from the Wa area are exported across the border to China.

The UWSA is one of the many insurance policies Beijing uses to retain its eminence in Myanmar. Today, it has cultivated the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who was once the darling of the West. She wants to reverse Thein Sein¡¯²õ decision in 2011 to suspend work on the Myitsone dam. Beijing’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) was supposed to build this $3.6-billion dam at the source of the Irrawaddy River.

The Myitsone area is said to be the birthplace of the Kachin people, after whom the state is named. They have fought the Tatmadaw since 1962, making itis one of the longest civil wars for a resource-rich region. The Kachin oppose the dam because it could put large parts of their region under water and threaten their livelihoods. As the reports, Suu Kyi ¡°needs to establish prosperity and peace if she is to convince the Burmese people of the benefits of democracy.¡± The dam might provide irrigation and electricity, boosting the ruling NLD.

Suu Kyi is to China because the West has abandoned her. The days when former US President Barack Obama visited Myanmar and kissed her cheek seem distant. The Rohingya crisis has been roundly criticized by Western media and brought allegations of .

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stepped into the vacuum and visited Myanmar earlier this year. China has been planning the China–Myanmar Economic Corridor (CEMC) as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. It includes infrastructure such as railways and a deep-sea port at Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal. This port will help China avoid the more vulnerable Straits of Malacca, where it fears being choked off.

The West Must Change Tack with Myanmar

Since 1990, Western powers have imposed sanctions on Myanmar for a variety of reasons ranging from human rights violations to lack of democracy. At the same time, they rushed to engage with China despite the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. Myanmar became an outcast even as China won investments, joint ventures and a red carpet welcome to the World Trade Organization.

Unlike China, which has had no election for 75 years, Myanmar has held three major elections in 1990, 2010 and 2015. A fourth is due in October this year. Suu Kyi¡¯²õ NLD has won the past three elections.

When it comes to the treatment of minorities, China has been worse than Myanmar. Its treatment of Tibetans has been terrible and its persecution of Uighurs makes daily headlines. Therefore, Min Aung Hlaing¡¯²õ revelation that China is championing the Rohingya ¡ª a majority of whom are now sheltering in Bangladesh ¡ª is deeply ironic. China is supporting the Arakan Army and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army to destabilize Myanmar and win their support in the future. This policy of interference in Myanmar has implications for both India and Bangladesh. It is in keeping with the Chinese policy of destabilizing India¡¯²õ northeast region.

China¡¯²õ strategy of destabilizing Myanmar even as it makes it an economic vassal has lessons for others. Western powers must provide Myanmar with much-needed investment. The Tatmadaw, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, clearly wants to avoid Chinese domination. Suu Kyi is also no natural ally of China. They have both been pushed into Chinese arms by Western intransigence. Along with investments, a security arrangement involving many countries such as India, Bangladesh and Western powers would help.

Currently, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or the ) is the best vehicle to guarantee Myanmar¡¯²õ security. It must thwart the development of CMEC. Otherwise, the Chinese navy will be sitting on India¡¯²õ doorstep and the Quad would lose strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean. India has already been strengthening its relationship with Myanmar under its ¡°Look East¡± or ¡°Act East¡± policy. The relationship has been on the upswing since 2010 and is set to improve further.

Yangon is sensitive to India¡¯²õ strategic and security concerns. India has shown the same degree of understanding. For India, Myanmar is the archway to ASEAN and the far east. With the Chinese causing mischief at its borders, Myanmar has increasing strategic importance for India.

The West must join India in its constructive engagement with Myanmar. In the October elections, Aung San Suu Kyi¡¯²õ NLD is expected to win again. This victory could usher in an era of stability, economic progress and development. Myanmar¡¯²õ civil and military leadership has no desire to embrace vassal status. It is up to the West to step up and give Myanmar a choice. With the Chinese menace rising by the day, failure to do so would be a historic blunder.

The views expressed in this article are the author¡¯²õ own and do not necessarily reflect 51³Ô¹Ï¡¯²õ editorial policy.

The post The West Must Help Myanmar Escape China¡¯²õ Embrace appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.

Fear and Loathing in Xinjiang: Ethnic Cleansing in the 21st Century

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One of the most obvious and disturbing illustrations of this is China¡¯²õ national security law (NSL) that has been implemented in Hong Kong. The NSL is the nail in the coffin for Hong Kong, which previously enjoyed autonomy and freedom from mainland China, and it will ¡°subversion, succession, terrorism and foreign interference.¡± By criminalizing broad, vague offenses that  criticism of the government and peaceful protests, China aims to fully absorb Hong Kong into the mainland¡¯²õ system of political repression.

Amidst international friction over China¡¯²õ mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak as the first epicenter of the pandemic, there is increasing concern over the political crackdown in Hong Kong, which has witnessed protests for the past year and rapidly become the nucleus of the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in China. 

Meanwhile, in Xinjiang¡­

Yet while Hong Kong has rightfully gained media attention and continues to struggle for its freedom, the Chinese government has on with its ¡°mass arbitrary detention, torture, and mistreatment¡± of Uighur Muslims. Since August 2016, this repression has culminated in the detention of over 1 million Uighurs, a humanitarian catastrophe of monumental proportions.

The Uighurs are a community of some 11 million Turkic Muslims living in China¡¯²õ Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Despite the name, Uighurs are awarded little autonomy and have been targeted by the Chinese government since 1949, following the incorporation of East Turkestan into mainland China. As a communist state, China views social groups that have ethnic or religious differences as ethno-nationalist threats.

In a country with a majority Han population, this has resulted in repeated attempts to pacify and assimilate communities such as the Uighurs, who are and culturally more closer to Central Asian nations and identify religiously as Muslim. It is only recently that the persecution of Uighurs has been brought to the attention of the international community, largely due to China¡¯²õ undeniable geopolitical and the fact that outside media are banned from reporting on Xinjiang.

In spite of the Chinese government¡¯²õ efforts to suppress information, the work of organizations like the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Solidarity Campaign have brought the crisis to the forefront of the discussion on human rights, with various countries and political actors condemning China¡¯²õ actions. In an apparent U-turn from his previous encouragement of detention camps for Uighurs, US President Donald Trump into law the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act on June 17, calling for sanctions on the Chinese officials responsible.

In the United Kingdom, Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy in May that China¡¯²õ behavior ¡°should give us cause for concern.¡± Meanwhile, the shadow secretary for Asia and the Pacific, Stephen Kinnock, former Prime Minister David Cameron¡¯²õ golden era of engagement with China as ¡°an abject failure.¡± The Labour Party¡¯²õ general stance on China has also hardened significantly, while the recent of the China Research Group by a number of Conservative MPs makes it clear that there is little debate on China¡¯²õ abhorrent human rights record among British politicians.

The fact that even Conservative MPs have begun to openly condemn China¡¯²õ actions should further encourage Labour Party action, as this opens up the possibility of cross-party talks and increases the potential for meaningful and government-sanctioned measures. The current media scrutiny on China due to the spread of COVID-19 ¡ª the disease caused by the novel coronavirus ¡ª also provides an opportunity to further draw attention to this ongoing humanitarian crisis. Now more than ever, the Conservative-led government in the UK must ensure that safeguarding human rights remains a priority.

Despotic Measures

Since May 2014, the Chinese government has the ¡°Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism¡± in Xinjiang, depriving Uighur Muslims of their most fundamental human rights. The ascension of Party Secretary Chen Quanquo as leader of Xinjiang in 2016 has resulted in increasingly despotic measures. Practicing Islam has essentially been forbidden. Authorities religious paraphernalia, including copies of the Quran and prayer mats, while ¡°abnormally long¡± beards and Muslim veils are banned, at the risk of  ¡°religious fanaticism.¡±  

The government has also taken to , converting and demolishing mosques. The Keriya Aitika Mosque in Xinjiang, a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level, was destroyed sometime in . Xinjiang has also witnessed the emergence of a surveillance state, as  have been displayed on the front of Uighur homes, in order to readily access personal details and monitor those living inside. Former residents have that they are forced to take biometric tests and spy on their neighbors.

Some Uighur Muslims have had their passports confiscated, while many who live , including university students, are subject to extradition and internment. Freedom of movement has been curtailed, as residents of Xinjiang must apply for permission to leave their local area, whether to visit family or even for medical purposes.

The most alarming development in the crackdown on Uighurs has been the institution of concentration camps. The government has continued to evade responsibility, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi describing reports of the camps and the detention of over 1 million Uighur Muslims as ¡°¡± in February. Where the presence of camps has been acknowledged, they are portrayed merely as vocational training centers. In these camps, Uighur prisoners are to learn Mandarin, swear loyalty to Chinese President Xi Jinping and renounce their religion. An official Chinese Communist Youth League , obtained by Radio Free Asia, details the chilling aims of ¡°re-education hospitals¡± used to ¡°cleanse the virus from their brain and restore their normal mind.¡± Resistance, or failing a ¡°lesson,¡± is  by solitary confinement, starvation or being forced to stand for 24-hour periods, among other  of physical and psychological torture, including sexual assault.

A  by AFP mentions that guards are equipped with ¡°tear gas, Tasers, stun guns and spiked clubs¡± to keep order, while a former  claims that he was forced to drink alcohol and eat pork while incarcerated, both of which are prohibited in Islam. A recent report by has uncovered that those detained are retroactively made to ¡°choose¡± the crimes for which they have been imprisoned from a list of 70 acts, which includes traveling, contacting people abroad, praying or wearing a headscarf. After picking their crime, detainees are forced to face a sham trial in which they have no legal representation and are ¡°convicted without evidence or due process of any kind.¡±

Such overwhelming evidence doubtlessly implicates the Chinese government in a draconian campaign of cultural cleansing and human rights abuses of monumental proportions.

Uighurs and Global Companies

A chilling development was recently reported by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which that hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims previously held in detention centers were now being transferred to factories across the country. Through forced Uighur labor, China is producing cotton and other products for various well-known companies, including Apple, Dell, Nike and H&M, according to the report. Around 84 percent of China¡¯²õ cotton is produced in Xinjiang.

With media access even more fraught due to the coronavirus pandemic, developments with the Uighur crisis have been increasingly difficult to trace. International support groups have the World Health Organization to send a fact-finding mission to the camps amid fears that unsanitary conditions are leading to unreported cases of COVID-19. It is evident, however, that the Chinese government shows no signs of accepting responsibility, let alone ending its relentless persecution of the Uighur Muslim population. Moreover, with the global recession caused by coronavirus lockdowns, China has seemingly transformed its insidious campaign of persecution into one that generates economic gains through forced labor.

As the most populous country in the world, a principal geopolitical actor and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China must be held accountable for its flagrant and unapologetic violations of human rights. We must not allow the COVID-19 pandemic to drown out the voices of China¡¯²õ Uighur Muslim population.

With the United States now likely to impose sanctions, the UK has a duty ¡ª and a prime opportunity ¡ª to take action. Now is the time to raise awareness and initiate cross-party dialogue to take strong, united measures to safeguard human rights. Now is the time to sanction global companies and ban Chinese cotton imports that have been produced with forced Uighur labor. Now is the time for the UK to uphold its pledge to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and bring about a end to ¡°the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.¡±

The views expressed in this article are the author¡¯²õ own and do not necessarily reflect 51³Ô¹Ï¡¯²õ editorial policy.

The post China Continues Its Persecution of Uighur Muslims appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.

The post Qatar Changes Its Stance on China¡¯²õ Uighurs appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.

The post The Fight to Preserve the Uighur Language appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.

Uighurs are a Turkic people native to Central and East Asia and one of the 55 officially recognized by the government of China. Over 11 million Uighurs live in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the northwest of China, making up around 45% of the local population. The majority of Uighurs practice Sunni Islam.

Xinjiang is a historically restive region, and after the 9/11 attacks, Chinese state media to single out Uighurs as terrorists, separatists and extremists, branding them as China¡¯²õ number one enemy within. According to the Hong Kong-based group the , Uighurs lead ¡°predominantly secular lives,¡± which contradicts the Chinese government¡¯²õ justification of the crackdown against the minority in the name of ¡°.¡±

Beijing¡¯²õ repressive measures, however, come against the backdrop of that Chinese Muslims from Xinjiang have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The alleged connections between Uighur Muslims and , as well as a number of attacks both inside China and against Chinese targets abroad attributed to Uighur militants, has been used to legitimize the violence against the Uighur community. The Chinese authorities have beards, forbade religious training for children and denied the families the right to give their children names with religious meaning.

Numerous human rights group have that around a million Uighur Muslims are being kept by the Chinese government in internment camps where they are subject to ¡°re-education¡± programs aimed at forcing them to renounce their religion. The psychological indoctrination programs in these camps include studying communist propaganda and expressing thanks to President Xi Jingping. The authorities have allegedly used waterboarding and other torture techniques against the inmates. The Chinese government denies these allegations.

Earlier in 2019, the mistreatment of Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region came up at the UN Human Rights Council¡¯²õ main annual session in Geneva, despite China having lobbied extensively to avoid accountability and keep the issue under the radar. Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a that ¡°the magnitude of abuses allegedly occurring in Xinjiang demand uncompromising scrutiny,¡± noting that investigating the plight of the Uighur Muslims was a test of credibility for the UN.

In this edition of , 51³Ô¹Ï talks to Dr. Anna Hayes, a senior lecturer of political science at James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia, about the violations of human rights in China¡¯²õ Xinjiang region and the international community¡¯²õ response to the plight of the Uighur Muslims.

Kourosh Ziabari: Could you please give an overview of the living conditions of Uighur Muslims in China¡¯²õ Xinjiang region. Why are these people being persecuted?

Anna Hayes: Living conditions are highly dependent upon location and resources. For example, in the northern part of Xinjiang there has been significant investment in development across preceding decades, which has increased infrastructure and connectivity allowing people greater access to markets, etc. However, this has largely been because the capital Urumqi is located there, and the north has had a higher concentration of Han Chinese. The model has been one of trickle-down economics.

Southern Xinjiang has been largely overlooked in terms of development for decades. It was really only in the 2000s that investment and development began reaching these southern areas. Kashgar was made a special economic zone in 2010, which is intended to stimulate economic development in the region, and it earmarked Kashgar as the key southern city for China¡¯²õ Eurasian pivot as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.

This has seen Han migration to Kashgar, and there have been concerns that economic benefits would go to the Hans rather than the Uighurs. Since 2009, there has been a gentrification of the Old City of Kashgar, which has been demolished, officially due to concerns around sanitation and to make the buildings earthquake proof. For Uighurs, the destruction has been viewed as attempts to break up Uighur communities and to destroy Uighur culture. More than 220,000 Uighurs ¡ª over 65,000 households ¡ª were forced to leave their homes in the city to live in apartment buildings on the outskirts of Kashgar. This has allowed for a gentrification of Old Kashgar, with many Uighurs now out-priced and unable to return to the central districts of the Old City.

Repressive policies have long been a feature of the living conditions in Xinjiang. This has eased and then intensified across time, influenced by both internal and external events. Resistance to Chinese rule has occurred from time to time, but usually unrest is centered on unfair and discriminatory policies toward Uighurs that restrict their religious and cultural freedoms. Repressive retaliation by authorities to legitimate grievances raised by Uighurs worked to harden feelings of discontent and patterns of resistance among Uighurs.

It is appears to be a case of the state testing control measures in Xinjiang before rolling them out across the rest of China. This demonstrates the lengths the Chinese Communist Party will go to in order to keep control and stay in power.

There have been discriminatory hiring practices, with jobs being advertised for ¡°Han only¡± and, for Uighurs who work in the public service and in government positions, there is an expectation that religious observance should be curtailed. Moreover, there is a Han chauvinism directed toward the Uighurs, and paternalism drives an approach that sees Uighurs regarded as ¡°little brothers¡± and ¡°little sisters¡± within the relationship with the Han majority, and that they are in need of modernization and development ¡ª and sometimes correction ¡ª by their Han ¡°big brothers¡± and ¡°big sisters.¡± This is an uneven relationship based on ethnicity.

Following 9/11, the Chinese government recast separatism and resistance as evidence of ¡°terrorism,¡± and the Uighur were situated within the ¡°global terror network¡± because this provided a justification for increased control of the region and the Muslim minority populations. Since this time, Uighurs have been cast as a ¡°terrorist collective,¡± all guilty (which is not accurate), and Islamophobia has grown in China, feeding off the Islamophobia that has grown in the West as a result of 9/11 and the war on terror.

This has increased suspicion of Uighurs to the extent that even the airing of legitimate grievances in relation to discriminatory policies toward Uighurs has been met with harsh crackdowns. There has been a hardening of attitudes to Uighurs since 9/11, and this has intensified since Xi Jinping became president. Because Xinjiang is so important to Xi¡¯²õ signature Belt and Road strategy, Xi has cracked down tightly on the region in order to achieve the goals of the Belt and Road and to ensure territorial integrity of China.

Ziabari: It¡¯²õ been said that China is keeping around a million Uighur Muslims in camps, which the Chinese government refers to as ¡°vocational centers.¡± What is the purpose of running these camps, and why does Beijing refer to them as vocational training facilities?

Hayes: Initially, China denied the existence of the camps. However, Shawn Zhang, a Chinese-born law student in Canada, began looking at satellite imagery and began to upload pictures and information online to identify that they did in fact exist. Stories were trickling out about the camps, not only by Uighurs but also by some Han Chinese observers who were deeply troubled by the camps. A number of academics and journalists began putting together a picture of what was unfolding, and the increased attention meant the authorities could no longer deny their existence. Eventually, they were forced to confirm their existence, but they have said they are ¡°vocational training centers.¡±

However, we know that more than 100 Uighur intellectuals ¡ª tenured professors, university presidents, directors and profile staff members, Uighur poets, musicians, journalists and photographers ¡ª have all disappeared into these camps. This flies in the face of them being for vocational training ¡ª all of these people had solid qualifications and were in paid employment. This is a crackdown and detention on Uighur intellectuals. Other Uighurs from the general public who have been detained include elderly retired people. These people simply do not need vocational training. This also flies in the face of them being for vocational training.

Some camps, the display camps, do appear to be serving as ¡°vocational training centers.¡±. However, why do people have to be locked up for the purpose of job training? Why can¡¯t they go there by day, returning home in the evening? Also, why are they uncontactable? All of these dynamics demonstrate these camps are about more than ¡°vocational training.¡± This is simply a smokescreen to cover up the ethnic cleansing that is taking place in these camps.

These camps are about the eradication of the Uighur ethnic identity ¡ª and the identities of the other Muslim minorities being detained ¡ª so they are forced to assimilate into the Han culture and the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. It is clear from the information coming out from the family members of the Muslim minorities who are being detained ¡ª it is not just the Uighurs ¡ª that ethnic identity is the key determining factor for incarceration. This is clear racial profiling. Joanne Smith Finley has identified this as pre-emptive policing ¡ª lock ¡°them¡± up before they cause trouble. The Muslim minorities are the ¡°Others¡± when it comes to Xinjiang.

Also, a number of people from the Muslim minorities who have been detained are citizens of other states or permanent residents of other states, such as Australia. At least 17 Australian residents and permanent residents are known to have been detained while visiting family in Xinjiang. Kazakhs have also been detained. More and more stories are emerging of violence, torture and deprivation being a feature of the camps. This paints a very bleak picture of what is unfolding in the camps and again contradicts the official account that they are for vocational training.

Ziabari: The BBC has that many Uighur Muslims have been physically and psychologically tortured in the internment camps. How has the international community reacted to these reports? Why has the United Nations been so indifferent to their suffering?

Hayes: In August 2018, a United Nations panel report provided details of the camps and called for the immediate end of the detention of the Muslim minorities. In addition, representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Australia and other states called on China to cease this practice. So it is not accurate to say the UN has been indifferent to their suffering. There are limitations to what the UN can achieve, given that it has largely been Western countries that have been critical of the practice, whereas a number of African and Middle Eastern countries have provided tacit support to China by focusing on praising Beijing for raising living standards while ignoring the situation in Xinjiang. It is a divisive issue among member states.

Also, China is one of the P5 and would be backed by Russia should the issue be raised at the UN Security Council. Really, the key potential for pressure on China lies with Middle Eastern states and Asian states with large Muslim populations like Indonesia and Malaysia, who should be expressing concern over the religious persecution being faced by the Muslim minorities. However, many of these states are part of the Belt and Road Initiative, so this appears to serve as a factor causing them to ignore the problem, as they prioritize economic development over human rights concerns and religious persecution.

But can this last in the face of mounting evidence of the extent of the persecution? These states could provide the solution as the Belt and Road could also be their bargaining chip ¡ª making the Belt and Road agreements conditional on ending the persecution of the Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

Kazakhstan has clearly been applying pressure behind the scenes, as Beijing recently agreed to allow Kazakhs with ties to Kazakhstan who had been detained in the camps to be released and permitted them to migrate to Kazakhstan. While this constitutes ethnic cleansing, it is a lifeline for those Kazakhs.

In addition, when Turkey¡¯²õ President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an demanded proof of life for a Uighur musician who had been in detention and was feared dead, the Chinese complied and released a video, This demonstrated that such pressure works. This also triggered the #MeTooUighur campaign that has seen Uighurs across the world draw attention to detained family members in Xinjiang, demanding proof of life for them. This has also documented the extent of the detentions and highlighted that these people are regular members of the general population. They are not criminals. They are being detained due to racial profiling.

Ethnic diversity is challenging to Beijing ¡ª it challenges its desire for a mono-cultural state that will fall into line with Chinese Communist Party ideology. While there are ethnic minorities that represent nationalist expressions outside of the Han imagining, they are received by Beijing as a threat.?

So the pressure applied by Turkey and what resulted from Erdo?an¡¯²õ request demonstrates that Beijing is in damage control over this. I think they know they have crossed a line internationally, so the more focused attention can be brought to this issue, the higher the chance the international community has in terms of successfully ending the detentions.

More high-level talks are needed, as are more multinational reports and high-level condemnation demonstrating the international community is not going to stand by and allow this to continue.

Ziabari: Do you think the leaders of Muslim nations have not raised their voice in protest against the plight of the Uighur people in fear they might compromise their economic alliance with China?

Hayes: We are unsure about what has been happening behind closed doors. There have been some voices of concern raised, but the lack of a strong and united response from Muslim states has been disappointing. States like Pakistan for example, are integral in China¡¯²õ Belt and Road Initiative, connecting the western region of China to the Gwadar port. Pakistan could play a key role here, but it is so indebted to China now that this is highly unlikely. It has been receiving massive funding under Belt and Road projects, like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The sheer extent of Chinese investment into Pakistan is remarkable at $593.9 million in 2015-2016 and, in just under 3 years, China has provided loans to Pakistan that equate to near 50% of the value of all loans received by Pakistan since 1947. These countries are not speaking out because they do not want to disrupt their economic relations with China.

Ziabari: The Uighur Muslims detained in mass detention facilities are exposed to ¡°re-education¡± programs aimed at changing the political thinking of the detainees, their identity and religious mindset. Are such programs consistent with the human rights obligations of the Chinese government? Is China entitled to brainwash a large group of its citizens to abandon their faith?

Hayes: No, they are not. The Chinese government is not entitled to commit such acts, and China is in breach of various international conventions and agreements, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, for example, right through to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Uighur children are being denied the right to live in a family environment, with children being placed into orphanages and state care because their parents have been detained. This is a shocking outcome.

Ziabari: The Chinese foreign ministry has said the actions taken by the Xinjiang regional government are aimed at fighting terrorism and are in line with the direction the international community has taken to combat terrorism. Does this imply that the Chinese government feels threatened by the Uighur Muslims?

Hayes: The Chinese government is threatened by anything that sits apart from the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. This includes all faiths, not just Islam. This is witnessed in the persecution of China¡¯²õ Christians, particularly those in the underground churches, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and Muslims.

Ziabari: In addition to cracking down on the Uighurs, the Chinese government is involved in efforts to repress Kazakhs and other minorities as well. What do you think is the reason? Is it difficult for China to tolerate ethnic diversity?

Hayes: The Muslim minorities are ethnically and religiously different to the Han Chinese. They represent to Beijing that this region is a frontier region of the state. Any frontier region poses challenges to a state because they tend to be a friction point against state control; they frequently have indigenous populations or ethnic ¡°Others,¡± and this is the case for Xinjiang. Also, given the emergence of a number of republics in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has been fearful that nationalist movements could spread across the border from neighboring Kazakhstan into Xinjiang. Therefore, this frontier region is also seen as a potential threat to China¡¯²õ territorial integrity, so the Chinese Communist Party has long exerted considerable control on the region and its people.

Ethnic diversity is challenging to Beijing ¡ª it challenges its desire for a mono-cultural state that will fall into line with Chinese Communist Party ideology. While there are ethnic minorities that represent nationalist expressions outside of the Han imagining, they are received by Beijing as a threat. Beijing is terrified that unrest could result in a similar experience as to what occurred in the Soviet Union: the break-up of the union with an eventual outcome of a much smaller Russia and several independent republics. The Chinese fear Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and some other potential regions would follow suit if something similar happened in China. This would severely curtail China¡¯²õ power and its access to natural resources and gas fields. It would also significantly reduce its ability to continue exerting power in the South China Sea region.

Ziabari: Cyber experts have revealed that China is closely monitoring 2.5 million people using what has been called a ¡°Muslim tracker,¡± ¡°exposing millions of records containing sensitive personal information on an unprotected online database,¡± according to an ABC News . Why does the Chinese government need such information?

Hayes: It doesn¡¯t need this information. The Chinese state is collecting this kind of personal information because it has implemented a surveillance state that is terrorizing the Muslim minorities into submission. It is a police state. This also involves threatening family members abroad, demanding members of the Uighur community in exile, providing such details so that family members back home are identified. Family members can then be used to silence the Uighur community in exile, and they can be used as leverage by authorities.

This is a gross breach of human rights and demonstrates the increasing authoritarianism in the Chinese state. It is appears to be a case of the state testing control measures in Xinjiang before rolling them out across the rest of China. This demonstrates the lengths the Chinese Communist Party will go to in order to keep control and stay in power. However, this should be of increasing concern to the entire Chinese population as the information contained within China¡¯²õ social credit system is also likely to be vulnerable to hacking, and that will lead to a significant security breach and privacy and confidentiality issues for the mainstream Chinese population.

Ziabari: An Uighur woman who fled China along with his parents wrote in for The Independent that the Chinese government pressures other nations to deport Uighurs escaping persecution back to China, and that Chinese embassies everywhere keep a close eye on Uighurs and monitor their daily lives and activities. Why does China want all the Uighurs who have left the country back?

Hayes: To silence them. They want to find out how they were able to flee China ¡ª who the inside brokers were so they can be punished for corruption and ¡°endangering state security¡± by assisting Uighurs to flee (you need to pay bribes to get a passport for example) ¡ª and they want to punish and silence those who fled. This demonstrates that Beijing understands the sensitivities around their treatment of the Muslim minorities and they want to hide it from the international community. This is why the more outspoken the international community is on this issue, and the more awareness generated on the issue, the better.

Ziabari: In a tacit reference to the Uighur question, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said during a recent visit to Beijing that China has a right to fight. As the leader of a highly conservative and closed society, do you think MBS is trying to cajole the Chinese officials and justify their crackdown on the Uighur Muslims?

Hayes: Mohammed bin Salman is motivated by power and money. He is prioritizing good relations with China over the lives of Muslim brethren. As more stories emerge from Xinjiang, I am sure there will be a groundswell of support among Muslims across the world, including Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, the closed nature of Xinjiang throughout much of its post-1949 history ¡ª due to the Chinese Communist Party¡¯²õ tight control of the region ¡ª has meant very few people outside of the region know much about it and its people. Recently, [Pakistan¡¯²õ Prime Minister] Imran Khan acknowledged he knew very little about the Uighurs. This needs to change, especially across the Middle East. President Erdo?an appears to be the most vocal on this issue, having previously called Beijing¡¯²õ treatment of the Uighurs a genocide.

Given the escalation of state violence against the Uighurs, via the detention camps, Beijing has unwittingly drawn the kind of attention that will make the Uighurs and their treatment more well known across the Muslim world.

The Arab Spring has shown it can be very dangerous for leaders to be disconnected from the concerns of their populace, and the Uighur diaspora has been increasingly effective at using social media to promote their cause. Young people in the Muslim world are connecting with this issue, and social media posts reflect there is widespread support for Uighurs among younger generations. Perhaps bin Salman¡¯²õ lack of concern will be to his detriment. Only time will tell. So while the official Saudi response is very disappointing, the younger generation¡¯²õ social media responses have been heartening.

The views expressed in this article are the author¡¯²õ own and do not necessarily reflect 51³Ô¹Ï¡¯²õ editorial policy.

The post China’s Uighur Persecution: Ethnic Diversity Is a Challenge to Beijing appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.

According to numerous reports by human rights groups and the media, over a million Uighur Muslims are being held in detention camps in China¡¯²õ Xinjiang province as part of the government¡¯²õ crackdown against the ethnic minority. As world leaders remain largely silent on the issue, human rights continue unabated, with Uighur Muslims being made to denounce their faith and identity, and embrace the Chinese Communist Party. In this so-called re-education program, inmates are isolated from their families, subjected to brainwashing and in some cases , with reports of deaths in detention.

Uighurs China have been placed in internment camps, with cases of coming to light just last month. Claims by Chinese officials that these ¡°¡± are an attempt to tackle religious extremism are contradicted by countless examples that prove this is far form the truth.

The Xinjiang Autonomous Uighur Region, as it is officially known, is home to some 8 million Turkic-speaking Uighurs, with a history of unrest and discord between the Chinese authorities, the ethnic Han majority and the Uighur Muslim population, which has been kept under tight and restrictions. The Republic of East Turkestan briefly called for independence in 1949 before being absorbed into Communist China. In an attempt to restrict Uighur Muslims from following their faith or expressing their identity, China introduced that include legislation prohibiting Islamic names. In the Xinjiang government banned Uighur Muslims from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and has cracked down on mosques and Islamic schools.

The crackdown further heightened when Human Rights Watch found that Uighur Muslims were being kept under strict surveillance and were being made to give DNA and biometric samples. It was that a Chinese surveillance company has been tracking the movements of 2.5 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and recording the location data of the residents.

Justification for Crackdown

The terrorist attack on in 2013 that killed five people further heightened tensions, with the being the first group to claim responsibility. A decades-long has been connected to attacks both inside and outside China, including the at Kunming railway station in 2014 and the 2015 of a shrine in Bangkok popular with Chinese tourists. An Uighur link surfaced in the 2016 suicide attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Uighur militants from Xinjiang thought to be fighting alongside the and Iraq have vowed that ¡°In retaliation for the tears that flow from the eyes of the oppressed, we will make your blood flow in rivers, by the will of God.¡±

This threat of extremism has provided a justification for a further crackdown on the Uighur population, prompting China to pass its in 2015, which set out vague descriptions of what the People¡¯²õ Republic of China considers to be extremism. Article 9 of the law outlines ¡°spreading religious fanaticism through irregular beards or name selection.¡± However, despite the fact that the Chinese government reported that such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement had with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the exact number of Uighur jihadists is , and experts have their ability to carry out attacks inside China. At the same time, rights groups and Uighur exiles blame repressive policies and restrictions against Uighur Muslims for driving them out of China and fueling the unrest and radicalization in Xinjiang.

When individuals are detained for being visibly Muslim, wearing a headscarf or for saying their five daily prayers, it becomes apparent that this is not about ¡°re-education¡± or tackling extremism, but rather an attempt to strip Uighur Muslims of their identity, of their religion and of what they stand for ¡ª a cultural genocide.

It is heartbreaking to see the plight of Uighurs and their children, many of whom have been separated from each other, not knowing where their loved ones are. China has those in the camps from contact with their families. Amina Allahberdi, a 32-year-old Uighur Muslim and Saudi national, was on a visit China to renew her passport in 2016 when she was and prevented from returning to Saudi Arabia. Her husband had spent a month in search of her but had to return back to Saudi Arabia to care for his two children. In an emotional , Allahberdi¡¯²õ 5-year-old son cries for their missing parent; ¡°My mother is from East Turkestan. When she went back home, China sent her to prison and we haven¡¯t heard from her since,¡± the children say. These are just two of the many who have lost their to these camps.

who tried to investigate the camps have been reported missing or sent to prison. , an Uighur journalist, was sentenced to 15 years for . The Chinese government only allows a number of journalists the right to visit the camps. Any claims of abuse by Uighur Muslims are explicitly dismissed by the Chinese authorities and branded as lies. However, the growing amount of evidence and corroborating statements of abuse prove otherwise.

Cries for Action

Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, stated that ¡°The abuse in Xinjiang today is so severe that it cries out for international action.¡± World leaders must speak out against the injustices that President Xi Jinping has inflicted on China¡¯²õ Uighur minority and hold those accountable in the eyes of international law. The only way that this can be done is if the United Nations Human Rights Council adopts a resolution to establish a thorough investigation. The United Nations have had a few , such as getting South Africa and Kazakhstan to give up their nuclear weapons, or persecuting Charles Taylor and Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes. A UN-mandated investigation would enable the high commissioner for human rights to carry out an independent inquiry. China should have to agree to having an unrestricted investigation in Xinjiang.

China can¡¯t hide behind its economic power to escape accountability over its human rights violations. Uighur Muslims should have a right to practice their religion as mandated by of the Chinese Constitution, which states that people have the right to ¡°enjoy freedom of religious belief.¡± They should have the right to not be scrutinized for carrying a copy of the Quran, wearing a headscarf or donning a long beard as part of their faith.

China has had multiple opportunities to answer serious allegations of human rights abuse against Uighurs, such as those issued by . Yet the authorities continue to lie and deny the true nature of the situation.

No country in the world should be allowed to get away with the human rights abuses that China has inflicted on its own citizens. Uighur Muslims have faced repression from the Chinese authorities for far too long, and it is time now for Beijing to be held accountable and for justice to prevail ¡ª?even if it means bringing the world¡¯²õ second largest economy to shame.

The views expressed in this article are the author¡¯²õ own and do not necessarily reflect 51³Ô¹Ï¡¯²õ editorial policy.

The post China’s Treatment of Uighur Muslims Is Cultural Genocide appeared first on 51³Ô¹Ï.