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Ethnic Cleansing in the Making
by Faisal Kutty
The tragic events of that fateful morning on
September 11th are being exploited by many to
advance their own agendas. The Chinese
government is no exception, according to recent
reports put out by Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch. The situation was bad
enough before September 11th.
For the past few years the Chinese government
has systematically suppressed and persecuted
the Muslims of the former East Turkestan or
Uighuristan, misleadingly renamed the Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) by its Chinese
conquerors. Despite the word autonomous in the
name, all major political decisions are made
from Beijing by ethnic Chinese. Xinjiang is
China's largest province covering an area of
approximately 1.6 million square kilometres.
Executions, torture, arbitrary detention,
unfair political trials and destruction of
property were among the offences catalogued in
a 92-page report released in 1998 by Amnesty
International. Most of the findings are
corroborated by other human rights groups,
including Human Rights Watch as well as the
U.S. State Department.
No doubt, what has been uncovered is only part
of the story. Indeed, Amnesty noted in the 1998
report that it was just the "tip of the
iceberg" given the restrictions on information
and access. At the time I shuddered to think of
the true state of affairs.
In the wake of the attacks on New York and
Washington the Chinese authorities have now
found new justification in its own war
against "terrorists." "China's support of the
[American] war against terrorism will be a
pretext for gaining international support -- or
at least silence -- for its crackdown on ethnic
Uighurs in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region," states a report released in October
2001 by Human Rights Watch.
Chinese authorities have
conveniently "discovered" a Uighur East Tujue
network which is linked to the Taliban and
other terrorist cells. The rhetoric has
intensified in the last few weeks with Foreign
Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzhao alleging that
there was proof linking Uighur agitators
with "the bin Laden clique." Many observers,
including human rights groups, dispute this
claim. Most of the separatists are
overwhelmingly pan-Turkic and have advocated
peaceful means. In fact, even the Islamic
groups such as the "Party of Allah" or
the "Islamic Uighur Party" do not claim any
connection with any pan-Islamic network. ".
there is no evidence that they are inspired by
the strict form of Islam that characterizes the
Taliban," notes the Human Rights
Watch. "Whether secular or religious, the pro-
independence groups in Xinjiang are
overwhelmingly ethno-nationalist movements,
that is, articulated along ethnic lines, not
religious one. There is no significant
cooperation among Xinjiang's different Muslim
ethnic groups of Kazakhs, Mongols, Tajiks, and
Uighurs." Moreover, many observers have
pointed out that the Uighurs are ethnically
closer to the Turkic Muslims (the Northern
Alliance) of Afghanistan than the Pashtuns who
dominated the Taliban.
The Uighur's were not always at the mercy of
Chinese masters. In fact, like the Afghan
tribesman who fought off repeated colonization
attempts, the hardy Turkic Muslims fended off a
number of unsuccessful invasions by the
Chinese. But in 1759, the Manchu dynasty was
victorious in taking this vast territory which
comprises about 17 percent of modern day China.
They were eventually forced out by a major
revolt and the region was independent once
again for a short period. However, as in too
many places in the world, our British friends
could not resist facilitating the Manchu
dynasty's re-conquering of the territory in
1876. Interestingly, the area was renamed
Xinjiang, or "New Frontier," in Mandarin by the
foreign invaders.
Out of the ashes of the Japan/China war in the
mid-1900s, once again a Muslim republic of East
Turkestan came into being in the northern part
of the territory. But this was short lived, as
Mao Tse Tung forcefully consolidated his
control over the entire region after his 1949
victory. However China would have us believe
that the more recent name of XUAR, with the
misleading qualifier "autonomous," was chosen
to take into consideration the special
cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious
character of the territory. Unfortunately,
rather than extending true autonomy or even
tolerating the Uighur culture, the government
came down with an iron fist.
Flagrant disregard and abuse of the Uighurs
forced some to resort to resistance and
confrontation. The situation has worsened over
the past few years as a growing number of
Uighurs, encouraged by developments in Western
Turkistan - namely the independent republics of
Kirghizistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan
and Turkmenistan - have increasingly called for
independence. Their calls for the right to
self-determination have elicited brutal force
and repression from Chinese authorities.
Widespread arbitrary arrests, closure of
mosques and Islamic schools, and crackdown on
Islamic functions have intensified recently.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty report that
thousands have been jailed and hundreds
executed over the last few years. In fact,
according to one report published by the Times
of London, Islamic activists are forced to
drink alcohol before their execution as a final
insult.
The Uighur appear not to be safe even outside
the territory. In fact, Human Rights Watch also
reported that in March 1998, more than 30
Muslim restaurants were destroyed by
authorities in a Beijing area known
as "Xinjiang village," and more than 1,000
Muslims were made homeless. I could go on
cataloguing the atrocities, but suffice to say
that another round of ethnic cleansing - albeit
silent and subtle - is taking place.
Aside from perpetrating flagrant violations of
human rights, the Chinese have also instituted
a systematic and discriminatory program to
change the demographics in XUAR. Since the
1950's the central authorities have worked to
change the ethnic mix of the region. According
to Paul George, who wrote a commentary on the
situation for Canada's spy agency, the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), China's
one-child, family planning policy does not
apply to any ethnic Han couple relocating to
East Turkistan. Not surprisingly, such
incentives have altered the demographic mix
significantly. The population estimates for the
territory range from 18 million to 40 million.
The Muslim population of East Turkistan in 1949
was well above 90% -- about 78% Uighurs -- and
ethnic Chinese (Han) composed only about 6%.
According to the Chinese Census figures
released in November 2001, the Chinese now make
up about 40% thanks to the state policy of
ethnic dilution. In fact, the U.S. State
Department in its 1998 China human rights
report, states that according to some
estimates, the migration of ethnic Han
in "recent decades has caused the Han-Uyghur
ratio in the capital of Urumqi to shift from 20
to 80, to 80 to 20." The dilution policy
started by Mao appears to be continuing
unabated as the most recent Census figures also
reveal that the Han (Chinese) population grew
by 32% in the 1990's, compared to a growth of
only 16% for the non-Chinese.
The Han have also gained control over the
economic and political landscape. This has been
achieved by banning the Uighur language and
extending preferential treatment in employment,
education, health care and other services to
the growing Han community. The new economic
infusion into the area, to boost proven oil
reserves to 3.3 billion tonnes, will not help
the unemployment situation of
Muslims. "Üighurs are simply not hired by
Chinese firms," says Georgetown University
China expert Dr. James Millward. "At job fairs,
`Uighurs need not apply' signs are standard."
Those locals without any facility for the
Chinese language are totally out of the loop.
Because of the centrality of Islam in the
Uighur culture, the government has also focused
on removing any symbols of Islam. Islamic
schools and mosques which were only opened
during the administration of Deng Xiao Ping,
are once again seriously restricted. Religious
activity has been curtailed and only material
and personnel approved by the Chinese
authorities are permitted. More recently,
students at state schools and universities are
formally forbidden to pray, keep fast during
Ramadan and even possession of a Quran is a
serious offence according to Human Rights Watch.
Why is China carrying out this program of slow
and silent "ethnic cleansing?" It appears to be
driven by both strategic military and economic
reasons. Probably most important is the fact
that XUAR shares borders with Mongolia, the
Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan,
Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Therefore
the territory serves quite well as a buffer
zone against external threats. In the recent
past it was the threat from the Soviet Union
being guarded against, but even after the
breakup of the Soviet empire, the region
continues to be home to one of the largest, if
not the largest, contingent of Chinese military
personnel and equipment. In fact, most of the
country's nuclear ballistic missiles are housed
in Xinjiang. And according to the CSIS study,
the region is vital today in the monitoring
of "potentially turbulent economic and
political developments in the Central Asian
republics."
Aside from its geopolitical significance, the
province's vast reserve of natural resources,
including lead, zinc, gold, uranium, coal and
oil also explains China's willingness to use
any means to keep Xinjiang under total Chinese
control. Some estimates place the oil and gas
reserves at 2.44 billion tons in the Tarim
basin. Attempts to access these reserves have
been unsuccessful to date. But even if the
reserves are exaggerated or non-existent, the
territory is still vital in providing access to
the massive oil deposits in Central Asia.
Indeed, the oil needed to lubricate the Chinese
economic machinery may have to be piped in from
the republics through Xinjiang.
China has thus far downplayed the situation in
Xinjiang, labeling it an internal problem of
curtailing "terrorists," "extremists"
and "splittists." It is time for the world to
send a fact-finding mission to Xinjiang to
assess the situation before it gets any worse.
The Muslim world, which has provided open
markets and an endless supply of oil, is in a
great position to speak out on behalf of the
Uighur Muslims. Unfortunately, rather than
showing solidarity with their Turkic and Muslim
brethren, a number of them, namely, Kazakhstan,
Kirghizistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have
entered into an agreement with China to combat
so-called "Islamic Fundamentalism." This has
been a prime focus of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization which is composed of the foregoing
Muslim nations as well as China and Russia.
Shamefully, under the guise of this agreement
and in clear violation of the U.N. Convention
on Refugees, Kazakhstan has forcibly
repatriated Uighurs and the others have joined
in the persecution. Even Pakistan, for its own
selfish jeo-political reasons (read military
and nuclear reasons), has contributed to the
subjugation of the Uighurs. Over the last few
years, Pakistan has repatriated Uighur students
and closed Uighur guesthouses in Islamabad.
While the world is totally focused on America's
war on terrorism and other more fashionable hot
spots, it is important not to forget the plight
of Chinese Muslims and to be cognizant of the
fact that the criminals sitting in Beijing are
watching closely for the right opportunity to
wipe out the Uighur thorn. The situation in
Xinjiang is one that needs to be placed on the
international agenda immediately, before there
is nothing left to save.
And now the events of September 11th makes it
imperative that the plight of Chinese Muslims
be highlighted. "The Chinese authorities do
not distinguish between 'terrorism' and
`separatism'," Amnesty International
said. "Separatism in fact covers a broad range
of activities most of which amount to no more
than peaceful opposition or dissent. Preaching
or teaching Islam outside government controls
is also considered subversive."
Therefore it is more crucial then ever that the
international community take a more hard-line
approach for selfish reasons if not out of any
moral or humanitarian conviction. Ultimately,
the repression will only force a largely
peaceful opposition to Chinese persecution
escalate into uncontrollable violent opposition
which will also drag in the rest of the world.
We need no better example than the current
global war on terrorism.
Faisal Kutty is a Toronto-based lawyer and
writer. He is also a columnist for the
Washington Report on
Middle East Affairs.
Source:
by courtesy & © 2002 Faisal Kutty
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