The   World   Uyghur   Network   News


An electronic newsletter

Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center


No: 41

17 May 1997

In this issue:

(1) UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 53rd SESSION.

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY.

17 May 1997, Erkin Alptekin

(2) LONG DISTANCE GAS PIPELINE BEGINS OPERATIONS IN XINJIANG

16 May 1997, CNN

(3) XINJIANG ARMED POLICE, CORPS HOLD PARTY CONFERENCE

15 May 1997, Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network

(4) EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM TO SELL 72 PLANES TO XINJIANG AIRLINES

15 May 1997, Rome ANSA (Ansamail database version)

(5) XINJIANG QINGONG TO ISSUE 30M A SHRS MONDAY

15 May 1997, AP-Dow Jones News Service

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=  

(1) UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 53rd SESSION.

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY.

17 May 1997, Erkin Alptekin

Mr. Chairman,

Some governments claim that how they treat minority peoples is their "internal affairs," and should not be interfered with by outside powers or even the United Nations. Even when armed conflicts break out between the state and a minority people, the UN is told not to comment. Yet, the work of this Commission, the adoption of numerous human rights treaties and declarations proves that human rights, including rights of minorities is and must be the concern of the entire international community. What is part of international law cannot, by definition, be the "domestic" or "internal" affair of any state.

I wish to use an example with which I am very familiar to illustrate the kind of treatment of a minority people which the international community can not, under the present provisions of international law, tolerate.

Reports hit the press in February this year of the crushing of an uprising of Uighurs in Ili and elsewhere in Eastern Turkestan, or Xinjiang as the Chinese call my country. But the full story, and the reasons for the uprising have not been fully revealed.

In April and May of last year 45 uprisings took place in 15 different parts of Eastern Turkestan, and around 65,000 people took part. Close to 1,000 people were killed. These uprisings took place because of the desperation which the Uighur and other Turkik peoples feel about their situation. They feel they are faced with only two choices: accepting national extinction through assimilation or a mortal struggle to defend their cultural and religious identity.

China has carried out a systematic policy of repression of Uighurs and of their Muslim religion, on the one hand; and of massive implantation of Chinese settlers into Eastern Turkestan, on the other. Millions of Chinese have come to settle in Eastern Turkestan under this policy, turning the native peoples into a minority in their own land. But whereas any Chinese can settle and work in our region, Uighurs are not allowed to settle in China proper and are treated as foreigners by the Chinese. Frustration is reaching an explosive proportion. One Uighur who was recently interviewed expressed his feelings as follows: (and I quote)

"...So many Chinese come to Xinjiang. They get the jobs. Uighurs have no jobs, no good homes, so many sleeping in the streets. I am one of the masses, and I do not have any work. The Chinese have a good life, good food, high buildings. The Hans have taken away all our raw materials. Oil, gold, coal, cotton. What doesn't Xinjiang have? Why then is Xinjiang poor? The Uighurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are the real owners of Xinjiang. Being a part of China means we are a minority. That has been a disaster for development. It is better for us to be independent..." (End of quote )

Fierce anti-Chinese demonstrations broke out on February 5 and 6 of this year. They started in Ili, after Chinese armed police broke into private houses to disperse Uighur women who had gathered to pray. In the demonstrations and clashes that followed, 400 Uighurs were killed. According to eye witnesses, 146 persons were frozen to death when Chinese troops used pressured water in freezing temperatures to fight demonstrators. 90 Uighurs were beaten to death. 160 died when the Chinese security forces opened fire on the crowd. Many more were wounded and at least 2000 Uighurs were arrested. On 10 February, an 8 year old Uighur girl named Fatima who demanded the release of her father; and a pregnant woman, G lzira, who begged for the release of her husband, were shot to death in the Public Security compound in Ili.

Mr. Chairman, I am giving these facts to bring to this Commission the real situation of my people who have --against their wishes-- been made a minority of China. Without these illustrations which provide a true understanding of what is happening to our people and other minority peoples, how can this Commission take effective action to protect the rights of minorities and to prevent conflict? Recently reports emerged that bombs had exploded in Eastern Turkestan and even Beijing, and Uighurs were immediately blamed by China. I have reason to believe that at least some of these bombs were planted to discredit the Muslim Uighurs and depict them as Islamic fundamentalist extremists. This would make it easier for the authorities to justify their repression. But unless you hear the true story of the suffering of our people, it is hard for you to believe what is really going on.

Mr. Chairman, we, our Tibetan brothers and sisters and oppressed peoples throughout the world, many of whom are united in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) look to this Commission on Human Rights to bring hope and peaceful change to our people. (Provided to WUNN by the Transnational Radical Party)

(2) LONG DISTANCE GAS PIPELINE BEGINS OPERATIONS IN XINJIANG

16 May 1997, CNN

Urumqi -- A long distance pipeline to transport natural gas between Piqan and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been completed and is now operational. This is the first large diameter, long distance pipeline in western China. Construction of the 301.6 kilometre pipeline began in September 1995 and cost RMB 480 million. The natural gas will be the raw material for two fertiliser plants operated by the Urumqi Petro-Chemical Industry Plant and, in Urumqi, its supply will be for domestic consumption. The pipeline can also help to accelerate economic development in the region, and will be of great significance to agricultural development, as well as to environmental protection in urban areas of the region.

(3) XINJIANG ARMED POLICE, CORPS HOLD PARTY CONFERENCE

15 May 1997, Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network

The armed police units under the Xinjiang Production and Construction corps headquarters [possible vernacular: wu jing xin jiang sheng chan jian she bing tuan zhi hui bu] held their first conference of party representatives in Urumqi yesterday. Wang Lequan, Wang Chuanyou, Jin Yunhui, Li Fengzi, Wang Hanru, and other leaders of the regional party, government, and military organizations as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps attended the opening ceremony.

[video shows close-ups of these leaders individually when their names are announced, and then cuts to show shots of these leaders sitting behind a long conference table facing the attendees]

Regional Party Committee Secretary Wang Lequan made an important speech at the opening ceremony.

[video shows close-ups of Wang Lequan reading from prepared notes, then cuts to show group shots of attendees in military uniform]

He said: This conference is an important political event for the armed police officers and men of the production and construction corps. It shows that the headquarters of the corps' armed police units has entered a new stage in party building, and it will play a very important role in building a stronger headquarters.

Wang Lequan pointed out: In recent years, units of the corps' armed police units have been playing an important role in safeguarding Xinjiang's political stability and unity, protecting Xinjiang's socialist modernization, fighting crimes, building socialist spiritual civilization, carrying out rescue and relief missions, and supporting local economic construction. They are units the party and the people can trust. Wang Lequan urged all officers and men to clearly understand Xinjiang's ongoing struggle against its enemy; fully understand the protracted nature, acuteness, and complexity of the antiseparatist struggle; and, at the same time, work hard to safeguard army-government and army-people unity and unity among people of all ethnic groups, and take practical actions to consolidate and develop the region's social and political unity and stability.

Wang Lequan said: All units should give top priority to their ideological and political construction, and, at the same time, tighten the construction of mobile forces by turning them into disciplined, technically superb, and tough forces that can win battles. Under the leadership of the armed police headquarters and party committees of the region and the production and construction corps, all officers and men of the corps' armed police headquarters should build themselves up, unite as one, brace themselves up, forge ahead, and usher in Hong Kong's reversion and the triumphant convocation of the 15th National Party Congress with outstanding achievements.

[video shows close-ups of Wang Chuanyou speaking from prepared notes, then cuts to show group shots of the armed police officers and men]

Wang Chuanyou, member of the Xinjiang Regional Party Committee Standing Committee and political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also addressed the meeting. Present at the opening ceremony were some 140 grass-roots party representatives from the headquarters of the armed police units under the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

(4) EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM TO SELL 72 PLANES TO XINJIANG AIRLINES

15 May 1997, Rome ANSA (Ansamail database version)

(ANSA) -- Beijing, May 15 -- A three-way consortium formed by Alenia and its British and French equivalents today signed a contract to supply five of its highly successful ATR- 72 regional carriers to Xinjiang Airlines in western China, with an option for five more. The contract is expected to be worth some 70 million dollars to the AIR (Air International Regional) consortium, set up three years ago by Alenia, Aerospatiale and British Aerospace.

Separately, Alenia alone signed a contract to co-produce ATR-72 fuselages at Xian, in the east-central Shanxi region. The signing ceremony was attended by Italian Transport Minister Claudio Burlando and Italian Ambassador to China Alessandro Quaroni. Alenia's ground-control subsidiary Alenia Radar e Sistemi ATC was the first company in the group to break into the highly competitive Chinese market at the beginning of the Eighties, and has now installed more than 40 systems at major airports around the country.

China expects its civil aviation sector to grow by 13 percent each year to the end of the century. Air traffic increased by an average 16.3 percent a year between 1994 and 1996. The Chinese Government's current five-year plan, which runs until 2000, envisages the acquisition of 240 planes, half of which have already been ordered. Most of them will be made by Boeing of the United States and by Airbus, which currently hold shares of 70 and 15 percent in the Chinese market.

(5) XINJIANG QINGONG TO ISSUE 30M A SHRS MONDAY

15 May 1997, AP-Dow Jones News Service

SHANGHAI -- Xinjiang Qingong Co. will issue 30 million Class A shares Monday, the company said in a prospectus published in a local newspaper Thursday. The shares will be underwritten by J&A Securities Co. and priced at 4.05 yuan each. Placement will take place in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi. The shares will list on the Shanghai bourse.

The 116.9 million yuan in expected proceeds will be invested in the expansion of a hops processing project with annual capacity of 6,000 tons and barley production base, which currently covers 9,882 acres of land. Xinjiang Qingong is the largest hops and barley grower in China. Its annual production of dried hops, granulated hops and barley reaches 6,000 tons, 4,200 tons and 10,000 tons respectively. Class A shares are reserved for trading by national Chinese investors.


Prepared by:

Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu)

WUNN newsletter index

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues.

Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China.

The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community.

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER
Director: Abduljelil Karkash
Lindwurmstr 99, 80337 Munich, Germany
http://www.uygur.com   E-mail: etic@uygur.com
Fax: 49-89-54 45 63 30 Phone: 49-89-54 40 47 72