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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 49 30 July 1997 In this issue: (1) SEPARATISTS FACE FIGHT AGAINST TOP CADRES South China Morning Post, 7/30/97 (2) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH / CHINA SUMMIT Voice of America, 7/30/97 (3) NEW STAGE OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST'S BIRTH CONTROL POLICIES TOWARDS NON-CHINESE ETHNIC GROUPS Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 7/26/97 (4) KAZAKHS PREVENT UIGHUR PROTEST AT CHINESE EMBASSY Nando.net, Agence France-Presse, 7/31/97 *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) SEPARATISTS FACE FIGHT AGAINST TOP CADRES South China Morning Post, 7/30/97, by WILLY WO-LAP LAM President Jiang Zemin has vowed to send more "skilful and accomplished" cadres to Xinjiang and Tibet to tame separatist movements. The reshuffle of regional cadres is a key topic in the continuing leadership meetings at the Beidaihe resort. A mainland source said Mr Jiang had paid particular attention to personnel matters in areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities, such as the autonomous regions of Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia. "We must transfer to autonomous regions cadres with a high level of awareness of Marxist principles," the party chief reportedly said in a recent speech. "They must have proven political skills and experience in handling ethnic problems." The source said Beijing was considering appointing heavyweight politicians to be party secretaries of the regions. The party boss of Tibet, Chen Kuiyuan, has been in office since 1992 and his counterpart in Xinjiang, Wang Lequan, since last year. "Because of lack of positions, it is not possible for the leadership to reserve one or more Politburo seats for a representative from ethnic regions," another source said. "But newly appointed cadres to these areas will have more power than before in mobilising resources to crack down on separatists." He said previous party bosses of autonomous regions had included high-fliers like Hu Jintao, the youngest member of the Politburo Standing Committee. In his recent speech, Mr Jiang said Xinjiang posed the biggest threat to his administration and national unity. The President attributed this to "infiltration" and support from hostile forces, such as Uygur nationalist bases in a few former Soviet states like Kazakhstan. In contrast, Mr Jiang expressed satisfaction that the situation in Tibet had been brought under control, partly due to Beijing's improved relations with neighbouring countries such as Nepal and India. He also indicated the fast-improving standard of living in Inner Mongolia had helped calm the separatist movement there. Western diplomats have said recent rioting in Xinjiang was partly a result of the low quality of Han and Uygur cadres stationed in the region. Many senior party officials have been suspected of corruption and mismanagement. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (2) HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH / CHINA SUMMIT Voice of America, 7/30/97, by Gil Butler INTRO: The Washington-based organization, Human Rights Watch, has called on President Clinton to delay scheduling a summit meeting with China's president until Beijing improves its human rights practices. VOA's Gil Butler has more on that development from the Chinese capital. TEXT: For China, the summit meeting in Washington between president Jiang Zemin and President Bill Clinton is an extremely important event. Though Mr. Clinton and President Jiang have talked at other international meetings, this is the first time the Chinese leader will have been given head-of-state honors in the United States. It is regarded here as proof that sino-american relations are on the right track. But there is another view of the summit. Human Rights Watch sent an announcement to news organizations in Beijing saying the Clinton administration should avoid setting a firm date for a summit meeting with Jiang Zemin until Beijing takes steps to improve what human rights watch describes as, "Its dismal human rights performance." An official with Human Rights Watch/Asia said the Clinton administration would welcome token prisoner releases or other gestures but, it says, the administration is not willing to threaten to cancel the summit if there is no real human rights progress. // opt // The Human Rights Watch official says the Clinton administration risks throwing away the enormous leverage of a summit meeting. Human Rights Watch says its call for a delay in scheduling the summit was in response to reports that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had discussed the summit with Chinese foreign minister Qian Qichen and the probable summit date was given as the 28th of October. // end opt // The organization says resuming a formal dialogue on human rights or releasing a few dissidents is not sufficient. It says there should be no White House meeting until Beijing takes significant steps. Human Rights Watch listed such steps as: allowing access to Tibet and Xinjiang province by human rights monitors, reforming the state security law, allowing access to Chinese prisons by international humanitarian organizations, signing two UN human rights conventions, releasing large numbers of Chinese and Tibetan prisoners and protecting basic civil liberties in Hong Kong. The Chinese foreign ministry has had no reaction so far to the Human Rights Watch call for a delay in the summit. 31 July 1997 THE MODERN HISTORY OF CHINA TELLS US A BACKWARD NATION IS LIABLE TO GRIEVE, AND A POOR AND WEAK ONE TO BULLYING. THE ONLY WAY TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE ONE'S HISTORICAL FATE IS TO RISE UP IN RESISTANCE AND WORK FOR A PROSPEROUS AND POWERFUL NATION. Jiang Zemin (3) NEW STAGE OF THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS' BIRTH CONTROL POLICIES TOWARDS NON-CHINESE ETHNIC GROUPS Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 7/26/97 [ETIC, 7/25/97] On July 25 in its broadcast on Australia, radio BBC reported that recently the Chinese president Jiang Zemin gave a speech in which he addressed the problem of the population increase in China. He said: "Each year about 22 million babies are born in China. At present, population of China constitutes 20% of the entire human race while the territory of China is only 7% of the World's. Although some measures are being taken in the minority areas, implementation of the the communist party's family planning policies are not satisfactory there. From now on, it is necessary to enforce implementation of birth control policies in the minority areas". (4) KAZAKHS PREVENT UIGHUR PROTEST AT CHINESE EMBASSY Nando.net, Agence France-Presse, 7/31/97 ALMATY (July 31, 1997 09:09 a.m. EDT) - The Kazakh authorities on Thursday prevented separatist Uighurs from holding a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Almaty to protest Chinese repression in Xinjiang province. The United Revolutionary National Front and Uighur People's Association planned to hand over a petition at the embassy to protest the execution of Uighur separatists in the last week in Urumqi and Yining. "At least 100 of us were to protest at the Chinese embassy against the repression in Xinjiang," URNF spokesman Mouhidin Moukhlissi told AFP after spending the morning at the police station. An official at the Kazakh interior ministry said: "This demonstration was not given authorization." In the end, around 40 old Uighurs gathered in a park near the embassy under the surveillance of around 30 Kazakh policemen who prevented them from handing in the petition. The protestors eventually dispersed. Around 200,000 Uighurs live in exile in Kazakhstan. The approximately 10 million Uighurs in Xinjiang are calling for the independence of the northwest Chinese autonomous province, which is inhabited mostly by Uighurs but also other Muslims like Kazakhs and Tajiks. 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 |