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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 50 1 August 1997 In this issue: (1) 7 YOUNG UYGHURS ARE EXECUTED AND 20 JAILED BY THE CHINESE SUPPRESSORS IN GHULJE Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 8/1/97 (2) UYGHUR DEMONSTRATION IN ALMATY RFE/RL Newsline, 8/1/97 (3) SUBS BREAK DOWN AFTER TWO YEARS Agence France-Presse, from South China Morning Post, 8/1/97 (4) 3 UIGHUR SEPARATISTS SAID EXECUTED IN URUMQI Hong Kong AFP , 7/28/97 Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network in Mandarin 1330 GMT 23 Jul 97 (6) MUSLIM SEPARATISM IS ON THE INCREASE IN CHINA AGAIN Moscow Mayak radio network (7) NINE EXECUTED FOR XINJIANG RIOTS Hong Kong AFP, 7/28/97 (8) HONG KONG INVESTMENT IN XINJIANG UYGUR REGION INCREASES Beijing Xinhua, 7/26/97 (9) JAPANESE CONSORTIUM TO EXPLOIT OIL IN NORTHWESTERN CHINA Tokyo Kyodo, 7/23/97 (10) CONTRACT TO EXPLORE TARIM BASIN SIGNED WITH JAPANESE FIRM Beijing Xinhua, 7/23/97 *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) 7 YOUNG UYGHURS ARE EXECUTED AND 20 JAILED BY THE CHINESE SUPPRESSORS IN GHULJE Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 8/1/97, By Rabiyem Yakub [ETIC, 8/1/97] On February 5-6 this year, the Uyghur youth of Ghulje city rallied on a peaceful demonstration demanding respect for human rights. But, the communist Chinese authorities preferred a brutal suppression of the young men instead of entering into dialogue. Paying absolutely no respect for the young people's concerns, the police poured cold water on the demonstrators from fire trucks in the conditions of severe winter weather of Ghulje, and then released several rounds from automatic guns intimidating the demonstrators, but killing a toddler of one Uyghur woman. Infuriated by the police brutality, the young men clashed with the armed police resulting in several Chinese and dozens of the Uyghurs killed. Shortly after in the retaliation, the Chinese colonialists launched an intimidation and terror campaign towards the entire Uyghur population of Eastern Turkistan. Thousands of the Uyghurs are being labeled and arbitrarily arrested as "nationalists", "separatists", and "murderers". On July 22, carrying the medieval intimidation campaign on, the Ili province and Ghulje city people's courts staged "open" trials of the"criminals" at the Ghulje city's largest stadium. At the forged trials, 27 young Uyghurs were given various sentences in connection to the February Ghulje demonstration. To demonstrate that the authorities do not have biases against the Uyghurs, one Chinese and one Hui were sentenced to death for drugs related crimes. Among the convicted young Uyghurs, 7, including JAPPAR TALET, HESENJAN IMIN, ALIMJAN YOLVAS, ABDUREHIM TUDAHUN, ABDUREHIM MEMET, SIDIK ROZI, MEMETJAN NURMEMET, are sentenced to death and executed the same day; 3 others, including HALMEMET ISLAM, were given suspended death sentences; 7 young men were sentenced to life in prison; 16 years old REHMETJAN was sentenced to 18 years in prison; The rest 9 people were sentenced to different terms up to 15 years in prison. The trials were administered by the Ili province court chairman AKAN, and were attended by the Ghulje city communist party and government officials Jang Gulyan, QURBANJANG, ZUNUN, TOKHTAR, HEYDER, KAYSAR, ZORDUN GHOJA, Vang Junvey, Ren Shudung, Hvan Jenjuang, SAVUTBEK, Yang Yujuang, POLAT, and others. The deputy chairman of the Ili province Communist Party committee KURBANJAN (In Eastern Turkistan, chairmen of the communist party committees are Chinese at almost all levels, and the Uyghurs can hold onle a deputy position, WUNN ed.) delivered a speech at the meeting, and, in particular said: "The regional, province, and city communist party and government officials, including social security (China's internal intelligence and law enforcement establishment, WUNN ed.), investigation, judicial organizations, and armed police have been carefully studying, centralizing, and widely spreading the spirit of the communist party central committee's directives "On maintaining stability in Xinjiang" ( This document will soon be disclosed by the ETIC, WUNN ed.), and, through a hard work, achieved outstanding results in carrying out the party's policies. Today's open trials and sentences crashed resolutely the threats of our enemies, and strongly defended respect for the motherland's laws. We have clearly demonstrated that the communist party and government have strong and resolute wills to crash splittists by striking hard, and to safeguard motherland's unity, and political stability in the Ili region. This meeting inspired the representatives of all nationalities in the army, police and masses for struggle until all our enemies are wiped off from the region." He also said, "The overall situation in the Ili province is normal and good. But we have to be vigilant in the struggle with our enemies; the struggle against national splittists is long run, strong, and complicated." Uniting, closing our ranks, and standing all together against our common enemies, representatives of all nationalities must enforce the weight of our hard strike over the enemies, national splittists, terrorists, the leaders of dark and fanatical religious forces." The same day, being afraid of the Uyghur people's anger and possible revenge form the one hand, and to put an additional psychological pressure on the people from the other, the Chinese suppressors stopped traffic all over the Ghulje city, closed all offices, and took the entire city under military and police control. About 4 thousand specially "invited" participants from the provincial, city, and villages party and government officials, "the representatives of the masses" according to the Chinese propaganda media, took part in the meeting. Regretfully, these trails were assisted by a number of traitors of the Uyghur nationality. They will never be forgiven nor forgotten. [Rabiyem Yakub, Bishkek] *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (2) UYGHUR DEMONSTRATION IN ALMATY RFE/RL Newsline, 8/1/97 Between 40 and 50 Uyghurs attempted on 31 July to deliver a note to the Chinese Embassy in Almaty protesting Beijing's policy in Xinjiang Province, RFE/RL correspondents in the Kazakh capital reported. They were turned away by Kazakh security guards but went on to stage a demonstration in a nearby park. They carried placards that read "Freedom for Uyghuristan" and "Down With Chinese Colonists." The president of the Uyghur Association in Kazakhstan said the Uyghurs do not want trouble with the Kazakh authorities but want to show they are opposed to China's alleged repressive policy in Xinjiang Province, where Uyghurs form the majority. China announced on 28 July that several Uyghurs had been executed on 22 July for their alleged participation in riots in Yining and Urumqi early this year. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (3) SUBS BREAK DOWN AFTER TWO YEARS Agence France-Presse, from South China Morning Post, 8/1/97 Two submarines bought by China from Russia two years ago have broken down, in part because of Chinese ineptitude, it was claimed yesterday. Quoting Western diplomats and military experts, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported: "Several electrical generators in one of the diesel-powered submarines broke down after being overloaded, while the second submarine has serious problems with a water pump." The two submarines could be laid up for several months of repairs, the paper said. The Kilo-class vessels have a surface displacement of 2,500 tonnes. They can dive to 350 metres and have long-range patrol capability. China's purchase of the vessels and agreement to buy two more advanced Kilo-class versions, as well as two Russian-made Sovremenny-class destroyers, is part of a perceived effort to create a "blue water" navy able to operate far from home shores. The report said the cause of the submarines' breakdown was unclear.While defective Russian equipment could not be ruled out, China's inability or unwillingness to train sufficient technicians and engineers to maintain costly hi-tech equipment was partly to blame. (4) 3 UIGHUR SEPARATISTS SAID EXECUTED IN URUMQI Hong Kong AFP , 7/28/97 Almaty, July 28 (AFP) - Chinese authorities executed a further three separatist Uiyghurs for their alleged role in riots in February this year, separatist representatives said here Monday [28 July]. The three people executed in Urumqi, capital of the autonomous province of Xinjiang in northwestern China were part of a group of 20 recently arrested militants, a spokesman for the United Revolutionary National Front in the Kazakh capital Almaty said. The other 17 were sentenced to heavy prison terms. Chinese authorities accused the three separatists of taking part in racial riots at the beginning of February in Yining in the northwest of Xinjiang province. Xinjiang, which borders Kazakhstan, has been plagued by violence in the past year as ethnic Uighurs fight for independence from Beijing. Up to 100 people died in clashes on February 5-6 between Uighurs and Chinese in the Xinjiang frontier town of Yining, according to witnesses. Official figures said only 10 people were killed. According to the United Revolutionary National Front, arrests have escalated over the course of the past month. The latest killings on Sunday bring to 183 the number of Uighur separatists executed or shot dead during attempts to escape from prison since 1996 when the separatist uprising began. Over the same period, an estimated 62,000 Uighurs have reportedly been arrested by the Chinese authorities. According to an earlier toll 57,000 Uighurs have been arrested by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang since April 1996. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (5) 'TERRORISTS' IN XINJIANG UNREST RECEIVE DEATH SENTENCES Urumqi Xinjiang Television Network in Mandarin 1330 GMT 23 Jul 97 Ili Prefectural Intermediate People's Court and Yining City People's Court held a judgment pronouncement rally yesterday [22 July] and handed down severe judgments on a group of violent terrorists and criminals who participated in the serious disturbances involving assault, damage, looting, and arson on 5 February, and on a number of other serious offenders. [video opens with a medium shot of a two-storey building; a banner with a black background hangs in front of the balcony on the second floor; on the banner are white characters in Uygur and Chinese. The Chinese characters read: "Judgment Pronouncement Rally of Ili Prefectural Intermediate People's Court and Yining City People's Court"] A total of 29 violent terrorists and other serious criminals involved in 12 cases received verdicts at the rally. Nine received death sentences, three received death sentences with reprieves, seven received life sentences, one was sentenced to 18 years in prison, and the other nine were sentenced to no more than 15 years of fixed-term imprisonment. [video shows a row of at least eight military trucks in front of the building; the prisoners are on the trucks; they are all bound with ropes and carrying placards inscribed with Chinese and Uygur characters on their chests; each criminal is escorted by one or two armed police officers who press his head down and pin his hands behind his back] (Hapaer Tielaiti), who faced charges of intentional injury that caused death, and the gang of (Aishanjiang Imamu), (Alimujian Uliwasi), (Abdukrimu Tudahon), and (Abdureyimu Maimaiti), who participated in, organized, and took the lead in cases of theft and making explosives, were sentenced to death. An offender in the same cases, (Halimaimaiti Silamu), received a death sentence with reprieve. (Abdushala Abdumijiti), who was charged with intentional injury that caused death, arson, and hooliganism, received a life sentence. (Rihemaitijiang Rebuke) was sentenced to 18-years' imprisonment for intentional injury that caused death and hooliganism. Four other serious criminals were sentenced to death: (Sidike Rozi) and (Maimaitijiang Urmaimaiti) for intentional homicide, (Ma Chenglin) for drug trafficking, and (Tang Jun) for theft. Over 4,000 people of various nationalities from various circles attended the judgment pronouncement rally. (Kurbanjiang), deputy party secretary and administrative office commissioner of Ili Prefecture, spoke at the rally. He said: Party committees and governments at autonomous prefectural, prefectural, and city levels; public security, procuratorial, and judicial authorities; and armed police corps in Ili have conscientiously implemented the party Central Committee's series of important guidelines and spirit on maintaining stability in Xinjiang, meticulously organized and launched a special intensive rectification of public order, and accomplished significant results through their efforts. The judgment pronouncement rally today has once again forcefully clamped down on the arrogance of the enemy, guarded the sanctity of the law, upheld justice for people of all nationalities, fully demonstrated the strong power of the people's democratic dictatorship, demonstrated the party and government's firm determination to crack down on national separatism and on safeguarding national unification and political stability in Ili, and aroused the fighting will of the masses, police, and armymen of all nationalities. Administrative Office Commissioner (Kurbanjiang) said: The current situation in Ili Prefecture is good. But we should also be clearly aware that the struggle against national separatism is a long-term, incisive, and complicated mission. People of all nationalities must work together to fight the enemy; exert greater efforts to fight them; and firmly carry out to the end the struggle against core national separatist members, violent terrorists and criminals, and leading religious extremists. [video shows citizens sitting in order and Kurbanjiang addressing the rally from the balcony] *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (6) MUSLIM SEPARATISM IS ON THE INCREASE IN CHINA AGAIN Moscow Mayak radio network Muslim separatism is on the increase in China again. Our correspondent Pavel Spirin reports from Beijing. [Spirin] Rumors are being spread again about the Uighur underground movement which demands that Xinjiang be separated. Xinjiang is a huge Muslim province of China bordering on Kazakhstan. Six supporters of the forbidden radical Islamic Party of Allah were shot dead there on charges of organizing massive anti-Chinese disturbances in February in the town of Yining, formerly Kuldzha. (Xiao Jian), Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Xinjiang Party Committee, has said that another 28 people in addition to those executed -- who also took part in the Yining unrest -- were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Charges brought against them include robbery, theft and civil disobedience. Let me remind you that in accordance with the official view, the unrest -- at least 10 Uighurs died and 198 were injured as the result of armed suppression -- was provoked by separatists and criminals. The Uighur diaspora abroad, including that in Moscow, says that prior to the unrest jobless young people held peaceful rallies demanding that the authorities first provide jobs for the indigenous residents -- the Turkic-speaking Uighurs -- and only then for the ethnic Chinese. At least 30 people have been executed for opposing the authorities in Xinjiang since the unrest in February. I asked a Beijing-based diplomat of one of the CIS countries to evaluate these events. My anonymous interlocutor said that --I quote-- Ironically enough, a new outburst of Muslim separatism is taking place in China after the country has signed border security agreements with Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. The worst thing is, however, that Muslims in China are now being exposed to a much greater influence by fundamentalists. This presents danger not only to China but also to the neighboring CIS countries. -- end of quote. Just one visit to the central mosque in Beijing is enough to understand that the diplomat's words are true to life. The mosque is always full of pilgrims. The first question they asked me when they learned that I was from Russia was: Do people still remember Dzhokhar Dudayev in Russia? Their real hero was Dzhokhar. Pavel Spirin, Mayak Radio from Beijing. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (7) NINE EXECUTED FOR XINJIANG RIOTS Hong Kong AFP, 7/28/97 Beijing, July 28 (AFP) -- Nine people have been executed in the troubled Muslim border town of Yining for their roles in February riots against Chinese rule, officials said Monday. The nine were executed on July 22 in the frontier town, which borders Kazakhstan, after a sentencing rally attended by more than 4,000 people, an official from the district regional court said. Three others were given suspended death sentences, while seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, one to 18 years and nine to 15 years or less, he added. Exiles in Kazakhstan reported the executions earlier and said 34 people had been convicted for their roles in the disturbances. After the heavy rioting on February 5 -- with a death toll put at 10 by officials but at nearer 100 by observers -- police and soldiers rounded up more than 1,000 people in the predominantly-Muslim town. On April 24, three people were executed for their roles in the "serious riot." China is fighting a running battle against simmering separatist sentiment in the northeastern region of Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim area with a long history of animosity towards Beijing. Only three weeks after the Yining riots, three bombs exploded on buses in the regional capital of Urumqi, leaving nine dead and 58 injured. Eight people have already been executed for involvement in that case. The official Xinjiang Daily reported the vice general secretary in Yining told the sentencing rally that Beijing was determined to fight against "splittists" to the bitter end. "We are determined to fight against national splittists, terrorists and religious extremists to the end," Kuerbanjiang said. "We have to see clearly that the fight against ethnic terrorists has a long way to go and the battle is complicated. People of all ethnic groups must unite and fight against the enemy together," he added. China has ruled Xinjiang in varying degrees for centuries and it re-established control there in 1949 by crushing the short-lived state of East Turkestan that emerged during the Chinese civil war. Since then, Beijing has adopted a policy of Han Chinese migration to the region to dilute nationalist tendencies, but hopes of independence there have been rekindled since the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Muslim states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (8) HONG KONG INVESTMENT IN XINJIANG UYGUR REGION INCREASES Beijing Xinhua, 7/26/97 Urumqi, July 26 (XINHUA) -- Some 70 percent of the outside investment in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the first half of the year came from Hong Kong, and 68 percent of its 480 overseas-funded firms were set up by Hong Kong businessmen. The two regions have co-operated extensively since the 1980s. Trade with Hong Kong was worth 130 million US dollars in the first half of the year. The co-operation covers real estate, textiles, building materials, and pharmaceuticals. Hi-tech products, and electric machinery and processing products have gradually replaced the traditional farm and sideline produce, and spending on the petro-chemical, minerals, and processing industries has increased. China is supporting the non-ferrous metal and petrochemical development in Xinjiang, making it a comprehensive petrochemical base, the country's biggest cotton production base, and a key textile center. Large projects provide new opportunities for co-operating in capital iinformation, technology, and raw materials, and the central government has a series of preferential policies for investment, taxes, land use, and processing. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (9) JAPANESE CONSORTIUM TO EXPLOIT OIL IN NORTHWESTERN CHINA Tokyo Kyodo, 7/23/97 Tokyo, July 23 Kyodo -- A consortium of four Japanese companies said Wednesday it has obtained the right to exploit an oil field in the Talimu Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China. The agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. covers a field of 7,397 square kilometers, which is estimated by the Chinese concern to have oil reserves of 100 million to 600 million barrels, the consortium said. Japan Energy Corp. has secured a 50 percent interest in the development project and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Has obtained a 30 percent stake. The remaining 20 percent is equally split between Indonesia Petroleum Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. The project will get under way following a three-year geological survey due to be conducted in the area by Japan National Oil Corp., the consortium said. The contract can be canceled depending on the survey's findings. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (10) CONTRACT TO EXPLORE TARIM BASIN SIGNED WITH JAPANESE FIRM Beijing Xinhua, 7/23/97 Beijing, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed an agreement and contract here today with the Japan National Oil Corp, the Japan Energy Corp, the Japan Petroleum Exploration Ltd and the Misusomo Corp to conduct geological survey and oil exploration in the Misaray Block of the Tarim Basin. According to CNPC sources, the contracted Misaray Block lies in the northern part of the northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, covering an area of 7,397 sq km. Under the agreement on geological survey, the Japan National Oil Corp will undertake geophysical prospecting drilling in the Misaray Block, with all the investment given gratis. The Japan Energy Corp will be operator of the block, undertaking all the exploratory investment risk alone, according to the contract. Upon discovery of commercial oil and gas fields, the Chinese and Japanese sides will develop them jointly in line with international practice which involves risk exploration, joint development and signing of product sharing contract. 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 |