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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 51 13 August 1997 In this issue: (1) CIA Suspected of Instigating Separatism in Xinjiang CND-Global, August 13, 1997 (GL97-114) (2) Uighur Separatists Kill Three Policemen and Two Informers in Xinjiang CND-Global, August 13, 1997 (GL97-114) (3) DEADLY CLASH AT THE CURRENCY MARKET IN URUMCHI Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 8/20/97 (4) SEPARATISM THREAT 'RISING' IN XINJIANG Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post, 8/21/97 (5) CHINESE CORPORATION WINS ANOTHER KAZAKH OIL TENDER RFE/RL Newsline, No. 88, Part I, 5 August 1997 (6) CHINA'S XINJIANG COTTON CROP HIT BY DROUGHT, PESTS Reuter, 8/5/97 (7) US ACCUSES BEIJING OF JAMMING SIGNALS Simon Beck in Washington and Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post, 8/21/97 (8) US WARNS ON TIBET RIGHTS ABUSES Agence France-Presse in New Delhi, South China Morning Post, 8/18/97 (9) CHENGDU ROCKED BY WORKER PROTESTS Agencies, South China Morning Post, 8/6/97 (10) MURDERER EXECUTED AFTER FIVE-YEAR WAIT South China Morning Post, 8/4/97, DANIEL KWAN (11) CHINA'S SAFEGUARDING OF ITS ELECTRONIC STATE SECRETS HAS BEEN "CHAOTIC" CND-Global, 8/4/97 (12) LAO JIAO CAMPS TO REMAIN IN CHINA CND-Global, 8/6/97 *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= CND-Global, August 13, 1997 (GL97-114) (1) CIA Suspected of Instigating Separatism in Xinjiang [CND, 08/10/97] Beijing has reason to believe that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is helping Moslem separatists in Xinjiang, AFP reported quoting the Ming Pao newspaper. According to Ming Pao, which cited sources from Chinese state security ministry, China's state security and public security ministries uncovered evidence indicating that the separatists movement had contacts with the CIA, although there were "still doubts" over the extent of the CIA role. The report also said that the CIA had infiltrated exiled Moslem groups in central Asian countries neighbouring Xinjiang and had "close ties" in the region. So far, Beijing has refrained from publicly accusing the CIA of involvement in Xinjiang, while maintaining the usual line of blaming the separatists and "foreign forces hostile to China" for a series of bomb attacks in the far-western region and in Beijing in the recent past. (Ray ZHANG) (2) Uighur Separatists Kill Three Policemen and Two Informers in Xinjiang [CND, 08/10/97] Three policemen and two alleged informers were killed shot or knifed by ethnic Uighur separatists in the town of Suidun in Xinjiang province last Wednesday , AFP reported quoting exiled separatist officials in the capital of Kazakhstan as saying. Shortly after the killings, a dozen young Uighurs were arrested and taken to a prison in the regional capital Yining. It's been reported that the Uighurs have been agitating for independence from China since 1996. (Ray ZHANG) (3) DEADLY CLASH AT A CURRENCY MARKET IN URUMCHI Eastern Turkistan Information Center, 8/20/97 [ETIC, 8/20/97] A deadly clash between the Chinese and the Uyghurs took recently place in Sen Mochang unofficial foreign currency market in Urumchi city of Eastern Turkistan. It was reported that 4 Chinese used guns to threaten and rob the local Uyghur traders. In the result of a violent clash involving guns and knifes, the 4 Chinese and three Uyghurs were killed. [Burkut] *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (4) SEPARATISM THREAT 'RISING' IN XINJIANG Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post, 8/21/97 The fight against separatism has intensified in Xinjiang, where pro-independence groups and Muslim fundamentalists have become increasingly active, provincial leaders warn. "Separatism and extremism are in an active phase," Xinjiang party secretary Wang Lequan and regional government chairman Abdulahat Abdurixit said in a report. "In these circumstances, the fight against separatism becomes fierce. Everyone is in the frontline in this fight." The two officials paid homage to "patriots" killed or injured in separatist attacks. "The party and the Government will not forget. The people will not forget," the leaders were quoted by the Xinjiang Daily as saying. At the start of the month Xinjiang authorities denounced a wave of violence against members of the security forces and their relatives. One of the vice-secretaries of the regional party, Zheng Shentao, rejected any concessions to the secessionists. "Not only can we not grant the least freedom, but we have to put an end to illegal religious activities and the actions of those who use religion to oppose the party," Mr Zhou said. Xinjiang has experienced a series of confrontations between ethnic Han Chinese and majority Uygurs, Muslims of Turkish origin. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (5) CHINESE CORPORATION WINS ANOTHER KAZAKH OIL TENDER RFE/RL Newsline, No. 88, Part I, 5 August 1997 China National Petroleum Co. won the tender for the Uzensk oil field in western Kazakhstan, Interfax reported on 4 August. The Chinese corporation now has the exclusive right to negotiate for the contract. The Uzensk field currently produces 2.7 million tons of oil annually but the Chinese side says it can increase that figure to 7 million annually. In order to secure the contract, the Chinese company must form a joint venture with Kazakhstan's Uzenmunaigaz and help construct a pipeline from the field to China and the Kazakh section of a pipeline south to Iran via Turkmenistan. The Kazakh government and China National Petroleum now have one month to agree to terms, otherwise negotiations can begin with the other participants in the tender, Amoco and the U.S.-Malaysian companies Unocal-Petronas. In early June, China National Petroleum Corp. also bought 60 percent of the Aktyubinskmai field and facilities in northwest Kazakhstan. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (6) CHINA'S XINJIANG COTTON CROP HIT BY DROUGHT, PESTS Reuter, 8/5/97 BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuter) - China's northwestern Xinjiang region expects drought and pests to inflict some damage on its cotton harvest this year although final estimates of the impact were not yet available, officials said on Tuesday. The region had sown cotton on some 866,000 hectares this year and the target for output was 1.15 million tonnes, compared with 940,000 tonnes grown on about 800,000 hectares last year, an agriculture official said by telephone from the regional capital, Urumqi. However, floods, drought, hail storms and bollworm attacks had damaged output and officials were compiling new estimates, he said. In areas of southern Xinjiang, drought had affected the harvest, he said but declined to give details. In Xinjiang's western Kashgar district, officials said they hoped to produce 250,000 tonnes of cotton this year, compared with a harvest of 205,000 tonnes last year. The district had planted 204,666 hectares with cotton this year but some 2,000 hectares could not be irrigated and another 2,000 had been damaged by disease and pests, one official said. Another official said pest damage had affected as much as 128,000 hectares and estimated output could be cut by up to 25,000 tonnes as a result. An agriculture official in Xinjiang's southern Hetian district said the region had planted cotton on 42,600 hectares, of which about 1,000 hectares had been affected by drought. The region's harvest last year was 34,900 tonnes from crops planted on about 41,000 hectares, he said but declined to give more details. China's official media have forcast cotton output at 4.0-4.15 million tonnes in 1997, compared with 4.2 million tonnes last year. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (7) US ACCUSES BEIJING OF JAMMING SIGNALS Simon Beck in Washington and Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post, 8/21/97 Faced with a looming onslaught of American radio broadcasts, China was yesterday accused of jamming signals. Radio Free Asia, which last year began broadcasting news and features in Putonghua and Tibetan into the mainland, said Beijing had started blocking its signals. China offered no excuses yesterday to US charges that it was interfering with broadcasts by the Congress-sponsored Radio Free Asia (RFA), and instead slammed Washington for interfering in its affairs. "It is obvious that RFA is mainly targeted against China and other Asian countries, and that it is, in essence, launching further interference in other countries' internal affairs by making use of the media," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Warning that RFA could only damage Sino-US relations, the spokesman also demanded that the US Government "stop further meddling in other countries' internal affairs under the veneer of freedom of speech." The station, backed by a US$10 million (HK$77.3 million) grant from Congress, said its signals started being disrupted on Monday by co-channelling - the placement of another station on top of ist frequency. The station's president, Richard Richter, believed China was responsible, saying: "I can't imagine who else would do it. The Chinese have periodically jammed Voice of America broadcasts," he added. A statement from the station said: "Despite the efforts of the Beijin Government to prevent the Chinese people from hearing our broadcasts, we know that we are getting through, thanks to our multiple transmission sites throughout the Pacific Basin." The station said the International Broadcasting Bureau had also detected jamming of its broadcasts into North Korea and Vietnam. Radio Free Asia was set up as an alternative to Voice of America in the battle to get Western news and information into non-democratic states. China is the main focus of its efforts, and the White House has said it supports in principle a Congressional plan, likely to be put forward this autumn, to more than double the station's budget and boost ist presence on the mainland. The station has a network of transmitters dotted about the region, but keeps their location secret to try to beat jamming and to avoid embarrassing the governments of the countries housing them. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (8) US WARNS ON TIBET RIGHTS ABUSES Agence France-Presse in New Delhi, South China Morning Post, 8/18/97 A US official last night said Washington would take strong action against China if human rights violations continued in Tibet. Benjamin Gilman, chairman of a congressional committee on international relations, said in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, the seat of the exiled Tibetan government, that the US was concerned over rights abuses. "I have met Chinese President Jiang Zemin and conveyed to him American concern over the issue of human rights violations in Tibet," he said. Warning of stiff measures if the "suppression of Tibetans continued", Mr Gilman asked Beijing to enter into negotiations with the Dalai Lama for "self-determination in Tibet and solutions to other problems". *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (9) CHENGDU ROCKED BY WORKER PROTESTS Agencies, South China Morning Post, 8/6/97 Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, has been rocked by worker protests, reports said yesterday. More than 500 workers staged a sit-down protest, blocking one of the city's main roads and demanding negotiations with factory bosses. No violence was reported in the protest on July 17 and 18, according to sources in Chengdu, and no arrests were made. The workers were from the Chengdu Shoe Factory which employs more than 1,000 workers. The protests were triggered after reports appeared in a local newspaper that the director of the factory had said it was already bankrupt - although formal bankruptcy procedures had not been initiated. Workers demanded to see representatives from the factory's staff and workers' committee. A committee representative told them that informal discussions had been held regarding compensation if the factory should declare bankruptcy. These discussions had agreed on a redundancy pay-off of only 50 yuan (HK$46.65) for each year of service. Out of frustration, the workers hung a rubber cable from the factory door across a main road and more than 500 brought stools and staged a sit-down protest. Banners which read: "We want to work" and "Our children want to go to school" were also strung out over the road. Some of those involved were retired workers who are only receiving 70-80 yuan per month for living expenses when the official minimum for living expenses in Chengdu is 120 yuan. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (10) MURDERER EXECUTED AFTER FIVE-YEAR WAIT South China Morning Post, 8/4/97, DANIEL KWAN Courts in Hainan province have taken nearly five years to sentence and execute a convicted murderer. Zhang Sijia was executed last Thursday for murdering three men on October 30, 1992. He was arrested two months after the murder and convicted by Hainan Intermediate People's Court, but the Provincial Higher People's Court refused to endorse the sentence. The China News Service said Zhang shot dead three men at the Hainan police headquarters five years ago but the Higher Court kept refusing to give a final ruling as late as last May. It said the case was unusual as even the Provincial People's Congress had twice openly criticised the Higher Court for failing to close the case. The agency said there had been "differences of opinions" among officials. The congress later intervened and called several special meetings to ascertain the facts of the case. It rarely takes such high-profile steps as to intervene in judicial matters. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (11) CHINA'S SAFEGUARDING OF ITS ELECTRONIC STATE SECRETS HAS BEEN "CHAOTIC" CND-Global, 8/4/97 [CND, 08/01/97] A State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC) report indicates that China's safeguarding of its electronic state secrets has been "chaotic", AFP reported. According to the Economic Daily published in China, "Computer networks in China are marked by poor management, a lack of efficiency and an almost total absence of security guarantees." The problem is also seen as a consequence of imported high-tech equipment and systems used in China, which makes the top-level secret protection even more difficult. The report calls for immediate actions including setting up a security commission and passing legislation to protect secret electronic information. (WU Fang, Guochen WAN) *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (12) LAO JIAO CAMPS TO REMAIN IN CHINA CND-Global, 8/6/97 [CND, 08/03/97] Despite calls for the abolition of Lao Jiao (re-education through labor) from international human rights groups and Chinese dissidents, China's Lao Jiao camps are to remain, according to Reuters citing a front-page commentary on the official Legal Daily. "Re education through labor ... can only be strengthened, and not weakened," said the newspaper. Lao Jiao, or re-education through labor, was introduced in 1957 as an administrative punishment to punish criminals without going through judicial processes. The increased use of this punishment by the authorities in recent years is believed by human rights groups to serve the purposes of removing dissidents from circulation in China and avoiding international criticism. The newspaper defended the practice by saying that Lao Jiao can help to"maintain social peace and prevent and reduce crime." It described Lao Jiao police treating detainees "like parents treat their children, doctors treat their patients, and teachers treat their students." However, in recent years more and more people are reported to have pressed charges and filed complaints for the inhumane treatment received in Lao Jiao camps. The Legal Daily revealed that more than 2.5 million people have undergone Lao Jiao in the past 40 years. Currently there are more than 280 Lao Jiao camps across China holding about 230,000 detainees, Reuters reported. (WU Fang, Ray ZHANG) 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 |