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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 70 20 November 1997 In this issue: (1) CHINA HIV CARRIERS TOP 8,000 11/20/97, UPI
(2) CHINA'S POLICY OF TOLERANCE QUESTIONED IN XINJIANG 11/16/97, CNN, Reuters
(3) US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO EXPAND RADIO FREE ASIA BROADCASTS 11/09/97, AFP
(4) REPORT ON TAIWAN INVESTMENT IN XINJIANG 10/29/97, Beijing Xinhua Domestic Service, FBIS Translated Text
(5) WANG LIQUAN ADDRESSES XINJIANG CPC SESSION 10/17/97, Urumqi Xinjiang Ribao, FBIS Translated Text
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) CHINA HIV CARRIERS TOP 8,000 11/20/97, UPI "The officials blamed the sharp increase of HIV cases on a jump in intravenous drug use in southwest Sichuan (``Sich-wan'') and northwest Xinjiang (``Shin-geang'') provinces." BEIJING, Nov. 20 (UPI) _ The number of confirmed HIV cases in China has topped 8,000 and continues to grow, fueled by a rise in drug abuse and paid blood donations. Ministry of Health officials say China had 8,277 HIV carriers by the end of September, up 2,237 since January. Among the new carriers, 168 have already developed full-blown AIDS. Speaking during a health conference in Beijing sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund, the officials blamed the sharp increase on a jump in intravenous drug use in southwest Sichuan (``Sich-wan'') and northwest Xinjiang (``Shin-geang'') provinces. A rise in the popularity of paid blood donations in central China is also fueling the increase. China discovered its first HIV case in 1985. But the disease did not begin to spread until the early 1990s, when economic developments boosted incomes and led to a rise in drug use and prostitution. Health officials now estimate the actual infected population may top 200,000. Earlier this year, the United Nations extended a $1.8 million grant to China to help the nation fight the spread of the disease over the next four years. The funds will also be used for training ministry workers and intervention activities among high-risk populations. HIV education campaigns are common in urban areas but have not reached millions of rural residents, where last year 32 percent of medical workers could not explain to patients how HIV was transmitted. (2) CHINA'S POLICY OF TOLERANCE QUESTIONED IN XINJIANG 11/16/97, CNN, Reuters "Human rights activists say there is little evidence of tolerance for its religious and ethnic minorities in the so-called autonomous Xinjiang region" XINJIANG, China (CNN) -- China says its policy of reating a strong, united nation includes tolerance for its religious and ethnic minorities. But human rights activists say there is little evidence of that tolerance in the so-called autonomous Xinjiang region, nested between Tibet, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. A defiant region for 22 centuries, Xinjiang is home to 18 million people, half of them Uighurs (pronounced wee'-gers). The Arab descendants speak Turkic, use the Arabic script, and many appear more Western than their Chinese Han counterparts. The Uighurs practice Islam, and are the legacy of the Arab traders who worked the Silk Road that provided China with its first trade link with the West, dating back to about 100 B.C. QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE Before China's Communists came to power in 1949, Xinjiang was an independent country called the Eastern Turkestan Republic. Today, a growing number of Uighurs want to win back their independence. Earlier this year in Beijing, a group of Uighur separatists bombed a bus, killing two people. In June, in Xinjiang, five people were publicly executed after hanging the banned flag of Eastern Turkestan from the statue of Communist China's founder, Mao Tse-tung, in Kashgar's main square. In the last 12 months alone, more than 1,000 ethnic Uighurs have been executed and more than 10,000 people have been arrested for political reasons, human rights activists say. Those reports are unconfirmed. It is perhaps China's ever increasing dependency on Xinjiang that leads Beijing to flex its muscle in the province. Oil is plentiful beneath the sands of Xinjiang's many deserts. And, China recently struck a deal with Kazakhstan to build pipelines connecting the former Soviet Republic with China's east. CULTURE ATTACK For decades, Beijing has tried to undermine the Uighur presence by watering down the group's culture. Roughly 30 years ago, there were about 200,000 Han Chinese in Xinjiang. Today there are more than 6 million, and an estimated 5,000 arrive daily. The migrants bring new farming practices into the agri-rich region, and the Uighurs, reluctant to change their centuries-old ways, find themselves out of work and homeless. The Uighur children are schooled in Mandarin, and in the teachings of Karl Marx and Chairman Mao. From a young age, they are taught to remain loyal to China, and to expose those who are not. Beijing also views the province as a dumping ground for China's undesirables. In the last three years, 40,000 convicted criminals have been "re-educated" inlabor camps, then forced to settle in Xinjiang as reformed laborers and farmers -- taking even more work away from the Uighurs. The Chinese have also moved to close off the Uighurs religious worship. For more than 300 years, daily prayers echoed through Kashgar's most important mosque. But the Chinese have shut it down, now allowing worshippers to pray there twice a year. About 1,500 other mosques have been closed in the last six years, shutting down not only places of worship, but also places for possible political gatherings. Muslim clerics deny that anything other than religious work goes on inside their mosques, and say they do not interfere with politics. But clergymen are also vague when asked to describe what China deems as illegal religious work. "I can say what I can say, what I should not say I will not say," said one religious leader. (3) US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO EXPAND RADIO FREE ASIA BROADCASTS 11/09/97, AFP "50 million dollars for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America during this fiscal year to allow for 24-hour a day broadcasts to China in Mandarin, Cantonese and Tibetan as well as other dialects". WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (AFP) - Radio Free Asia broadcasts to communist China are to be expanded under a bill adopted Sunday by the US House of Representatives. By a majority of 401 votes to 21, House members voted to authorize 50 million dollars for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America during this fiscal year to allow for 24-hour a day broadcasts to China in Mandarin, Cantonese and Tibetan as well as other dialects. The bill was one of several measures being put forward by the US Congress to promote democracy in China and punish Beijing for ist record on human rights. Debate of the measures had been delayed out of deference to Chinese President Jiang Zemin who recently visited the United States on a state visit. (4) REPORT ON TAIWAN INVESTMENT IN XINJIANG 10/29/97, Beijing Xinhua Domestic Service, FBIS Translated Text "Many Taiwan businessmen are eyeing Xinjiang's good location and are prepared to turn it into a base for opening up the Central Asian markets. Urumqi, 29 Oct (Xinhua) -- Situated along the northwestern border of the motherland, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has in recent years taken local realities into consideration and brought out ist resource and locality superiority to promote trade and economic activities with Taiwan, resulting in constant personnel exchanges between the two regions and more and more Taiwan businessmen showing keen interest in investing in Xinjiang. According to relevant personages, both sides are now exploring new ways to promote economic and trade activities between hinterland border provinces and regions and Taiwan business people. Rich in natural and human resources, possessing the longest border lines in the country, sharing frontiers with the most number of neighboring nations, and having 15 open foreign trade posts, Xinjiang is gradually qualifying itself as the door for opening China to the west. In recent years, its economy has been playing an increasingly important role in national economic development. Currently, Xinjiang is leading the nation in cotton, beet sugar, watermelon, and hop production and the top rice-exporting area among the five northwestern provinces and regions. With vigorous support being extended by the state toward social and economic development in the central and western regions, Taiwan investment in the mainland motherland is moving from coastal areas to the hinterland and border areas, with Xinjiang's unique advantages being gradually recognized by the vast number of Taiwan businessmen, with the emergence of "Xinjiang fever" on the island at one time. Seizing the opportunity, relevant departments in Xinjiang have stepped up efforts to promote Taiwan-related economic and trade activities, with encouraging results. Restrained by such objective conditions like geography and market, there was hardly a Taiwan investment in Xinjiang five years ago. Since the adoption of "transforming the superiority and resources" by the autonomous regional party committee and government, the pace of opening to the outside world has been accelerated. A series of preferential policies applicable to foreign investment and economic cooperation, including Taiwan businessmen, were enacted to positively encourage economic and trade exchanges between Xinjiang and Taiwan. Tomato sauce, hops, Chinese herbs, and other Xinjiang products have entered the Taiwan market. According to incomplete statistics released by the autonomous region's Taiwan's Affairs Office, compared to 1992 when the first Taiwan-funded enterprise was incorporated in Xinjiang, there were over 110 such enterprises by the end of September, of which one-third were solely owned by Taiwan businessmen, with total investment hitting $190 million, involving such production fields as petrochemical, textile, building materials, agricultural development, and other production fields -- a basically rational investment mix. Interviewed by this reporter, Xu Yulin, director of the autonomous region's Taiwan Affairs Office, who was back from a recent business trip to Taiwan, said that over 120,000 Taiwan tourists and business people visited Xinjiang annually in recent years, showing the close relationship between the two regions. As both Xinjiang and Taiwan businesspeople have a strong desire to cooperate, relevant departments in Xinjiang are forming a "Taiwan-Funded Enterprise Quality Promotion Association" to create a better investment environment for Taiwan investors. The Taiwan Affairs Office director, who has engaged in Taiwan affairs for nearly 20 years, is highly upbeat over economic cooperation between the two regions, maintaining that, at the outset, there will be broad prospects for agricultural cooperation as Taiwan has vast experience in quality cultivation and relatively ample capital, whereas Xinjiang is such a big region that there are 760 million mu of grasslands, including 160 million mu of cultivable idle land. As labor resources in Xinjiang are relatively abundant, there is great potential in agricultural and animal husbandry development. Many large enterprises in Taiwan have shown a keen interest in agricultural cooperation projects, with over 40 enterprises completing their study tour of Xinjiang as a group. Renowned enterprises in the island, including the United Group, have started processing industries in Xinjiang. The Jingxing Livestock Farm, a Taiwan investment in northern Xinjiang, has obtained relatively good returns in cotton planting and livestock rearing. Cantaloupe and other fruit planting experimental projects jointly carried out by agricultural and scientific departments of the two regions also scored success. Secondly, relevant industrial systems based on Xinjiang's rich natural resources, including oil, natural gas, coal, iron, solar energy, and wing power, have taken shape following years of opening and construction. There are also good chances of cooperation in the petrolchemical, coal, and iron and steel lines. Besides, many Taiwan businessmen are eyeing Xinjiang's good location and are prepared to turn it into a base for opening up the Central Asian markets. (5) WANG LIQUAN ADDRESSES XINJIANG CPC SESSION 10/17/97, Urumqi Xinjiang Ribao, FBIS Translated Text Wang Lequan: "We should attach great importance to the struggle against nationality splittist elements in the ideological sphere... We need all the more a stable social environment. We should concentrate on improving public order, intensify our crackdown campaign, strengthen the management of religious affairs according to law, and resolutely oppose and crack down on illegal religious activities." The Fourth Enlarged Plenary Session of the Fifth Xinjiang Autonomous Regional CPC Committee was held in the Hall of the People of Xinjiang on the morning of 16 October. The task of the enlarged plenary session is to conscientiously study and implement the spirit of the 15 th national party congress; to hold high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory; to mobilize party committees and people of all ethnic groups in the region to further emancipate their minds; to seek truth from facts; to seize opportunities; to advance in a pioneering spirit; to win new victories in Xinjiang's reform, opening to the outside world, and modernization drive; and to advance a vigorously developing socialist Xinjiang into the 21st century. Abdulahat Abdurixit, deputy secretary of the regional party committee and chairman of the autonomous region, presided over the session. Wang Lequan, secretary of the regional party committee, delivered a report, entitled "Conscientiously Implement and Carry Out the Spirit of the 15th National Party Congress and Win New Victories in Xinjiang's Reform, Opening to the Outside World, and Modernization Drive." In his report, Wang Lequan said said the degree of ideological emancipation determines the scale of reform and opening to the outside world and also determines the speed of economic and social development. We should adhere to the "three conducives" [conducive to developing the productive forces of our socialist society, increasing the overall strength of our socialist country, improving the people's living standards] criterion and use it to measure right and wrong and success and failure. We should emancipate our minds. We should firmly establish the concept of market economy, further free ourselves from being confused by whether we are practicing "capitalism" or "socialism." In his report, Wang Lequan said we should strengthen the building of a spiritual civilization in the light of reality in Xinjiang and use Deng Xiaoping Theory to pool the strength of the people of all ethnic groups. We should attach great importance to the struggle against nationality splittist elements in the ideological sphere, strengthen ideological and cultural building in pastoral and rural areas, and adhere to the orientation that literature and art should serve the people and socialism and to the principle of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend. We should strive to enrich cultural undertakings. We should promote the modernization drive by training educated laborers who are politically efficient. In his report, Wang Lequan stressed that at this crucial moment when we are pushing forward the cross-century development strategy for our reform, opening to the outside world, and modernization drive, we need all the more a stable social environment. We should concentrate on improving public order, intensify our crackdown campaign, strengthen the management of religious affairs according to law, and resolutely oppose and crack down on illegal religious activities. Along with the deepening of the reform and opening up to the outside world and the adjustment of economic relations, contradictions in economic and social life will increase. We should correctly handle the contradictions among the people, attach importance to and promptly resolve outstanding problems in society so as to avoid the emergence of incidents as a result of mishandling problems. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) and Bill Mitchell(turpan@ix.netcom.com) 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 |