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Exile Groups Accuse China of Treating Uighurs as
Terrorists
Stephanie Mann
Washington
26 Feb 2003, 18:23 UTC
Exile groups from a predominantly Muslim area of China
say the Beijing government is using the international
war on terrorism as an excuse to wipe out the ethnic
Uighur minority. Some Uighurs accuse China of tearing
down their neighborhoods in Chinese cities.
During recent meetings in Beijing, U.S.
counter-terrorism coordinator J. Cofer Black and
Chinese officials discussed ways to stop the financing
of international terrorists. Ambassador Black praised
China's cooperation and said they also talked about
the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Uighur
separatist group designated by Washington as a
terrorist organization. ETIM advocates independence
for China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region.
A specialist on China and Central Asia, James Millward,
says Beijing has been concerned about radical Uighur
groups for many years.
"China has been very concerned about expatriate
Uighurs funneling money or otherwise becoming involved
in activities that they oppose in Xinjiang," said Mr.
Millward. "... There is a good deal of concern about
certain groups, and indeed last year China released a
White Paper detailing activities of many groups. They
spelled out several different groups and activities
that they have participated in, including some
bombings and assassinations and so on over the last 10
years."
The Chinese white paper said various Uighur groups
have been responsible for more than 200 terrorist
incidents in Xinjiang over the previous decade,
resulting in the deaths of 162 people.
Mr. Millward, a history professor at Georgetown
University, says it is an exaggeration to say that
China sees all Uighurs as terrorists, but he says
China has tried to blur the distinction between
separatism and terrorism. He says the U.S. concern
about radical Muslim groups after the September 11
attacks gave China an opportunity to seek
international support for its crackdown on Uighur
movements.
China denies it is using the war on terrorism as a
pretext for a crackdown on Uighurs. But Nury Turkel,
the general secretary of the Uighur American
Association, says by branding one Uighur group, the
ETIM, as a terrorist organization, China has made all
10 million Uighur people suspect.
"China is using this international war on terrorism as
an excuse to implement its long policy to annihilate
Uighurs, possibly destroy their culture, which they
are doing now, to suppress the Uighur movement, and
most of all to stop the Uighur independence movement [from]
becoming an internationally recognized movement," he
said.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United
States, China has been aggressive in rounding up
suspected activists in Xinjiang. Many have been
released, but an unknown number are still being held.
Uighur groups in exile say China is using the
anti-terrorism campaign to try to destroy the Uighur
culture by burning Uighur language books and tearing
down old Uighur buildings in Kashgar, the largest city
in far western Xinjiang. The president of the World
Uighur Youth Congress, Mohemet Tohti, has written a
letter to UNESCO, urging the U.N. organization to send
a delegation to Kashgar to prevent the destruction of
Uighur historic sites.
News reports from Beijing say demolition crews have
been tearing down the last of the so-called Xinjiang
neighborhoods in the Chinese capital. The reports say
authorities then put the people on trains to Xinjiang.
Mr. Turkel of the Uighur American Association says
this is part of China's effort to remove Uighur
Muslims from Chinese cities.
"The Uighurs are not assembling to do anything against
the government in the area," Mr. Turkel said. "I
personally have been there and spent some time with my
fellow Uighur people. I went there to have some type
of cultural, social gatherings with my people, because
that's the only area that Uighurs go to talk to each
other, to eat, have tea, talk about their homeland,
talk about their life experience. It's nothing as the
Chinese sees it as a threat."
Professor Millward says he does not know if the
motives are political. He says Uighurs are not the
only ones caught up in urban renewal campaigns going
on in Beijing and other Chinese cities.
"Anyone who's been to Beijing periodically over the
last few years will have noted the tremendous changes,"
Professor Millward said. "And for the most part low,
one-story structures, poorly built structures are
being torn down and larger, newer buildings are being
put up in their place. And a lot of people have been
displaced by this, including many Chinese."
Professor Millward says poor Uighurs as well as poor
Chinese now must look for housing further outside
Beijing, because the close-in areas have become too
expensive.
But he adds that Uighurs in Beijing face additional
difficulties, because landlords and officials who
control renting and business licenses have been
reluctant to rent to them. Professor Millward says
this is partly due to ethnic stereotypes which the
majority Han Chinese people hold about the Uighurs.
"But there is also now a concern that Uighurs are
terrorists, or likely to be violent or involved in
illegal activities, he said. "And some of this is
indeed probably fueled by very prominent public
concerns coming from the government about Uighur
groups."
Therefore, Professor Millward says, even though most
Uighurs are not terrorists, the government's labeling
of Uighur separatists as terrorists has led to serious
civil rights discrimination against the Uighur people.
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