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CHINA: Muslim
Uighurs top new terrorist list
2003-12-22 ASIA PACIFIC
China has issued its first terrorist list ... which
consists entirely of groups and individuals of the
muslim Uighur community. The Ministry for National
Security has also called for more international
assistance in cracking down on what it describes as
the East Turkestan terrorist force. East Turkestan is
the name given by separatists for the Xinjiang region
in the north west of China.
Presenter/Interviewer: Kanaha Sabapathy
Speakers: Professor Dru Gladney, University of Hawaii;
Alim Seytoff, president, the American Uigher
Association - Washington
SABAPATHY: Uighers and human rights activists have
rejected Beijing's decision to tag as terrorists 4
muslim separatist groups and eleven individuals. They
claim this is China's continuing political campaign
against ethnic and religious minority groups.
Alim Seytoff is the president of the American Uigher
Association based in Washington.
SEYTOFF: Basically China is trying to slander all the
Uigher organisations as terrorist organisations so
that China can successfully crush the Uigher freedom
movemnet worldwide with the help of other countries.
SABAPATHY: Two of the groups on the list, the World
Uigher Youth Congress and the East Turkestan
Information Centre are based in Germany ... and
according to Alim Seytoff these organisations function
primarily as spokesmen for the Uigher cause.
SEYTOFF: We know they havebeen advocating democracy,
human rights and religious freedom for the Uigher
people not religious fundamentalism. Non violently
advocating direct dialogue with the Chinese to
peacefully settle the issue of East Turkestan.
SABAPATHY: The two other groups on the list are the
East Turkestan Islamic Movement or ETIM and the East
Turkestan Liberation Organisation. China blames ETIM
for many of the attacks in Xinjiang and has banned the
group for over a decade ... but Beijing has produced
no evidence to support its recent claims that ETIM is
linked to the terrorist al Qaeda organisation. Dru
Gladney is professor of Asian studies at the
University of Hawaii and a keen observer of the
Uighers.
GLADNEY: Most these organisations since nine eleven
have disavowed any violence and have never claimed any
responsibility for any of these incidents. Also the
Chinese government itself admits that since 2000 there
have been no violent incidents and indeedfrom my
research since the spring of 1998 there have been no
violent incidents in Xinjiang.
SEYTOFF: Just ten days before nine eleven Wang Lequan
the party secretary of Xinjiang Uigher Autonomy region
said there was no terrorism in Xinjiang, Xinjiang has
been peaceful we welcome all the foreign investments,
we have no problems at all, we have stability and the
situation is good. But ten days after nine eleven
happened all of a sudden China began to portray iself
as a victim of terrorism and began to portray the
Uighers, those people who have been victimised by the
Chinese government for more than fifty years as
terrorists, simply because the Uighers believe in
Islam.
SABAPATHY: Alim Seytoff. Xinjiang's communist party
secretary Wang Lequan says religious extremism is one
of the greatest threats facing the province ... but
Professor Gladney holds a different view..
GLADNEY: Uighers in general are not engaged in radical
Islam> There is a growing conservatism in the region
but not the kind of Hasbullah, Taliban type of
Wahabist Islam that the government seems to be very
much afraid of.
SABAPATHY: So why is Beijing pushing so hard for
international support in its bid to list the 4 Uigher
groups and 11 individuals as terrorist at this moment?
Prof Gladney believes its linked to the 22 Uighers
caught in Afghanistan and currently detained by the US
in Guantanamo Bay.
GLADNEY: US government has now admitted their presence
and its gotten now public that the Chinese are
pressuring the US to return these people to China. The
US government clearly believes these people are
terrorists but the issue is do you return them to
China, that has been criticised by the international
community for its treatment of political prisoners.
19/12/2003
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