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Last frontier
Away from the public eye and far from the media's
attention, China is waging a controversial campaign it
claims is an important front in the war on terror.
Jaideep Mukerji investigates
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In the latest of a series of moves aimed at cracking
down on separatists in the Xinjiang region of western
China, Chinese officials last month unveiled a "most
wanted list" of 11 individuals and four organisations
they accuse of being involved in terrorist activities.
Claiming that these groups and individuals threatened
to "split China", China's deputy director of
counter-terrorism, Zhao Yongehen, urged the
international community to aid China in detaining
suspects and dismantling the organisations, some of
which are located outside of China.
The Chinese government's announcement was met with
alarm by human rights groups who fear an escalation in
what they claim is a crackdown on the estimated eight
million Uighurs who live in the Xinjiang region. The
Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority, are a culturally
and ethnically distinct population that for years now
have struggled to create an independent country they
call East Turkistan. The Chinese government, which
places a premium on social unity and cultural
homogeneity, sees Uighur separatism a threat to
national stability and has been conducting a campaign
to quell the movement.
Amnesty International, in a 2003 report, criticised
the campaign, accusing the Chinese government of
arbitrarily detaining thousands of Uighurs who "are at
serious risk of torture or ill-treatment". The report
also condemned China for what it called "an assault on
Uighur culture as a whole as evidenced in the closure
of mosques, restrictions on the use of the Uighur
language and the burning of Uighur books and journals".
The Chinese government denies accusations of heavy
handedness and maintains that Xinjiang is an important
front in the war against terror. Officials at the
Chinese Embassy in Cairo told Al Ahram Weekly that
they are engaged in a legitimate struggle against
terrorist organisations, some of whom have links to
Al-Qa'eda.
"China too is a victim of terrorism," officials said.
"East Turkistan terrorist forces are responsible for a
great number of incidents of terrorist violence both
inside and outside China."
Human rights groups, however, argue that China is
simply using the war on terror as an excuse to step up
their efforts to crush the Uighur separatist movement.
"China is using the war on terror as a green light to
increase its repression in Xinjiang," says Marc
Allison, a researcher with Amnesty International. "There
are incidents of violence but it is clear this is much
wider than a crackdown on just terrorists. That is
just the argument that the Chinese use to try to gain
international legitimisation for what going on there,"
he told the Weekly.
Nathan Andrew, a professor of political science at
Columbia University who specialises in Chinese
politics and human rights, agrees. He explained to the
Weekly that the Chinese government uses a policy
linking religion and separatism to terrorism that
effectively allows them to describe Uighur separatists
as terrorists. He notes that in the aftermath of 11
September, Chinese officials succeeded in getting one
Uighur organisation, the East Turkistan Islamic
Movement, placed on the United Nations' list of
international terrorist organisation.
"The Chinese, who are very skillful diplomatically and
who are very alert to the evolution of international
law, saw an opportunity to put what they were doing
under the umbrella [of the war on terror] by labelling
the Uighur association as terrorists even though the
consensus of observers is that the Uighur separatism
movement is not violent and chiefly based within
Xinjiang," he said.
Details about the extent of repression in Xinjiang are
difficult to come by. Amnesty International researcher
Marc Allison explained to the Weekly that "up until
recently it was quite easy to get reports on death
penalties and executions in Xinjiang but now it is
extremely difficult to get those reports. We have
heard that Uighurs who have relatives abroad are being
put under pressure as an attempt to try and stop their
relatives abroad from getting involved in any kind of
political activity or passing information along to
journalists or organisations like Amnesty
International," he said. "It is quite clear that there
is a massive attempt to make sure information does not
leak outside Xinjiang at the moment."
Allison told the Weekly that what little information
Amnesty International does get is extremely disturbing.
"Very appalling forms of torture have been recorded in
Xinjiang, which as far as we know have never been
occurring elsewhere in China." Allison says that in
addition to reports of torture, Amnesty International
also receives allegations that the Chinese government
is using less direct methods of suppressing separatist
sentiments such as undermining the Uighur's sense of
identity, including their Islamic faith.
"We have seen incidents of mosques being closed in
Xinjiang and people being arrested for teaching the
Qur'an in Xinjiang outside of official government
control," says Allison. "We also have reports of
children in schools being put under extreme pressure
to break the fast during Ramadan and people working at
government offices in Xinjiang are under a lot
pressure not to fast during Ramadan as well."
Chinese officials at the embassy in Cairo strenuously
denied allegations of torture and religious
intolerance. "The [Chinese] government respects the
freedom of religion of all the Muslims. No state organ
may discriminate against citizens who believe in, or
do not believe in, any religion. Muslims in China
enjoy full and equal civil rights and the Chinese
government respects Muslim customs relating to diet,
festivals and marriage," they said.
Uighur groups speaking to the Weekly, however,
supported Amnesty International's allegations of
religious repression.
"There is no freedom for the Uighur Muslims to
practice their religion," says Alim A Seytoff,
president of the Washington DC based Uighur American
Association. Seytoff claims the Chinese government
allows only a narrow interpretation of Islam to be
practiced in China. "No mullah can preach any sermon
that is not approved by the government," he said.
Given the situation facing the Uighurs, Seytoff is
disappointed by lack of international interest of
China's crackdown. "For the most part, we are on our
own," he says.
Back at Columbia University, Professor Andrew Nathan
explains that there is not much that can be done to
help the Uighurs. "The problem is there isn't enough
information about what is going on in Xinjiang and
there is absolutely zero support by any foreign
government for the actual independence of East
Turkistan. The extent of any Western support is around
the human rights aspect," which he notes has been
subdued since 11 September because countries like the
United States "need to have the cooperation of the
Chinese government in the war on terror".
That leaves the Uighurs in a difficult situation.
Seytoff argues that "silence justifies China's brutal
persecution because China takes it as a tacit approval
for punishing the Uighur Muslims". By asking for help
in detaining Uighurs and dismantling Uighur
organisations outside of the country, however, it now
seems as though Chinese officials are looking for more
than tacit approval. It now remains to be seen how,
and if, western countries will respond.
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