| An electronic newsletter
Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 77 24 April 1998 In this issue (1) UYGHURS CLASHED WITH POLICE IN GHULJE
(2) THE UNITED NATIONAL FRONT OF EASTERN TURKSITAN ISSUED A STATEMENT
(3) TWO CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN KASHGAR
(4) KYRGYZ SUPPORT OVER SEPARATISTS
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has pledged to support China inits protracted battle against Muslim separatism, the People's Daily reported yesterday. (5) KYRGYZ PRESIDENT IN CHINA
Akayev said his government "stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism." (6) WANG'S LIFE IN EXILE COULD BE DIFFICULT
Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement now in exile in Taiwan, said on Monday Beijing's release from prison of dissident comrade Wang Dan merely opens a new chapter in Wang's suffering -- exile. ... The Uighur-minority student from far the western Xinjiang region sprang to fame at the height of the protests in May 1989 when he argued with Premier Li Peng in a televised meeting. (7) OFFICIALS PREDICT DIFFICULTIES IN PROVINCIAL CO-OPERATION
Regional officials are casting doubts over the concept of co-operation between eastern and western provinces. ... Alarmed by the widening gap between the prosperous east and impoverished regions in the west, Chinese leaders have been advocating increased East-West co-operation. (8) CCP SPECIAL OFFICE SET UP TO CURB SOCIAL UNREST
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up an "Office on Maintaining Social Stability" ... which will also combat infiltration by hostile foreign forces and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet. (9) CHINA PUBLISHED A COLLECTION OF 142 ANCIENT MAPS
(10) KYRGYZ PASSPORTS TO REFLECT NATIONALITY OF HOLDERS
(12) NO PLANS TO END ONE-CHILD POLICY
The mainland has no intention of ending its one-child policy despite an encouraging decline in population growth in the past 18 years. ... "Birth rates in some central and western provinces and remote and poverty-stricken areas remain well above the national average." *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) UYGHURS CLASHED WITH POLICE IN GHULJE 24 April 1998, EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER [ETIC, 04/24/98] According to the reports of local people, on April 20-21, Uyghur pro-independence fighters clashed with the Chinese paramilitary police in the city of Ghulje of Eastern Turkistan/Uyghuristan. A Chinese police squad run into a fierce armed resistance during its attempt to arrest a group of Uyghurs suspected in separatist activities. In two days of standoff, 7 Uyghurs and 30-40 Chinese paramilitary servicemen have been killed. [Abdullah Pamir] (2) THE UNITED NATIONAL FRONT OF EASTERN TURKSITAN ISSUED A STATEMENT 23 April 1998, Turkistan-L list RFE/RL correspondents report from Almaty that an Uyghur organization in Kazakhstan called The United National Front of Eastern Turkistan has issued a special statement accusing "Chinese communists in oppression of the Uyghur nation in their own homeland, Eastern Turkistan". The leaders of Vatan Uchquni staff in Almaty told RFE/RL correspondents about the contents of the statement issued yesterday. It was said in the statement that, on April 8, Uyghur muslims of Khotan province in Eastern Turkistan were surrounded in a mosque by the Chinese army units and paramilitary police during a pray. Some of the surrounded Uyghurs were reportedly arrested for being "Islamic fundamentalists". The statement also says that three leaders of the Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan: Abdulhakim Haji, Abylqasym Qari, Qojahmet Haji, have been detained by the Kyrgyz National Security Service the same day in Bishkek. A leader of the Uyghurs in Uzbekistan, Eminjan Ospanov, was arrested earlier this month in the city of Tashkent. The statement says that several Uyghurs are under trial in the Russian city of Chita. The Uyghurs have been accused in trespassing the Russian-Chinese border. The information in the statement has not been confirmed from the independent sources. (3) TWO CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN KASHGAR 24 April 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 04/24/98] On April 23, between 11 a.m. and noon, two police cars exploded in the city of Kashgar in Eastern Turkistan killing a chief of the Kashgar city police department and the city's chief of the paramilitary police. The explosions also killed about 8 passers-by. The Kazakhstani-Chinese border passing point at Qorghas is reported to be closed by the Chinese side for the last 3 days. [Abdullah Pamir] (4) KYRGYZ SUPPORT OVER SEPARATISTS 29 April 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has pledged to support China in its protracted battle against Muslim separatism, the People's Daily reported yesterday. (5) KYRGYZ PRESIDENT IN CHINA 28 April 1998, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Akayev said his government "stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism." (6) WANG'S LIFE IN EXILE COULD BE DIFFICULT 20 April 1998, Reuters Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement now in exile in Taiwan, said on Monday Beijing's release from prison of dissident comrade Wang Dan merely opens a new chapter in Wang's suffering -- exile. ... The Uighur-minority student from far the western Xinjiang region sprang to fame at the height of the protests in May 1989 when he argued with Premier Li Peng in a televised meeting. (7) THE TULIP CAME FROM WHERE? 27 April 1998, Reuters (8) OFFICIALS PREDICT DIFFICULTIES IN PROVINCIAL CO-OPERATION 15 April 1998, South China Morning Post, DANIEL KWAN Regional officials are casting doubts over the concept of co-operation between eastern and western provinces. ... Alarmed by the widening gap between the prosperous east and impoverished regions in the west, Chinese leaders have been advocating increased East-West co-operation. (9) CCP SPECIAL OFFICE SET UP TO CURB SOCIAL UNREST 27 April 1998, CND-Global The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up an "Office on Maintaining Social Stability" ... which will also combat infiltration by hostile foreign forces and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet. (10) CHINA PUBLISHED A COLLECTION OF 142 ANCIENT MAPS April 10, 1998, CND-Global (11) KYRGYZ PASSPORTS TO REFLECT NATIONALITY OF HOLDERS 24 March 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE (12) NO PLANS TO END ONE-CHILD POLICY 26 March 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The mainland has no intention of ending its one-child policy despite an encouraging decline in population growth in the past 18 years. ... "Birth rates in some central and western provinces and remote and poverty-stricken areas remain well above the national average." *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) UYGHURS CLASHED WITH POLICE IN GHULJE 24 April 1998, EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER [ETIC, 04/24/98] According to the reports of local people, on April 20-21, Uyghur pro-independence fighters clashed with the Chinese paramilitary police in the city of Ghulje of Eastern Turkistan/Uyghuristan. A Chinese police squad run into a fierce armed resistance during its attempt to arrest a group of Uyghurs suspected in separatist activities. In two days of standoff, 7 Uyghurs and 30-40 Chinese paramilitary servicemen have been killed. [Abdullah Pamir] (2) THE UNITED NATIONAL FRONT OF EASTERN TURKSITAN ISSUED A STATEMENT 23 April 1998, Turkistan-L list RFE/RL correspondents report from Almaty that an Uyghur organization in Kazakhstan called The United National Front of Eastern Turkistan has issued a special statement accusing "Chinese communists in oppression of the Uyghur nation in their own homeland, Eastern Turkistan". The leaders of Vatan Uchquni staff in Almaty told RFE/RL correspondents about the contents of the statement issued yesterday. It was said in the statement that, on April 8, Uyghur muslims of Khotan province in Eastern Turkistan were surrounded in a mosque by the Chinese army units and paramilitary police during a pray. Some of the surrounded Uyghurs were reportedly arrested for being "Islamic fundamentalists". The statement also says that three leaders of the Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan: Abdulhakim Haji, Abylqasym Qari, Qojahmet Haji, have been detained by the Kyrgyz National Security Service the same day in Bishkek. A leader of the Uyghurs in Uzbekistan, Eminjan Ospanov, was arrested earlier this month in the city of Tashkent. The statement says that several Uyghurs are under trial in the Russian city of Chita. The Uyghurs have been accused in trespassing the Russian-Chinese border. The information in the statement has not been confirmed from the independent sources. (3) TWO CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN KASHGAR 24 April 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, 04/24/98] On April 23, between 11 a.m. and noon, two police cars exploded in the city of Kashgar in Eastern Turkistan killing a chief of the Kashgar city police department and the city's chief of the paramilitary police. The explosions also killed about 8 passers-by. The Kazakhstani-Chinese border passing point at Qorghas is reported to be closed by the Chinese side for the last 3 days. [Abdullah Pamir] (4) KYRGYZ SUPPORT OVER SEPARATISTS 29 April 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has pledged to support China in its protracted battle against Muslim separatism, the People's Daily reported yesterday. "The Kyrgyz Government stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism," Mr Akayev said. "Mutual trust has been bolstered . . . and we have laid a solid foundation for friendly co-operative relations into the 21st century," he said in a meeting with President Jiang Zemin. Kyrgyzstan borders Xinjiang, where a simmering independence movement has existed for decades and has been strengthened in recent years by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Last year, there were a series of bomb attacks and clashes between Muslim separatists and Chinese security forces, prompting Beijing to strengthen official ties with Kyrgyzstan and the other two former Soviet states that border the region - Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. That led to the signing of a security treaty between the three Muslim states, Russia and China. "We appreciate the Kyrgyz Republic and its people for their consistent and clear support of China on opposing national separatism," Mr Jiang said. "The co-operation between our two countries has demonstrated that there are great advantages and potential for China and the Kyrgyz Republic to develop trade and economic co-operation." Mr Akayev arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a five-day official visit to China. (5) KYRGYZ PRESIDENT IN CHINA 28 April 1998, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Akayev said his government "stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism." KYRGYZ PRESIDENT IN CHINA. Meeting in Beijing on 27 April, Askar Akayev and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, signed a declaration of friendship and vowed to further improve ties, RFE/RL correspondents in the Chinese capital reported. The two presidents also exchanged the ratification instruments of the border demarcation agreements they signed in June 1996. China has promised to invest 100 million yuan (some $8 million) to build a factory producing cardboard in the Kyrgyz city of Tokmok, near Bishkek and will provide a 1 million yuan grant to help develop the Kyrgyz health care system. Akayev said his government "stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism," a reference to China's western Xinjiang Province, which is inhabited mostly by Turkic Muslim peoples and borders Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported. BP (6) WANG'S LIFE IN EXILE COULD BE DIFFICULT 20 April 1998, Reuters Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement now in exile in Taiwan, said on Monday Beijing's release from prison of dissident comrade Wang Dan merely opens a new chapter in Wang's suffering -- exile. ... The Uighur-minority student from far the western Xinjiang region sprang to fame at the height of the protests in May 1989 when he argued with Premier Li Peng in a televised meeting. TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -- Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement now in exile in Taiwan, said on Monday Beijing's release from prison of dissident comrade Wang Dan merely opens a new chapter in Wang's suffering -- exile. "I have this mixture of confused feelings," Wuer Kaixi told Reuters Television in an interview. "I don't know whether I should congratulate him on his release or express my regret on his beginning of exile -- which is a torture on the mental level." The two Tiananmen Square student leaders took very different routes out of China. Wuer Kaixi, 31, slipped out in the first weeks after the deadly June 4 army crackdown, obtained U.S. political asylum and began a life of exile marked by controversy and alienation. Wang, 29, was quickly arrested and spent four years in prison on sedition charges. Wang then resumed his pro-democracy activities and was imprisoned again in 1996 on similar charges, but was sent on Sunday into exile in the United States, ostensibly to seek medical treatment. WUER CALLS EXILE 'LIFELONG' IMPRISONMENT Wuer Kaixi said he welcomed Wang's freedom but cautioned that another form of "lifelong, unlimited and indefinite" imprisonment has just begun. "Exile is an extremely difficult matter to carry," Wuer Kaixi said. "It would probably be easier for many of us to go through prison life than exile. Staying in prison you still feel you are contributing for your faith, for your belief. "But in exile, many times you just feel powerless." The Uighur-minority student from far the western Xinjiang region sprang to fame at the height of the protests in May 1989 when he argued with Premier Li Peng in a televised meeting. In exile, he entered and then dropped out of college, drifted from one odd job to the next and bickered openly with fellow exiles over how to bring democracy to China. Wuer Kaixi married a Taiwan woman in 1994 and lives in central Taichung, where he hosts a radio show. He said he learned in a 15-minute "happy conversation" with Wang on Sunday that Wang was pleased with his release and remained very strong in his faith in democracy. "He hasn't changed a bit," Wuer Kaixi said. Wang's release had been widely expected as a goodwill gesture before U.S. President Bill Clinton's planned June summit in Beijing with President Jiang Zemin. URGES WASHINGTON TO KEEP PRESSING ON HUMAN RIGHTS Wuer Kaixi urged Washington to continue pressuring Beijing to improve human rights in the communist mainland. "Please don't take this action as a measurement of Chinese human rights improvement," he said of Wang's release. "Putting people in exile is a very live proof of human rights violations. Putting dissidents in exile is the Chinese means to protect their totalitarian regime so they can violate human rights in further matters. "They don't deserve any applause. They deserve more pressure," he added. Wuer Kaixi said he and fellow dissidents planned to return to China "very soon" -- likely through underground channels -- to press the democratic cause. DISSIDENT REMAINS MOST-WANTED FUGITIVE IN CHINA The dissident, still a most-wanted fugitive in China, said he was prepared to face prison because imprisonment carried great significance for China's democracy movements. Wuer Kaixi likened the planned China homecomings to similar returns to Taiwan a decade ago by dissidents opposed to what then was the Nationalist Party's authoritarian and sometimes brutal one-party rule of the island. Wuer Kaixi singled out veteran activist Hsu Hsin-liang, who was imprisoned after sneaking back into Taiwan from U.S. exile in the late 1980s. Hsu led a bitter quest for political reform and now heads the leading opposition party -- which became legal through political liberalizations he championed. "If I go back to China, I should be the one to demand the rights of a citizen to go back to their country. As I am still on the most wanted list, I will probably be arrested and put into prison," Wuer Kaixi said. "The action carries its own significance politically." Wuer Kaixi called Taiwan's democratization "living proof" that Western-style democracy was not at odds with Asian values. "Democracy is not really a curing medicine. But it's definitely a process that can eventually cure many problems one by one." (7) THE TULIP CAME FROM WHERE? 27 April 1998, Reuters BEIJING (Reuters) - China, which invented the magnetic compass, gunpowder and the printing press, is now claiming another world first -- the tulip. Most people believe the tulip was a European flower, but evidence uncovered by Chinese researchers showed that the blossom actually originated in China, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Experts had found more than 20 varieties of tulips in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau in western China and in the far-flung northwestern region of Xinjiang, Xinhua said. That was proof China was one of the original birthplaces of the flower, it quoted Liang Shuhai, deputy secretary of Qinghai province's Flower Association, as saying. "In the Middle Ages, European crusaders once reached the northwestern part of China and brought the tulip back to middle Asia," Xinhua quoted Liang as saying. "Later, in the 17th century, the flower was brought into the Netherlands and other European areas," Liang said. While the tulip is a major export of countries such as the Netherlands, Xinhua said China lagged far behind in cultivating the flower even though it could be grown in many regions. Tulip research and cultivation centers had been set up in the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Zhejiang and Sichuan, Xinhua said but gave no further details. (8) OFFICIALS PREDICT DIFFICULTIES IN PROVINCIAL CO-OPERATION 15 April 1998, South China Morning Post, DANIEL KWAN Regional officials are casting doubts over the concept of co-operation between eastern and western provinces. ... Alarmed by the widening gap between the prosperous east and impoverished regions in the west, Chinese leaders have been advocating increased East-West co-operation. Regional officials are casting doubts over the concept of co-operation between eastern and western provinces, acknowledging each has its own agenda for development. The dissenting views were aired recently in Xian, Shaanxi, where officials and investors from across China met to discuss investment opportunities. Alarmed by the widening gap between the prosperous east and impoverished regions in the west, Chinese leaders have been advocating increased East-West co-operation. Xinhua reported that while many at the symposium expressed optimism that co-operation between east and west would improve, individual officials admitted that the concept was easier said than done. Liu Jian, vice-governor of Jiangsu, pointed out provinces had their own individual goals. "The east thinks that east-west co-operation means the west should make 'contributions' to the east by supplying them with resources. The west, however, thinks the east should contribute to the west by supplying technology and capital," Mr. Liu said. Another participant, Sichuan vice-governor Li Dachang, said it would be "slow" to implement the concept of co-operation in less-developed areas. "East-west co-operation is easier in places where information flow is more efficient, with better transport facilities," Mr Li said. Due to the great disparity between provinces, he suggested it would be more practical to promote "west-west co-operation" - closer ties among less-developed provinces in the hinterland. Zhang Zeyu, governor's assistant in Shanxi, emphasised the importance of "changing the mind-set". "The biggest difference between the east and west is the concept," he said. "To co-operate, we must first change the mind-set." (9) CCP SPECIAL OFFICE SET UP TO CURB SOCIAL UNREST 27 April 1998, CND-Global The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up an "Office on Maintaining Social Stability" ... which will also combat infiltration by hostile foreign forces and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet. [CND, 04/24/98] The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up an "Office on Maintaining Social Stability" to defuse various threats from laid-off workers, disgruntled farmers, and underground political organizations, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. According to these sources, CCP Politburo Standing Committee member WEI Jianxing was named after a recent politburo meeting to head the new office. The top priority of the office is to ensure that increasingly frequent labor disturbances in different cities do not escalate into a crisis, though the office will also combat infiltration by hostile foreign forces and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet, the sources said. The office coordinates efforts by the police, Ministry of State Security, the People's Armed Police as well as departments handling ideology and propaganda, trade unions, social security, and ethnic minorities. ( Kewen ZHANG, YIN De An ) (10) CHINA PUBLISHED A COLLECTION OF 142 ANCIENT MAPS April 10, 1998, CND-Global China has published a collection of 142 ancient maps, dating back from the time of the Warring States (475-221 BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) period in both Chinese and English editions. The book includes the world's oldest map, 'Zhao Yu Tu', discovered in the ancient tomb of a king from the Warring States period, and the world's earliest colour map, drawn on silk during the Han Dynasty (206-24 BC). (Xinhua) (11) KYRGYZ PASSPORTS TO REFLECT NATIONALITY OF HOLDERS 24 March 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE KYRGYZ PASSPORTS TO REFLECT NATIONALITY OF HOLDERS. The government's press service on 20 March announced that a special decree on ethnic minorities has been passed, RFE/RL correspondents reported. Under that decree, members of ethnic minorities can change the "nationality" listed on their passport to reflect their true nationality. Many people in Kyrgyzstan are still designated as one of the titular groups from the former Soviet republics: Uyghurs, for example, are registered as Uzbeks, Turks and Kurds as Azerbaijanis, and Meskhetians as Georgians. (12) NO PLANS TO END ONE-CHILD POLICY 26 March 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The mainland has no intention of ending its one-child policy despite an encouraging decline in population growth in the past 18 years. ... "Birth rates in some central and western provinces and remote and poverty-stricken areas remain well above the national average." The mainland has no intention of ending its one-child policy despite an encouraging decline in population growth in the past 18 years, China Daily reported yesterday. "An effective family planning policy is the only option for China," the newspaper said. It added that natural population growth fell to 10.06 per 1,000 last year, compared with 10.42 per 1,000 in 1996. "However, family planning work should by no means be slackened since the country's population will continue to increase at a high rate due to the big population base," the paper said in a commentary. "Birth rates in some central and western provinces and remote and poverty-stricken areas remain well above the national average," it said, although it added that family traditions were changing, even in certain rural areas. "The tradition of viewing more children as more happiness has changed to the prevailing wish for fewer children and better living conditions," the paper said. Family planning had been the mainland's most fundamental policy since the end of the 1970s, it said. The paper added that birth control "has taken root in Chinese people's hearts and become their voluntary choice today". The one-child policy has met with only moderate success in the countryside, forcing authorities to resort to severe punishment against offenders despite criticism from Western nations. Prepared by: *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= 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 |