| An electronic newsletter
Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 95 6 January 1999 In this issue: (1) CHINA COAL MINE BLASTS KILL 23
(2) CHINESE BRIDGE COLLAPSE KILLS AT LEAST 24
(3) U.S. GROUP CLAIMS CHINA AUTHORIZED FIREPOWER TO DISPERSE PROTESTS
(4) U.S.-BASED CHINESE MILITARY EXPERT MARKS YEAR IN PRISON
(5) EAST TURKISTAN INFORMATION DIRECTOR MR. KARAKASH’S INTERVIEW WITH MR. AHMET GROSS FROM WEIMER INSTITUTE.
(6) BIG PUSH TO AVOID UNREST IN 'KEY' YEAR
(7) ANOTHER OPPOSITION PARTY WORKER HELD
(8) CHINA SLAMS RADIO FREE ASIA UIGHUR BROADCASTS
(9) COLOR COTTON SUCCESSFULLY GROWN IN EAST TURKISTAN.
(10) ACTIVISTS MARCH IN HONG KONG, DEMAND DEMOCRACY IN CHINA
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BEIJING - Twenty-three people were killed and five injured in two coal mine explosions in China's central Hunan province, the China Mining News said on Wednesday. The gas explosions occured just weeks apart in Hunan's coal-rich county of Yiyang last month, the newspaper said. The first blast was on December 1 at a small unlicensed mine, killing 11 and seriously injuring five, according to the newspaper. The second blast tore through a nearby mine on December 26, killing 12, the newspaper said. It did not say if the mine was licensed. The county is home to more than 100 small coal mines, many of which operate illegally despite repeated government orders to close. (2) CHINESE BRIDGE COLLAPSE KILLS AT LEAST 24
BEIJING - A squad of Chinese police plunged into an icy river when a footbridge collapsed beneath them, killing at least 24 people, local officials said on Wednesday. The cause of the collapse is under investigation. Chinese public works projects have been plagued by shoddy construction, usually the result of corruption. The problem was partly blamed for devastating floods last summer when poorly built dikes collapsed. (3) U.S. GROUP CLAIMS CHINA AUTHORIZED FIREPOWER TO DISPERSE PROTESTS
BEIJING -- China's leadership has authorized its law enforcers to open fire on demonstrators if they need to disperse protests provoked by its economic reforms, a U.S.-based dissident group said Wednesday. "The Chinese Communist Party Central Political and Judiciary Committee issued a classified directive to all public security forces and the armed police a few days ago," the Free China Movement said in a statement. "The directive provides for the armed forces to immediately open fire on mobs or organized gangsters without warning and without reporting to their superiors in advance under (certain) circumstances," it said. Attacks on leaders' residences, military or police facilities, key government agencies or broadcasting facilities and theft of weapons were among circumstances where such action could be taken, it said. In particularly sensitive cities that have already seen sporadic protests from unpaid and laid-off workers like central Wuhan and Changsha, in southern Hunan province, rules had been issued to prohibit the blocking of traffic. Police could use force if protesters refused to retreat within five minutes in those cities, the organization said. China has been hit by a spate of protests as its draconian reform of its inefficient and debt-ridden state-owned sector has resulted in millions of redundancies. The government showed its sensitivity to the subject of social unrest when last month it sentenced labor activist Zhang Shanguang to 10 years' imprisonment for "endangering state security." Zhang had set up an organization to protect the rights of laid off workers and given an interview to U.S.-based Radio Free Asia on peasant unrest. China does not allow any trade unions or labor organizations other than those sanctioned by the Communist Party and regularly throws unofficial labor organizers into prison. More than 10 million workers have already been laid off from loss making state enterprises and there are plans to cut six million more jobs this year, moves which could lead to widespread social unrest as redundant workers are cut off from cradle-to-grave housing, medical care and pensions. "We have kept on receiving calls from people asking us what they should do because their rights of survival are threatened," the Free China Movement statement said. (4) U.S.-BASED CHINESE MILITARY EXPERT MARKS YEAR IN PRISON
BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese military expert who worked as a Stanford University researcher has been under arrest in Beijing for a year, his case passed around by prosecutors for lack of evidence, a rights group reported Wednesday. Hua Di was arrested on Jan. 6, 1998, while in China for a family funeral and was charged with leaking state secrets, apparently for his research in the United States. Washington has quietly urged Beijing to release Hua. The Ministry of State Security, China's spy agency, handed the case to Beijing prosecutors in September, and since then it has been punted about to various offices, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement reported. "The authorities do not have enough evidence to open a court trial," the group said, without specifying its sources. It speculated that prosecutors were awaiting word from Chinese leaders on how to handle the case. "The senior Chinese Communist Party leadership is carefully handling the case to use Hua Di as a bargaining chip in Chinese-U.S. relations," the group said. Hua, 63, is suffering from cancer and is not believed to be receiving adequate treatment. The offspring of an elite communist family, Hua studied rocket science in the Soviet Union and then worked as a senior engineer for a defense technology commission. He fled to the United States in 1989 after criticizing the crushing of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. As a researcher at Stanford, Hua helped produce revealing works on China's nuclear and other weapons programs. His works largely relied on already-public documents and university officials contend that Chinese military officials cooperated in his research. Stanford quietly lobbied for Hua's release but it and the U.S. government were forced to go public when Hong Kong newspapers reported his arrest in October. (5) EAST TURKISTAN INFORMATION DIRECTOR MR. KARAKASH’S INTERVIEW WITH MR. AHMET GROSS FROM WEIMER INSTITUTE.
Karakash (K.): When were you converted to Islam? Ahmet (A.): Alhamdullah, in 1989, that was nine years ago. I was 25 then. K.: Why did you decide to become Muslim? A.: I think, it is a call that came from within myself. Nowadays many people are not happy with their lives but they do not know what they really are looking for. One day I came across a few Muslims. Immediately I sensed a kind of strength in them. They radiated with energy. I was also impressed with their sense of morality. It is natural that the weak submits to the strong. Their strong faith and moral values touched me. I decided to become a Muslim. K.: How did you feel when you became a Muslim? A.: I felt great. But it is difficult to describe it in details. All I can say is by submitting to Allah I felt I became the richest man on earth. Alhamdullah. K.: How did your family and friends react to your conversion? A.: Initially some of them thought that I was out of my mind. My parents and some of my friends regarded me as dead. Although it was hard, I was not deterred. Allah gave me strength to carry on. Now my parents are amazed at the changes in me. May Allah enlighten them so that they will embrace Islam soon. Aamin! K.: When you introduced yourself as Muslim, how did people react? A.: My fellow Germans were amazed and began to take interest in Islam. They were rather impressed that a Muslim German appeared among them. They are beginning to accept that in this non-Muslim country there are not only Muslims from other countries but Muslims who are native Germans. K.: How do you feel when you are with your fellow Muslims? A.: I feel rich both spiritually and materially. Before I became a Muslim I was only a member of a family of six. Allah said all Muslims are brothers. Now I am happy to become a member of this huge Muslim family. K.: How many Germans Muslims are there in Germany? A.: The numbers of children born to German Muslims alone exceed 70 thousand. There are also 2 million Turkish Muslims living in Germany. K.: What is your view about the future of Muslims in Europe? A.: Just now I talked about the weak submitting to the strong. I think that will be the case in Europe and the whole world. People who seek goodness and strength need Allah, need Islam. That is why Europeans brought Muslims here 30 years ago, although originally those Muslims came in search of jobs. Now there are 16 million Muslims in Europe. The Muslim families are three times larger than non-Muslim families. A lot of non-Muslim couples are childless or the size of non-Muslim families are very small. They face a bleak future of loneliness and emptiness. They try to secure their retired lives by purchasing stocks and bonds, but all these depend on their luck. Every week in the world some people go bankrupt because of the unstable financial market. I still remember what my grandfather told me about those who lost everything in the bond market and committed suicide. Besides, money can not guarantee happiness. And some people do not have anyone to leave their money to when they die. A lot of young people worry about their future yet they don’t have the courage to raise kids. Europe may not be whole today if there were not Muslims. We Muslims should be one Ummah in spite of different background, origin and culture. We Muslims will succeed only when we unite with non-Muslims, when we practice justice and fairness. It is our duty as Muslims to spread the faith of our prophet Muhammad Sellallahu Eleyhivessalam and bring the beauty of Islam to non-believers. (6) BIG PUSH TO AVOID UNREST IN 'KEY' YEAR
Beijing is poised to hire up to 150,000 more paramilitary People's Armed Police officers to maintain order throughout 1999, deemed by some cadres as a make-or-break year for the Communist Party. A security source in Beijing said that in internal meetings, President Jiang Zemin and his colleagues had given more details on how to prevent unrest and promote stability. Mr. Jiang was issuing his instructions in his capacity as head of the new Temporary Leading Group on Rectifying National Affairs. Mr. Jiang said: "The party's political fortune in the 21st century may well depend on whether we can maintain stability in 1999". Most of the extra paramilitary officers would be recruited from demobilized soldiers from the regular army. Apart from pro-democracy activists, the leading group had identified three groups of "dangerous people", the source said. They were underground religious groups, illegal, wildcat trade unions and "social volunteers". The last group, deemed "destabilizing" by Mr. Jiang, were considered troublemakers who posed as volunteers. They were active in areas such as fighting for workers' and consumers' rights and environmental causes. Mr. Jiang and other leading group members had urged that maximum attention be paid to preventing activists from forming national networks. Instructions have been given to the police, the Ministry of State Security and other relevant organs to detain dangerous elements "in good time" and to speed up the judicial procedures for their subsequent imprisonment. For example, dissidents who might stage demonstrations close to the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June could be locked up well beforehand. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources have identified the other members of the leading group, which is empowered to use resources under the party, Government or army. It comprises: alternate member of the politburo Zeng Qinghong ; Minister of State Security Xu Yongyue ; Procurator-General Han Zhubin ; and Mr Jiang's adviser on ideology and propaganda Xing Bensi . Other experts sitting in on the meetings include scholars from the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (7) ANOTHER OPPOSITION PARTY WORKER HELD
A dissident linked to the outlawed China Democracy Party has been held by police in Inner Mongolia for the past week, human rights activists said yesterday. Ding Guixiong, 36, was taken from his home on December 28, the Information Centre on Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. The former factory worker, from Wuyuan county, was questioned by police four times last month before his detention. Meanwhile, the wife and two elder sisters of opposition party member Liu Shizun were detained for 28 hours while police searched their home in Dalian, Liaoning province. Liu, secretary-general of the Tianjin-Beijing branch of the fledgling opposition party and former assistant to jailed dissident Xu Wenli , has been in custody since December 5. The round-up of family members could be aimed at pressing for evidence for indictment before the custody period of one month had passed, the centre said.It was worried provincial leaders might try to claim credit by sentencing activists in their localities. It quoted President Jiang Zemin as saying all provinces should make wiping out "subversive activities" top priority. Police rounded up more than 100 retired workers yesterday after they demonstrated over pension payments in Wuhan, Hubei province.The workers, from the Qintai furniture factory, were forced on to a dozen armoured vehicles by more than 200 officers, the centre said. The whereabouts of the workers was unknown.In a separate development, transport worker Yue Tianxiang, from Gansu province, said he was setting up the China Labour Watchdog to safeguard workers' rights and expose corruption. (8) CHINA SLAMS RADIO FREE ASIA UIGHUR BROADCASTS
BEIJING, -- China on Tuesday slammed US government-funded Radio Free Asia for its broadcasts in the Uighur language to the northwestern region of Xinjiang. "Radio Free Asia is actually a kind of station that freely interferes in the internal affairs of Asian countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told a news conference. "Xinjiang from ancient times is an unalienable part of Chinese territory. It is a fact universally recognized by the international community," he said. "Any attempt to split Xinjiang is unacceptable and is doomed to failure," he said. Xinjiang has some 17 million people and Muslim Uighurs make up 48 percent of the population, but the proportion has continued to fall faced with waves of new Han Chinese immigrants. Chinese authorities have been unable to stifle a separatist movement that has been fighting for several years despite harsh crackdowns. The separatists receive little help from outside China's borders with the exception of largely moral support from Uighur communities in Pakistan and Turkey. (9) COLOR COTTON SUCCESSFULLY GROWN IN EAST TURKISTAN.
According to the "People’s Daily", 13 types of high quality color cotton was cultivated in large quantities in Tarim Basin of East Turkistan. The new types of cotton is believed to be healthier to the human body as it requires no artificial dyeing. Editor’s comment: The Chinese are not only squandering the oil reserves of the Tarim Basin but also trying to turn it into the cotton producing base. The fragile ecosystem of Tarim Basin is greatly endangered with the use of chemical fertilizer, irrigation with the high mineral content water and repeated cultivation of the same crop. The same ecological disaster that happened in Uzbekistan might also take place in East Turkistan. The farmers, who may increase their profits initially, are facing the danger of loosing their homeland to the desert as more and more soil become acidic and therefore increasing the speed of desertification in Tarim Basin. Translated from 19 December, People’s Newspaper (10) ACTIVISTS MARCH IN HONG KONG, DEMAND DEMOCRACY IN CHINA
HONG KONG -- More than 300 protesters marched through Hong Kong streets on New Year's day calling for more democracy in China. The rally was the first of a series of activities planned by pro-democracy activists in this former British colony to mark the 10th anniversary of Beijing's Tiananmen Square massacre. The demonstrators, chanting "Freedom and democracy will prevail," marched behind a 40-foot-long banner reading "Never forget June 4th 10 years after. Moving towards a democratic new age." They passed through the territory's business district to the headquarters of the China-backed Hong Kong government. They also waved placards with slogans such as "Put an end to one-party dictatorship" and "Build a democratic China." In June 4, 1989, hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed in an army crackdown on a student-led pro-democracy protest centered on Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital. "Only building a democracy system, human rights can then be guaranteed in China," said Szeto Wah, chairman of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement of China. "China's democratic movement has the support from people around the world who treasure democracy." The Alliance, the rally organizer, also launched a signatory campaign on Friday which will run until June 4 and which is part of a worldwide action by exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan to mark the anniversary. Police arrested a protester for tearing a Chinese flag. Mutilation of the Chinese red flag or the post-handover Hong Kong flag is an offense under the territory's post-colonial laws. Last year, two pro-democracy activists destroyed Chinese and Hong Kong flags in a similar protest rally. They were bound over for 12 months and fined HK$2,000 (US$256) each for two counts of desecrating the Chinese and Hong Kong flags. The Alliance, which sprang up after the 1989 bloody crackdown, said on Thursday it would invite exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng or Wang to attend its activities marking the anniversary in the coming months. Szeto said he hoped either Wang or Wei could attend a forum on China's human rights to be held in May in Hong Kong or a candlelight vigil on June 4 in the territory's Victoria Park. The vigil has been held every year since the Tiananmen massacre. The protest was carried out as usual last June despite Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule in July 1997 after 156 years as a British colony. Beijing has promised to let the territory of 6.6 million people keep its way of life intact for a further 50 years after the handover. But Chinese officials and Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa have warned that advocacy for the independence of Tibet and Taiwan would not be tolerated. Wang, 29, a student leader of the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, was released on medical parole and sent into exile last April. Wei, imprisoned for his role in the 1978-79 Democracy Wall movement, was also released on medical parole and sent into exile in the United States five months before Wang's release. A dozen Chinese Communist supporters hurled insults at the protesters when they began marching from Victoria Park. 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 |