Weekly Political and Scientific Newspaper - A Eastern Turkistan News Agency Publication

1. Chinese government portrays Uighurs as “terrorists”

The September 11th events reshaped our world completely. Russia, China, countries neighboring with Afghanistan such as Pakistan and Central Asian states are seeking benefits from this tragic event. Although China expressed its solidarity with USA after the September 11th events, it was not sincere at all. However, the latest events after the attack, such as the US lead war against the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, its military presence in Pakistan and the Central Asian states and, in particular, the improvement of relations of Russia with USA, start worrying Chinese. Suddenly the long cherished “Shanghai Cooperation Organization” and especially recently signed “Sino-Russian Friendship Cooperation Agreements” seized to have any power. All efforts to increase China’s influence in Central Asia and to unite its might with Russia against USA have evaporated over night.
In this situation, China turned its efforts to regain its diplomatic losses on Uighurs. Once again, to justify its actions against Uighurs in East Turkistan, China started labeling Uighurs as “terrorists”. For example, just in one week after the September attacks in USA, the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhu Bang Zau, during the press-conference, tried to bargain with USA by saying “America should understand and accept our policies in Xinjiang directed against Muslim separatists”. After this, within a period of two months, various officials as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tang Jua Shuan, the spokesman of the Ministry, Zhu Bang Zau, have stated the government’s position specifically on Uighurs in East Turkistan. At first, they referred to Uighur people as “Muslim separatists”, but then openly used the terms “Uighur separatists” and “Uighur terrorists”. And finally, during the 52nd session of annual UN summit in New York on November 11th, the minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Tang Jua Shuan, said the following regarding to Uighurs and East Turkistan: “Uighurs are terrorists, they have been trained in Afghanistan and our struggle against Uighurs is the part of the campaign against the international terrorism”.
Again on November 14th, the press secretary of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Sun Yishi, during the press conference in Beijing, accused Uighur organizations both in East Turkistan and outside in “terrorists activities” in the last 10 years.
On November 16th, the Chinese-edited “NEWS” periodical in Beijing published an article “Xinjiang: the resurrection of terrorists in East Turkistan”. In this article, absurd statements such as “there is no history of East Turkistan, Uighurs are of the same origin as we rather than Turks, Xinjiang was always a part of China, and all separatists in Xinjiang are terrorist” were made.

©1997-2001 ETIC. 22 November, 2001 Designed By A. Karakash