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CHINA’S UIGHURS AND A GENOCIDE
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- China’s Uighurs: There are about 1.2 crore Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). They speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally & ethnically close to Central Asian nations. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
- Hans come in: In recent decades, there's been a mass migration of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat.
- Physically: Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country's biggest region. Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning - in theory - it has some powers of self-governance. But in practice, both face major restrictions by the central government. It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world's cotton. It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.
- The incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949 was labelled "Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang"
- It was the forced takeover of the Republic of China's Xinjiang Province by the Chinese Communists and the People's Liberation Army (during last phase of the Chinese Civil War)
- In 1949, the PLA drove into the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province and pressed toward Xinjiang. At the time, Xinjiang was ruled by a coalition government based in Dihua (now Urumqi), which comprised Chinese Nationalists (KMT) and representatives from the former Second East Turkestan Republic (ETR), a regime founded with the support of the Soviet Union
- The Chinese Communists reached separate agreements with the political leadership of the KMT and the Three Districts, and persuaded them to surrender
- In December, China's new government incorporated the ETR military into the PLA, which marked the end of the independence of Xinjiang's second East Turkestan Republic
- The PLA entered Xinjiang in October 1949 and controlled most of the vast region by the spring of 1950
- On 19 August 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communists, telegraphed the leaders of the Three Districts, inviting them to attend the Inaugural Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to be held in Beijing. On 22 August, five leaders of the Three Districts, Ehmetjan Qasimi, Abdulkerim Abbas, Ishaq Beg Munonov, Luo Zhi and Dalelkhan Sugirbayev boarded a Soviet plane in Almaty and were headed for Chita but perished in a plane accident near Lake Baikal. On 3 September, three other former ETR leaders including Saifuddin Azizi arrived in Beijing by train.
- History: In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but the region was brought under the complete control of mainland China's new Communist government in 1949.
- Allegations against China: The US has accused China of committing genocide against the Uighurs. According to international convention, genocide is the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
- It follows reports that, as well as interning Uighurs in camps, China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uighur women to suppress the population and separating Uighur children from their families.
- On his final day in office under the Trump administration, US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said: "I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state."
- A UN human rights committee in 2018 said it had credible reports the Chinese were holding up to a million people in "counter-extremism centres" in Xinjiang. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute found evidence in 2020 of more than 380 of these "re-education camps" in Xinjiang, an increase of 40% on previous estimates.
- Prisons: Earlier, leaked documents known as the China Cables made clear that the camps were intended to be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline and punishments. People who have managed to escape the camps have reported physical, mental and sexual torture - women have spoken of mass rape and sexual abuse. In December 2020 research seen by the BBC showed up to half a million people were being forced to pick cotton. There is evidence new factories have been built within the grounds of the re-education camps.
- What was the build-up to the crackdown: Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, flaring into violence on occasion. In 2009 some 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uighurs who want their own state. But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent. Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces. According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor peoples' behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.
- Xi cracks down: Since 2017 when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns. Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uighur culture. China has said reports it has detained Uighurs are completely untrue. It says the crackdown is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism. It insists that Uighur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uighurs. China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uighur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated".
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