At a press conference held by the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Saturday, Elijan Anayit, a spokesperson for the Information Office of the Xinjiang government, condemned the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which in September published a report titled "Documenting Xinjiang's Detention System," falsely claiming that China is persecuting ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Anayit said the claims are totally fabricated and don't hold water. He explained that from 2010 till the end of 2018, the Uygur population in Xinjiang increased by 25.04 percent, rising from 10.1715 million to 12.7184 million, whereas the Han population increased by just 2.0 percent, rising from 8.8299 million to 9.0068 million. -Former Xinjiang trainees share their training center experiences news.cgtn.com
This article takes a comprehensive and serious look at the abuse of the Uyghur Muslims at the hands of the dastardly Chinese Communists. We look at who this group of people are, and their culture, and what is going on regarding their relationship with the Chinese central government in Beijing. We also take a good hard look at how they are being used as pawns in a global wide game of geopolitical politics.
“1 million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps!” ... “Ethnic Cleansing and Cultural Genocide!” ... PBS NewsHour: Inside China's brutal persecution of Uighur Muslims - Season 2019 Episode Yikes! These emotional phrases are very effective in geopolitical arguments. Often they are used as excuses to acquire money and funding out of the United States Congress towards one or more "efforts at spreading democracy". You know, just like the (so called) "successful" pro-democracy movements in Libya, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Iran, and now Venezuela. Look at just how successful American tax-dollars are promoting democracy around the world! It's a better way to spend the money, don't you know, than rebuilding Baltimore... Right?
Why rebuild Baltimore?
So what’s the real story about the Chinese Uyghur Muslims? Let’s look at this issue in detail. Let’s go beyond exaggeration, distortion and sensationalism.
But let’s first review the propaganda.
You know. The propaganda that is directly aimed at YOU, the American reader. It’s all that propaganda to justify your Congressman throwing lavish parties, and hauling pallet-loads of “Benjamins” to far-away shadowy entities to spend as they see fit.
You know… for “democracy“.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born. Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time. This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things. -Long War Journal
The Uyghur propaganda serves a purpose.
It is to support regional CIA activities within China. Create a war where allocated funds can be easily diverted. And, in so doing, channel the allocated tax dollars back to Washington and into the pockets of the oligarchy. That is why the neocons love war so much. The war zone is all confused and it is very easy to siphon money into their wallets.
It’s an enormous racket.
I recall, as probably most people don’t, that the Central Intelligence Agency, with assistance from some of China’s neighbors, put $30 million into the destabilization of Tibet and basically financed and trained the participants in the Khampa rebellion and ultimately sought to remove the Dalai Lama from Tibet–which they did. They escorted him out of Tibet to Dharamsala. There were similar efforts made with the Uyghurs during the Cold War that never really got off the ground. In both cases you had religion waved as a banner in support of a desire for independence or autonomy which, of course, is anathema to any state. - US Ambassador Chas. H. Freeman.
Anti-China propaganda focusing on the Uyghur Muslims
The propaganda can get pretty ridiculous, and it often is…
Seriously?
Role Reversal: Washington is reportedly sending white men to sleep in the same beds as black Detroit women while their husbands are serving time in prison. It's a racist racket against women of color.
Yes. It is that ridiculous.
You’ve got to be shitting me. That people actually believe this nonsense. But there you have it. American press reporting on a statement made by…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
Yup, the United States funded propaganda mouth piece for Asia.
Radio Free Asia is a CIA front organization.
Nah, you might say. It just can’t be CIA! There must be a mistake, you argue. The CIA doesn’t get involved in these kinds of things. Right? But…
The International Broadcasting Independent Grantee Organization grant program provides funding for projects that support freedom and democracy by enhancing an understanding about America and the world to overseas audiences. Grant funding is limited to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. -United States Grants for Radio
And the connections are everywhere. All you need to do is a mere five minutes of research to connect the dots.
- International Broadcasting Independent Grantee Organizations
- Government Grants for Radio | Bizfluent
- Grants for International Non Profit Organizations – GrantWatch
The CIA and all this meddling is friggin’ everywhere. And, it’s not the only one…
"Eminent scholar Jerry Cohen likens to the situation in Xinjiang to that of Nazi Germany, where dozens of his relatives were detained, tortured and killed under a similarly totalitarian regime. The connection between the totalitarian ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and modern-day surveillance technology has resulted in a terrible degradation of human rights for the Uyghur people." - China’s Escalating Repression of the Uyghurs
My goodness!
Who is this “expert” who is equating China with Nazi’s? Well, a quick search on the internet identifies him as a “venerable expert on Chinese affairs“. Where he is found working and writing for the American publication “National Review”. (A Conservative “Hawkish” Neocon Publication.) He is considered to be “a skilled and talented advocate for world-wide “democracy””.
National Review is an American semi-monthly editorial magazine focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. It is currently edited by Rich Lowry. Since its founding, the magazine has played a significant role in the development of conservatism in the United States, helping to define its boundaries and promoting fusionism while establishing itself as a leading voice on the American right. -Wikipedia
This organization is a true war-mongering alliance, that uses the cover of “American Conservatism”, for substantive reputation.
But, you know, this no longer flies true in the latest iteration of American Conservative thought. Since 2016, the American conservative movement has had a major shake-up. Americans are sick and tired of Democrats calling themselves Conservatives, just because they love to fight proxy wars.
Whats more, this organization knows it.
- Neocon Is An Outdated Term | National Review
- Neocons at National Review: ‘Stop Calling Us Neocons!’
- Deep State: Trump’s ‘Neocon’ Equivalent | National Review
- The Great Neocon-Cuck War of 2019
- Among the Neocons | The American Conservative
"Their unceasing agitation against a compromise peace in the Middle East, coupled with their lobbying for America to endorse to Sharon’s ongoing humiliation of the Palestinians, has managed to make America hated in parts of the world where it used to be admired, even loved. Some of that hatred has been turned—should we be surprised?—into anti-American terror. Now, as it prepares to occupy Iraq against the will of much of the Middle East while facing a rejuvenated al-Qaeda, America has fewer real friends and more ill-wishers than ever in its history. This is in considerable part the “accomplishment” of America’s neocons..." - Among the Neocons
So what is going on, eh?
So we know [1] that a major United States publication that supports Conservative Neocon ambitions; global proxy wars, is writing the anti-China Uyghur Muslim narratives.
We also know that they [2] have an “expert” that writes about the Muslims in China.
Further, [3] by “connecting the dots”, we know that the CIA, via the NED and NID funds this effort; the author and the publication.
Finally, we can see [4] the target is CIA directed to use the Uyghur Muslims as pawns in America-instigated revolution within China.
And as such…
[5] American tax-payer funds can be rerouted to other destinations. Destinations where the neocon sponsors can extract enormous profits.
Who is this “expert” who reports these issues?
"Eminent scholar Jerry Cohen likens to the situation in Xinjiang to that of Nazi Germany..."
OK. Fine. We have a name rather than “sources”, or “it was reported”… We have someone that we can investigate.
Then, as such an “expert“, he should have lived in China for a few years, and should travel back and forth between China and the United States quite often. Right? He’s an expert… right? He has first-hand information that has affected his thoughts, emotions and attitudes. He must have tons of experience to ignite the (apparent) rage inside of him to write such a flood of articles about the Muslims in China. Right?
Nope.
Jerome A. Cohen has never lived in China.
NEVER.
N-E-V-E-R.
Never, as in doesn’t even speak Chinese. Never, as in doesn’t know what a Chinese license plate looks like. Never, as in has zero Chinese friends. Never, as in does not know the difference between Tianjin, and Dangguang.
Never.
Never, as in “knows Jack-shit.”
Never.
Yet… Yet, here he is instructing and “educating” Americans on how to think, and getting their emotions all riled up. Eh.
In fact, according to his LinkedIN profile, he’s lived in Washington D.C. most of his pampered life. He’s a bonified member of the “Deep State”. And is a card-carrying member of the CIA regime-changing apparatus, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), as well as the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
He’s CIA you all.
Out of the spotlight, active U.S. interference takes place through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The NED is bankrolling Hong Kong "pro-democracy" and anti-Beijing groups such as the Solidarity Center (SC), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor to the tune of millions. In 2018 alone the NED reports giving 155,000 U.S. dollars to the SC and 200,000 U.S. dollars to the NDI. The NED is a sham NGO founded in 1983 to replace functions previously carried out by the CIA. Philip Agee, a former CIA agent and author of "Inside the Company: CIA Diary" details how the CIA would set up front organizations and funnel money into destabilization campaigns. After destabilization would come the coup-d'etat. The Brazilian 1964 coup that overthrew President João Goulart and the Chilean 1973 coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende were both backed by the CIA. In both instances, left-wing parties were deposed and replaced by right-wing military forces compliant to U.S. interests. - Why is the National Endowment for Democracy fueling Hong Kong protests?
In particular, he (used to be) a member of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. Which enjoys full generous (taxpayer) funding out of the United States to institute regime changing efforts inside of China.
From 1984 to 1990 the NED received $15–18 million of congressional funding annually, and $25–$30m from 1991 to 1993. At the time the funding came via the United States Information Agency (USIA). - National Endowment for Democracy - Wikipedia
That is CIA meddling to a “T”.
Since the start of the Iraq War, the United States has sent tens of billions of dollars in assistance to Iraq, a large portion of which has been squandered or simply disappeared. Government auditors say some $61 billion was spent on reconstruction projects in Iraq from 2003 to 2012. At least 10 percent of the money cannot be accounted for. Some 15 percent of the money spent, or roughly $8 billion, was wasted. -Fiscal Times
How about the Slave message inside Christmas cards?
All progiganda. Check this out. From here.
China on Monday denied accusations of forced labor at a Shanghai prison after media reported that a British girl found a message hidden in a Christmas card saying it had been packed by inmates, a piece of news later proved to be a “prank”.
Yeah. Sure.
“A prank”
The allegations came to light when The Sunday Times reported that six-year-old Florence Widdicombe from Tooting, south London, discovered a message inside of a box of charity Christmas cards bought from British grocery giant Tesco, reading…
“We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qingpu Prison China. Forced to work against our will. Please help us, notify human rights organization and contact Mr. Peter Humphrey.”
The news suddenly captured worldwide attention, while many doubt its authenticity.
Coincidently, or maybe not, Peter Humphrey mentioned in the message is exactly the writer of the article, a British former journalist who was imprisoned in Qingpu Prison in Shanghai for over two years for trafficking personal data.
In his report, Humphrey said he contacted several members of ex-prisoners in Qingpu Prison, who confirmed they had been packing Christmas cards for Tesco for at least two years, and were “being forced into mundane manual assembly or packaging tasks” for other Western companies. However, he didn’t mention the identity of these prisoners and the names of those Western companies.
On Monday, Zhejiang Yunguang Printing, the Chinese firm that supplies greeting cards to Tesco, slammed these “unfounded claims”, adding that they don’t have labor from Shanghai Qingpu Prison, according to Global Times.
This relationsip would be well documented and easy to prove,
China’s Foreign Ministry also dismissed the allegations, saying it was “just a drama choreographed by Mr. Peter Humphrey”. “After verifying with relevant departments, we know for sure that there is no forced labor of foreign prisoners in Qingpu Prison in Shanghai,” noted Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
The news has also received wide attention from netizens, many of whom questioned whether it was credible.
“There is so much misinformation, it’s almost impossible to say with any certainty where it came from,” reads a Facebook user’s comment.
This is not the first time that Humphrey has popped out into the spotlight with a headline or two.
In 2018, after he confessed to charges he illegally bought and sold the personal information to clients, he asked Britain’s media regulator to revoke the broadcast license of China’s state television for helping to stage his allegedly forced confession and subsequent jailing in China.
In response to Humphrey’s accusations, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng said in a regular press briefing in November 2018 that China hoped Britain can support and facilitate the reporting work of international media in the UK. “China’s judicial departments handle cases according to the law, and safeguard the legal rights and interests of foreigners in China,” he added.
Fake stories concerning China stitched up by Western media is not unusual over these last few years.
Last month (November 2019), a piece of seemingly explosive news was reported by Australian media about a self-proclaimed spy Wang Liqiang who sought asylum in Australia, claiming to have reportedly given authorities information about operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, which incurred heavy criticism from Australian media and politicians that China has interfered in the country’s politics and universities.
Ironically, Wang later confessed to fraud, making the story into a farce that put Australian media to shame.
Similarly, it is not surprising that Humphrey came back to the spotlight after one year of silence with a fake story, to which spokesman Geng replied by providing him with the advice that “if you want to grab more eyeballs, at least come up with some new tricks.”
Here’s another article.
It’s amateur-hour on the pile-up against China.
I used to post on FreeRepublic. Then they sold out, just like Matt Drudge did. Now FR is something else. It is a mouth-piece for the oligarchy.
The CIA regime changing apparatus.
People! A recitation of the “talking points” of any CIA directive and regime changing apparatus should always be suspect.
No matter how much of a patriotic person you might be, the CIA, and the NED / NID have a terrible track-record of regime change. In almost every case resulting in death, bloodshed, and the implementation of an American-friendly dictatorship at the loss of freedom for the nations so targeted. As well as a mysterious loss of the allocated billions of dollars that was their charge.
Here’s some articles in case you don’t know what I am talking about…
- United States involvement in regime change – Wikipedia
- Regime Change Failure (So Far) in Venezuela
- Bay of Pigs: The CIA’s unlearned lesson in failed regime…
- The U.S. tried to change other countries’ governments 72…
- THE MAKING OF MONSTERS: CHILE, 1973. A Case Study in …
- DataSpace: THE CIA AND REGIME CHANGE: LESSONS FROM …
- CIA Intervention in Venezuela – LewRockwell
- Regime Change Fails: Is A Military Coup or Invasion of …
- Regime Change: The Legacy – The American Prospect
- CIA to blame Obama for regime change failure in Syria …
- US Army School Publishes Manual for Regime Change …
- Power to the People: US Regime Change Ambitions in Iran …
- Regime Change Doesn’t Work | Boston Review
- The Dishonest Career of the Remarkable Srđa Popović, CIA …
America is currently fighting 8 simultaneous wars today. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years. That is obscene.
- World War II American involvement was three years.
- World War I was four years.
- The American Civil War was four years.
- The first gulf war was one year.
What’s with all the wars?
Why are Americans dying in far-away third-world nations? Why are we paying for it? Why is America trying to fight everyone?
Why are we the policeman for the world, and what’s all this nonsense about spreading “democracy“…?
Why are we flying pallet loads of untraceable cash to the regions and not using (observable) bank transfers? Why are the billions of dollars vanishing? Why is it all being done so surreptitiously?
American money began to disappear almost as soon as the Iraq War began. In 2004, $19 billion in reconstruction assistance was provided to Iraq. From 2005 to 2009, $26 billion was sent to Iraq for the same purpose. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report published in 2009 said much of this money was lost to waste, fraud and abuse. Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., then Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), testified to Congress in 2009 that 15 to 20 percent of this money was wasted. -Fiscal Times
On top of that, consider that the Uyghurs in Xinjiang are not living in a third world shit hole. The “proxy-war model for personal financial gain” can have dire consequences!
Picking a fight with nuclear-armed, merit-ruled China is like dancing on top of a fuel-soaked mattress while sparking the flint on a lighter. It’s idiotic!
Meanwhile, Detroit, San Francisco and Baltimore are absolute "shit holes". There is something seriously wrong when Americans are willing to throw money away on nonsensical regime change, while ignoring the festering rot in their very own backyard.
Really! What is America today?
It is crazy and absolutely NOT sustainable.
What does China think about all this?
China is fully aware of what is going on.
Though the American (manipulated) public might not be. As such, they are proceeding cautiously with a smile on their faces. We should not ever be under the illusion that they are oblivious to the Neocon interest in regime change within China.
They are aware, and they are ALERT.
- China refutes U.S. criticism over Xinjiang at the UN
- Truth prevails on China’s Xinjiang policy
- Tackling terrorism on China’s western frontier
An Overview of Xinjiang, China.
Most Americans haven’t a clue about China. Many think that it is a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. I am not at all kidding.
I remember talking to a woman at the checkout line in Conway, Arkansas. We ended up talking about China and how different it was. She sincerely thought that it was a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee.
Arkansas…
And when you talk about a subject specific to China, they act like a radical progressive democrat and shout loudly back at you. Often it is a canned phrase that they acquired off FOX news, or CNN. You know what I mean.
Canned phrases that can be repeated without thinking…
- Communist!
- Concentration camps.
- Mind-control.
- Religious prosecution!
Pretty amazing.
Knowledge Test
So one of the first things that I do when I end up getting sucked into a subject like this, is to pull out a map and ask the person which whom the discussion revolves, to point out where Xinjiang is.
If they are unable to locate it on a map, then I know that they are just a member of the mindless, manipulated American (and British) public.
You try. Give it a spin.
Where is Xinjiang on this map? Can you find it?
So, do you know where Xinjiang is? Point to it.
When I have run this little exercise… using a printer, and not allowing anyone to cheat using the internet, I am always surprised by the ignorance. (In fact, I actually carried up a folded printout in my backpack, for a spell.)
Initially, the person shrugs it off.
They won’t do it, and are insulted that you are trying to get them to show how ignorant they are. They do not like to be shown to be a fool. No one does, and so I cannot blame them. Can you?
I can't blame them. Most Americans can't point out Nebraska on a map, either.
It’s human nature, you know. We all want to think that we are brighter, smarter, and more intelligent than other people. So when we get into arguments, and it is pointed out that we are ignorant and manipulated, we resent it, and revolt against it.
OK.
Well, here is where Xinjiang is…
BRAWNDO’S GOT WHAT PLANTS CRAVE! Brawndo’s got electrolytes. And that’s what plants crave. They crave electrolytes. Which plants crave. they crave electrolytes. Which is what Brawndo has. And that’s why plants crave Brawndo. Not water, like from the toilet. Don’t try to make sense of it, because you can’t. Just take note of the fact that Brawndo has electrolytes and does not come out of the toilet, I guess.
Brawndo’s got electrolytes. And that’s what plants crave.
What is Xinjiang like.
First of all, the media will never show the peaceful, prosperous parts of Xinjiang. Heck. They won’t show much of anything. It is extremely important for those in power to keep Americans ignorant of life outside of America.
An April 2005 audit concluded that CPA managers of [reconstruction] funds distributed in the South-Central region of Iraq could not account for more than $96.6 million in cash and receipts. An October 2005 audit found that South-Central personnel could not account for more than $20.5 million in Rapid Regional Response Program funds and made $2.6 million in excessive payments.” Waste was not limited to mismanagement, however. Sometimes it was criminal, the report found. “In late 2005, several U.S. citizens were criminally charged with respect to the handling of these funds—and have since pled guilty. In February 2007, five more were indicted, of whom four were convicted and one pled guilty,” CRS reported. -Fiscal Times
Just like the media used an American video of an American rifle range to narrate a lie. For they wanted to convince the American population about “violent retribution on the Kurds when Americans pulled out“.
American media is just one lie after the other. It’s all manipulation propaganda. Take heed.
So this is the kind of images that the media uses when discussing the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang…
What they omit is that everyone in China has their DNA collected. I have my DNA collected in China, and I’m not even a citizen. Such selective reporting, and then presented with a negative spin is common in Western reporting of the Uyghurs.
This article comes on the heels of reports that China was confiscating passports. Which was proven false, and China demanded an apology.
Now, rather than retract the narrative, they rewrote it as “difficult to obtain a passport“. Not true either. But the march of propaganda must roll. Couple that with picture of army soldiers and you have an effective propaganda onslaught.
Here’s another example…
The way it reads sounds like the Muslims are being arrested and imprisoned because of their religion. That’s not the case. They are being imprisoned because they are [1] residents of Xinjiang and [2] they have committed crimes. Crimes like theft, murder, rape, and abductions.
Criminals exist all over the world.
That’s how propaganda works. It never provides the entire full and true situation. But, rather, it provides selected reports presented in a way to arouse emotions.
You know what? This is what Xinjiang really looks like…
Yeah. This is what it is really like, you all.
And Western media won’t talk about the billions of dollars that China has invested in Xinjiang, modernizing the cities, building 21 airports, linking with region with bullet trains etc.
- China to invest $25 billion in Xinjiang roads
- China to invest $17 billion in Xinjiang projects: Xinhua
- China Approves $6 Billion Airport Expansion in Xinjiang .
- Beijing is spending its way to ‘an experiment of what is …
- China’s CNPC to invest more than $22 billion to boost …
- China investing more in resource-rich Xinjiang, Energy …
This is hardly ever reported, but when it is, it is reported in a negative way. As if investing in things, buildings, constructions and hiring people is bad, terrible and unhealthy…
- Pouring money into Xinjiang infrastructure won’t solve …
- China Invests in Region Rich in Oil, Coal and Also Strife …
Having eliminated poverty and solved basic subsistence problems, the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have now set their eyes on more prosperous lives, along with marked improvement in their standard of living. In 2008, the per-capita net income of farmers in Xinjiang was 3,503 yuan, which is 28 times more than that of 1978, and 1.2 times more than that of 2000 when the western development campaign was launched; the per-capita disposable income of urban residents reached 11,432 yuan, which is 35 times more than that of 1978, and double that of 2001. The per-capita deposited savings of urban and rural residents averaged 14 yuan in 1955, 52 yuan in 1978, 4,913 yuan in 2000, and 11,972 yuan in 2008. Per-capita consumption was 122 yuan in 1952, 181 yuan in 1978, 2,662 yuan in 2000, and 4,890 yuan in 2007. - Development and Progress in Xinjiang
Let’s compare the Chinese investment in Xinjiang with similar investments that the United States makes in America…
Uyghur High-Speed Rail in Xiajiang, China.
I’d try to compare it with the United States High Speed Rail, but I cannot. America doesn’t have high speed rail. Nor is America investing time and money to improve cultural minority enclaves. It is instead throwing money elsewhere.
Meanwhile, China is investing in Uyghur.
Ugyhur State-of-the-art Airports
I’d also like to compare the Uyghur airports with American airports, but I cannot do this either.
The latest international airport in the United States was built decades ago. At that time, people were still wearing bell-bottoms and wore afros.
Anyways, the amount of monetary investment in Xinjiang is astounding, and the Uyghur workers who are all involved in building these projects are all making a decent life for themselves and their families. The Chinese, as a traditional conservative society, believes that people need a “hand up” to improve their social mobility. That means jobs for the men, opportunities for the children and community for the women.
Thus all the new and modern airports and public works.
In 2018, the 21 airports in Xinjiang handled 33 million passengers
And there are also thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, whose recorded history goes back more than 2000 years when the ancient Silk Road linked China to Italy and Greece. In China, there are mosques that were built in the 10th century, which demonstrates the tolerance and respect for religious rights in Chinese society.
Uyghur Religious Freedom in Xinjiang
If you read the American and British media, you would think that China is terribly repressive. Squashing free thought, and religious beliefs at will. It’s not true, not even remotely true. In fact, it’s absolute and complete nonsense.
You need to understand what is actually going on.
Xinjiang is the largest autonomous region in China, located in the Northwestern zone of the country. It is also where you will find the largest population of Muslims in China. Although the Hui Muslims make up the majority of Muslims in all of China, it is the Uyghur Muslims that are the largest in number when it comes to Xinjiang.
The Uyghurs are a Turkic Ethnic Group living in East and Central Asia, specifically the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. They are a group of racially diverse people, including a variety of ethnicities ranging from Caucasians to Mongoloids. As the area with the largest concentration of Muslims in China, there is no need to worry about finding nearby mosques and prayer places in Xinjiang.
There are about 20,000 mosques in Xinjiang
Also to remember are two nuggets of information: [1] Xinjiang is a really vast region — it’s four times as large as California(!); and [2] Uyghurs make up only about 40% of Xinjiang’s population. It is the truth and is not something that all the anti-Chinese propaganda broadcasts.
Learn something for a change instead of accepting the mindless manipulations…
Since ancient times, Xinjiang has always been a region with a number of religions existing side by side. The major religions in Xinjiang today are Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Catholicism and Daoism. The Chinese government enacts a policy of freedom of religious belief, which the government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has thoroughly implemented. It protects citizens' rights of freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law, safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of religious circles, and promotes healthy and orderly development of religion. Freedom of religious belief is a basic right bestowed by the PRC Constitution on all its citizens. It is stipulated in the Constitution as follows: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities." In addition, the State Council promulgated "Regulations on Religious Affairs," which stipulates: "Citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief. No organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in any religion or citizens who do not believe in any religion. Citizens who believe in religions and those who don't shall respect each other and coexist in harmony, as shall citizens who believe in different religions." Other relevant laws and regulations have specific provisions on the protection of citizens' freedom of religious belief. The state emphasizes that all citizens are equal before the law; that the citizens have the freedom to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; that the citizens enjoy the rights of freedom of religious belief and at the same time must carry out corresponding responsibilities; that anyone who violates others' rights of freedom of religious belief shall bear the legal liability; and that both religious citizens and non-religious citizens shall bear the same legal liability for breaking the law. In Xinjiang, people of all ethnic groups fully enjoy the right of freedom in religious belief. The people's freedom to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion is protected by the law, and no state organ, public organization or individual may interfere with their choice. By the end of 2008, the autonomous region had 24,800 venues for religious activities, including mosques, churches and temples, in addition to over 29,000 clerical personnel, 91 religious organizations and two religious colleges. Since the 1980s, more than 50,000 people from Xinjiang have made pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the number of people from Xinjiang who make the pilgrimage each year has been around 2,700. By 2008, over 1,800 religious personages in Xinjiang had been elected to posts in people's congresses and committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at all levels. They have actively participated in deliberation and administration of state affairs on behalf of religious believers, and in exercising supervision over the government in respect to the implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief. The state and the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region administer religious affairs and protect the legal rights and interests of believers, religious organizations and venues for religious activities in accordance with the laws. The State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Religious Affairs." The Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region formulated and promulgated the "Regulations for the Administration of Religious Affairs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region." The government of the autonomous region formulated the "Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Religious Activity Venues in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region," "Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Clergy in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region" and "Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Religious Activities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region." These regulations further clarify that the citizens enjoy the right of freedom in religious belief, and the country protects normal religious activities, as well as the legal rights and interests of believers, religious organizations and venues for religious activities in accordance with the law; that believers, religious organizations and venues for religious activities should abide by the Constitution and related laws and regulations, and safeguard national unification, ethnic unity and social stability; that no organization or individual may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the state educational system, or in activities that harm state and public interests, as well as citizens' legal rights and interests; and that no one should use religion to interfere in the performing of administrative and judicial functions by the state. According to corresponding laws and regulations, the autonomous region protects all normal religious activities held either at venues for religious activities or in believers' own homes in accordance with customary religious practices, such as worshipping Buddha, reciting scriptures, burning incense, worshipping, praying, preaching, attending Mass, being baptized or ordained, celebrating religious festivals, observing extreme unction, and holding memorial ceremonies, which are all protected by law as the affairs of religious bodies or believers themselves and may not be interfered with. However, the autonomous region shall ban, in accordance with the law, activities that make use of religion to intervene in the performing of administrative and judicial functions of the state, as well as education, marriage or civil lawsuits. Religious affairs are developing in a normal and orderly manner in Xinjiang. Religious classics and books and magazines have been published, including the Koran, Selections from Al-Sahih Muhammad Ibn-Ismail al-Bukhari, Koran with Annotations and Selected Works of Waez, in Uyghur, Han, Kazak and Kirgiz languages, as well as the New Collection of Waez's Speeches series and the magazine China's Muslims in Uyghur and Han languages, the later with a circulation of over one million. Large numbers of mosques in Xinjiang have been designated as key cultural relics sites under the protection of the state, the autonomous region and the various counties. In 1999, the central government allocated 7.6 million yuan for the reconstruction of the Yanghang Mosque in Urumqi, the Baytulla Mosque in Yining and the Jamae Mosque in Hotan. The government has also, on several occasions, allocated special funds for the maintenance and repair of the Idkah Mosque in Kashi and Tomb of the Fragrant Imperial Concubine (Apak Hoja Mazzar), and Sulayman's Minaret in Turpan. In 2008 alone, 33 million yuan was allocated by the state for the maintenance and repair of Idkah Mosque and the Tomb of the Fragrant Imperial Concubine. Now, most people of Xinjiang's 10 major ethnic minority groups, with a total population of over 11.3 million, believe in Islam. The number of Islamic mosques has soared from 2,000 in the early days of the reform and opening-up drive to 24,300 now, and the body of clergy from 3,000 to over 28,000. Since its founding, the Xinjiang Islamic Institute gives lessons in Uyghur and other minority languages and has trained 489 Imams, Hatips or other teachers for religious schools in the autonomous region. It currently has 161 students. From 2001 to 2008, the Xinjiang Islamic School trained more than 20,000 clerics. In addition, 3,133 Talips were trained by religious personages, in Islamic schools and classes operated by Islamic associations in the various prefectures and prefecture-level cities. Among them, 1,518 have graduated and 803 taken up clerical posts. In an attempt to cultivate high-caliber clerical personnel of Islam, since 2001, the regional government has sent 47 clerics for training in colleges and universities in Egypt and Pakistan. Historically, the region witnessed many conflicts between different religions and between different sects of the same religion. In the mid-10th century, the Islamic Karahan Kingdom waged a religious war against the Buddhist kingdom of Yutian, lasting for more than 40 years. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, religious battles continued for several hundred years within Islamic circles. These wars between and within religions seriously jeopardized the unity between different religions and between different sects, as well as general social harmony and stability. Since the founding of the PRC, the implementation of the policy of freedom in religious belief and administration of religious affairs in accordance with the law have promoted peace and harmony between different religions in Xinjiang, as well as mutual respect and understanding between religious and non-religious citizens and between citizens believing in different religions. There have been no modern conflicts or clashes caused by differences in religion or religious sect. - Development and Progress in Xinjiang
The American reaction…
Hows Stuff Works is for fags. Electrolytes are what plants crave. Duh.
Types of Uyghur Muslims
Now, let’s break down the facts. There are four types of Uyghur Muslims:
- Well-educated Uyghurs who are moderate/secular Muslims
- Poor and lower middle-class Uyghurs
- Nomads
- Separatists and terrorists
And let’s talk about them one by one. OK?
Moderate/Secular Uyghurs
These are middle or upper middle-class Muslims who enjoy normal lives, have good jobs, and integrate easily with the mainstream Chinese culture. There are even popular Uyghur musicians, TV hosts, rappers (!) etc. in China.
Here are two famous Uyghur actresses — Guli Nazha and Dilraba Dilmurat.
The beauty of the Uyghur Muslims is stunning.
Uyghur kids from educated families go to schools, live normal lives and have a lot of fun on social media like Tik Tok (“Douyin” in China). Women post selfies and have followings. Many of which are wealthy Chinese elites from the East Coast.
All through China, whether it is in Xingjiang or in Dongguang, the Chinese government supports education, and harmony though peaceful pursuits. Yes, I know, I sound like a propagandist. But, it is true.
The raising of children in a happy and secure world is the goal of the Chinese government, and the last four decades has proven this to be their objective.
Most Americans have no idea that there is prosperity in Xinjiang. All that they know is that China is bad and eats dogs. China is communist and represses everyone, and the Muslims in Xinjiang want “freedom” and “democracy” most urgently.
And Brawndo is what plant’s crave. It’s got electrolytes.
Working Class Uyghurs
There are also many working class Uyghurs who may own restaurants and gift shops or work as artists and craftsmen in touristy places. Their lives aren’t bad and most of them don’t get into trouble with the government.
Like anywhere in China, the families try to be upwardly mobile. That means, in China, through achievement and scholarship. The best students are granted the ability to move to the best schools and doors of opportunity open up for them and their families.
"Although the school is 3,000 kilometers away from home, it's still worth studying here," said Dilara, a senior from Hami, who is now studying at Luhe High School in eastern Beijing's Tongzhou district. Students apply for the program and those who pass entrance exams organized by local governments are admitted to 93 inland city schools in Beijing, Shanghai and 43 other cities. So far, 80,200 students have participated. They study for free and receive a 650 yuan ($100) monthly living allowance. "It's really attractive to me that the included schools are located in developed cities like Beijing and Shanghai," said Dilara, a Uygur student who had lived with her grandmother since she was a child. "We don't have to pay any tuition and even get monthly subsidy. That's quite a relief for me and my grandma." Arriving in Beijing at the age of 14, Dilara initially was bothered by homesickness and the challenge of communicating." I felt ashamed to communicate with teachers here because of my poor Mandarin," she said. The school provides one year of training to help the Xinjiang students improve their language skills and offers psychological advice before they start their high school curriculum. Early on, Dilara turned to Ayturan, a teacher from Ili who joined the students at the Beijing school, but she soon adapted and made friends with local students. Sometimes she and other students from Xinjiang are invited home by local students, especially during winter vacations, when most of them would rather stay at school than take the 30-hour train ride back home. Dilara recalled a recent visit to the home of her classmate Cui Xi. "His mother cooked mutton chops for us, which is exactly what I missed so much, and his father encouraged me, just like my own father does," she recalled. Cui Xi said daily life became more fun after the Xinjiang students joined the class. "We celebrate Eid al-Adha, the traditional festival, usually celebrated by the Uygur in September, a fancy day filled with the aroma of roast lamb and the ecstasy of carnival," Cui said. Now an 18-year-old senior, Dilara plans to further her education at Beijing International Studies University. "I always hoped to study tourism and promote my hometown to the world one day," she said. Li Tongshu, director of students at Luhe, said the success of the graduates over the past 16 years gives her confidence that Dilara's dream-and the dreams of the other students-will come true. "Nearly 1,400 Xinjiang graduates have been admitted by universities at home and abroad, and among those, 800 have devoted themselves to further building their hometowns," Li proudly said. -China Daily
Really Poor Uyghurs
Then there are really poor Uyghurs who live in slums.
Like anywhere else in the world, these are prime targets for recruitment by jihadists. Many of these Uyghur kids work on the streets and shine shoes or help their families with menial jobs like taking care of donkeys or other animals.
When the Chinese government mandates that these children go to school, the Western media scream bloody murder…
- Han Teachers in Xinjiang: Save Uyghur Children!
- Uyghurs Are Forced to Denounce Their Faith to Survive
- March Of The Uyghurs | PopularResistance.Org
What hypocrisy!
If these Uyghurs come to the US, the children will be forced to attend schools as well. In fact, in America the parents would be arrested if they tried to home-school their children.
That’s a fact, Jack!
- Homeschool Mom Arrested, Children Seized by CPS
- Home-Schooling Parent In Worcester Was Arrested
- Parents Arrested for Failing to Register Their Homeschool
- Parents Arrested For Not Teaching Their Home-schooled …
- Homeschoolers Arrested in New York: Slavery Returns to …
- Mom says she was arrested for homeschooling | wgrz.com
- Buffalo, NY Mother Arrested For Homeschooling Her Kids
- Single mother arrested, kids taken after she began …
- BREAKING: Police Seize 10 Children From Homeschool …
Here is a school that the “evil Communists” forces the Uyghur kids to attend:
The state is committed to the cultivation of high-caliber professionals from minority backgrounds, sending promising students for overseas studies and through programs such as Specialized Training for Xinjiang Minority Sci-Tech Personnel and the High-Level Minority Talents Program. To develop education for ethnic minorities, it encourages the use of minority languages in classroom teaching. For ethnic groups with their own written languages in Xinjiang, school education is conducted in their own languages. Over the years, special state funds have been earmarked for the compilation and printing of textbooks in Uyghur, Kazak, Mongolian, Xibe and Kirgiz languages, satisfying the needs of minority students for textbooks of major courses. In Xinjiang, test papers for the annual national college entrance examinations are printed in Uyghur, Han, Kazak and Mongolian languages. - Development and Progress in Xinjiang
Some of these kids don’t even speak Chinese, which greatly limits their abilities to find jobs later on as adults. So when they learn Chinese in school, the western propaganda screams, “cultural genocide.”
Sheer idiocy!
The BBC admits that the “communist” (gasp!) government has spent $1.2 billion in the last five years on upgrading and building new schools for children in Xinjiang. How many billions of USD has the American government spent on schools lately?
Oh, yes, the Department of Education is funded lavishly.
But I am not talking about salaries for bureaucratic cronies of whatever administration is in power. I am talking about the brick and mortar schools. Not being funded properly, and certainly not being managed well. Or haven’t you noticed?
This should be applauded, not demonized!
Before the founding of the PRC in 1949, Xinjiang had but one college, nine secondary schools and 1,355 primary schools. Only 19.8% of school-age children attended primary school, and the overall illiteracy rate was a shocking 90%. Unprecedented changes have taken place in education in Xinjiang after 1949. At present, Xinjiang has basically made the nine-year compulsory education universal and eliminated illiteracy in the young and middle-aged population. Adult and vocational education started from scratch, and has been developing steadily. Since 2006, with the introduction of a new mechanism that guarantees rural education funding, Xinjiang's primary and secondary school students have enjoyed free compulsory education. In 2008, the government granted living subsidies to all underprivileged students who live at school and exempted urban students from tuition fees during their compulsory education period. Since 2007, the state has initiated an annual budget of 129 million yuan for the education of 51,000 very poor university students and 95,000 secondary and higher vocational school students, 70% of whom come from ethnic minorities. In 2008, the Xinjiang autonomous region government invested a total of 18.77 billion yuan in the region's education system, representing a year-on-year increase of 32.3%. Statistics from that year show that Xinjiang had 4,159 primary schools with 2,012,000 students, and a 99.6% enrollment rate for school-age children. There were 1,973 secondary schools with 1,722,000 students, and 32 institutions of higher learning with 241,000 undergraduate and 10,300 graduate students in total. - Development and Progress in Xinjiang
Nomadic Uighurs
Then there are Uyghurs who are herders and nomads in the vast Xinjiang region.
The Changing World of the Yugur Nomads. Chinese scholars say both the Uighurs and the Yugurs (sometimes called the Yellow Uighurs) are descendants of an ethnic group called the Huihu, a Turkic-speaking nomadic people who had an empire in the eighth to ninth centuries on the steppes of present-day Mongolia. Western scholars use the term Uighur or Uyghur to describe that earlier group. -New York Times
Although it seems romantic, their lives are not compatible with modern days. Most of them are stuck in extreme poverty and their kids also grow up completely illiterate. Sometimes the Chinese government relocates tens of thousands of these people into the cities and gives them jobs, free housing, health care etc.
Of course, US media will spin this as “ethnic cleansing.” (The government has helped millions of Chinese people in other areas get out of extreme poverty by similar relocation projects as well).
Relocation of nomads into cities = “Ethnic Cleansing”.
Many of these nomads appreciate the new life: “With central heating, gas, running water, Internet and cable TV, we no longer need to worry about things that troubled us in the past.”
Sometimes, if the parents don’t want to give up their nomadic lives, the government may move the children to boarding schools, where they get free lodging, meals and education.
The primary concern of the government is that unless the nomadic Uyghurs are educated, they will be stuck within a terrible cycle of poverty. And poverty breeds crime and social unrest.
Separatists and Terrorists
What is not mentioned in the mainstream media is that the West has been stroking separatism in Xinjiang since the 1950s!
Addressing the National Press Club in Australia's capital Canberra on Tuesday, the chairwoman of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) lied again, right to the reporters' faces. Kadeer accused Chinese authorities of removing Uyghur-language lessons from schools and forcing the Uighurs to learn Chinese. "I think the Chinese government should stop its invasive policy of single-language (Chinese) education and allow students and their parents to choose whatever language they aspire to learn," she said through an interpreter. Interestingly though, Kadeer made her remarks in Uyghur, the language she would not have been able to speak should the Chinese government have deprived her of her right to learn it. China, Kadeer said, has adopted "biased policies towards ethnic minorities" in the past 60 years, exploited the Uyghurs and pushed all of them into a "state of extreme poverty." But she herself was once a "millionairess" in Xinjiang and stood as a strong testament to China's preferential policies toward ethnic minorities there. Starting from a small business in the 1980s, Kadeer worked her way up to become the richest woman in Xinjiang before she broke Chinese law and was sentenced to jail. Still, during her appearance at the press club, Kadeer continued to tell lies in a vain attempt to cover the bare facts and her separatist intentions. Throughout her "speech," Kadeer called China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region "East Turkistan," and publicly proclaimed that Xinjiang was an "independent country" before 1949 and that Chinese troops "invaded" and "annexed" the region. Books compiled by Western historians never said Xinjiang was an independent country before 1949, not to mention that there was no such ridiculous record of it in Chinese history. - Rebiya Kadeer lies again
When the Chinese communists won in 1949 (by defeating US-supported faction, which went on to establish Taiwan), the US started arming/funding separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang.
The US brought in a lot of these extremists into Germany in the 1970s and helped them foment a movement for “East Turkestan.”
- ‘East Turkistan’ terrorist forces – True Xinjian
- 轻松调频 CRI EZfm,from Beijing for China
- China firmly opposes defamation on de-extremism efforts
Currently, the so-called “World Uyghur Congress” (WUC) is funded and glorified by the US government through NGOs such as National Endowment of Democracy (NED) — which also played a major role in the Tiananmen Square clashes in 1989 (see this article).
Shortly after the riot, Beijing targeted Rebiya Kadeer, a Uygur woman who flew to the United States on medical parole in 2005 and is president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), as the plotter and instigator of the violence. The separatist group ETIM is driving the hatred and fueling violence among Han and Uygur ethnic groups, Prof. Gunaratna said. - Xinjiang Riot Hits Regional Anti-terror Nerve
By the way, the story of “1 million Muslims in concentration camps” (sometimes it’s 2 or 3 million!) comes from testimonies of WUC members.
However, to the dismay of propagandists, no Muslim country is buying the “concentration camps” narrative. They are ALL on the side of China.
In 2005, Rebiya fled to the US after being released on bail for medical treatment and now lives in Fairfax, Virginia, south of Washington DC. Before going abroad, she had repeatedly promised the Chinese government that she would never participate in any activity that might jeopardize national security. Once she arrived in the US however, she has been committed to "Xinjiang independence" activities. In the same year, she founded the US-based International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation (IUHRDF). In 2006, she became president of the Uyghur American Association (UAA) and was elected as president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) at its Second General Assembly in the same year. As soon as Rebiya arrived in the US, the "renowned" National Endowment for Democracy (NED) came to visit her, expressing a willingness to offer financial support. The sponsor behind the foundation is the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It has been disclosed that the NED annually grants 200,000 USD to the UAA. In 2007, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) organizations, including the WUC and IUHRDF led by Rebiya, received a total of 520,000 USD of financial support from the NED. In addition, some anti-China US congressmen have become guests of honor for Rebiya, and frequently invited her to deliver speeches at the so-called "Congressional Human Rights Caucus Meeting." Even former president George W. Bush met with Rebiya twice in 2007 and 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympics, calling her a freedom warrior. Members of the CIA often disguised as reporters and non-government organization (NGO) volunteers expressed their concerns to her, keeping close touch with her on the issue of ETIM prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Since the beginning of 2009, the WUC had prepared for its third General Assembly, which also received support from American congressmen and the NED. Rebiya once said they would plan some penetration and sabotage activities at the third General Assembly targeting the grand celebration for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China; and formulate a plan of "three phases for Xinjiang independence in 50 years." The WUC website impressively showed that the WUC Third General Assembly was unexpectedly held in the South Congressional Meeting Room with the participation of nearly 10 US congressmen. Most of these congressmen are veteran anti-China politicians. On the second day following the July 5 incident, Rebiya made a speech at a press conference held at the National Press Club, saying that the Chinese government's accusations were "completely false." However, the club is an institution under the US Department of State. Some US-based media have also become a "megaphone" for Rebiya. On June 1, US-based WPFW Pacifica radio interviewed Rebiya, in which she even claimed that historically, Tibet and Xinjiang were not part of China, and stated that "repression, imprisonment, and executions" in Xinjiang "had actually increased dramatically since 9/11." She claimed that the best way to make the outside world understand the situation in Xijiang was to inform foreign officials, especially those of the US, "Because they had always been very concerned with the human rights situation in China. The Uyghur people always have this strong faith in the United States." The New York Times disclosed on April 23 that Rebiya had said, "Politicians and human rights organizations from all over the world were active on behalf of Tibet. The conditions in the Uyghur nation were much the same. But interest from abroad in the two...could not have been more dissimilar." Rebiya also tried to smear China by writing articles for the Washington Post, attempting to gain sympathy from the West by means of the so-called pursuit of democracy and human rights. - Rebiya Kadeer's funding sources
Turkey is the closest to Uyghurs, who are of Turkic origin. Turkish leader Erdogan was in China few days ago and said that the Uyghur re-education centers won’t affect China-Turkey relations.
Indonesia — the largest Muslim country in the world —has also said that it understands China’s predicament of dealing with separatists.
Similarly Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and even Saudi Arabia have dismissed the sensational stories. Many diplomats and reporters have visited these camps and have come out reassured.
One more historical perspective: After the Mujahideen war in Afghanistan ended in 1989, many of those fighters went to Central Asia. And the disease of Wahhabism spread to Xinjiang as well.
From 2009 to 2015, there was a significant number of terrorist attacks by the Uyghur jihadists (here’s an example). That’s when China decided to really crack down.
During the peak of the Syrian war, about 18,000 radicalized Uyghur Muslims went to Syria and joined ISIS to fight Assad.
How China deals with the terrorists…
These videos are typical.
The future for Xinjiang.
In the 1980’s, when China first opened up to the West, the two points of entry were Taiwan and Hong Kong. Of that, Hong Kong was the primary entry point to the Chinese resources and market. Thus, from the 1980’s to today, Hong Kong grew exponentially. It went from a small, forgotten, British back-water colony to the major financial and banking center that it is today.
You can attribute it’s rise to the role that it had as the entry port for trade with the mainland.
In a like way, the Chinese government is planning a similar role for their “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). Those people who now live in Xinjiang are completely poised to become the next generation super-wealthy of China. It will benefit the local Xinjiang people, the neighboring nations, and the Chinese nation as whole.
To this end, the existing global structure is being bypassed, and they do not like that
Thus, the future of Xinjiang also has a lot of economic implications.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has 1000s of freight trains and trucks carrying goods between China and Europe every year; and most of these trains and trucks go through Xinjiang. There are also many oil/gas pipelines from Central Asia that go through Xinjiang to power China’s industrial economy.
The Uyghur people are expected to become “Dubai Wealthy” in the next few decades. Provided of course, that the United States stands aside and let’s them live in peace and prosperity.
An unstable Xinjiang will wreak havoc on the Chinese economy.
The Chinese government is trying to help the poor people and fight the jihadists at the same time.
The US really needs to fix its foreign policy, which is now based on chaos, confrontation, wars, Machiavellian divide-and-conquer strategies, and endless propaganda. The US needs a positive approach that’s based on cooperation, friendly competition and ethical policies.
Statement that the UN supports China on Xinjiang
Belarus made a joint statement Tuesday on behalf of 54 countries in firm support of China’s counterterrorism and de-radicalization measures in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
During a discussion on human rights at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, Belarus made the statement on behalf of countries including Pakistan, Russia, Egypt, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Serbia. It praised China’s people-centered development philosophy and development achievements. The statement spoke positively of the results of counterterrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang, noting that these measures have effectively safeguarded the basic human rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. The statement said that terrorism, separatism and religious extremism have caused enormous damage to all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, which has seriously infringed upon human rights, including the right to life, health and development. “China has undertaken a series of counterterrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers,” the statement said, adding that safety and security have returned to Xinjiang now and “the fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there are safeguarded”. The statement also supported China’s commitment to openness and transparency, mentioning it has invited a number of diplomats, international organizations, officials and journalists to Xinjiang to witness the progress of the human rights cause and the outcomes of counterterrorism and de-radicalization. “What they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the (Western) media,” it wrote. The statement expressed opposition to relevant countries politicizing the human rights issue and called on them to stop baseless accusations against China. “We express our firm opposition to relevant countries’ practice of politicizing human rights issues, by naming and shaming, and publicly exerting pressures on other countries,” it wrote. “We call on relevant countries to refrain from employing unfounded charges against China based on unconfirmed information before they visit Xinjiang,” it wrote. At the meeting, more than 30 countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Cuba and Nicaragua, voiced support for China’s position and measures on human rights. The Kyrgyzstan representative said the Kyrgyzstan Republic considers Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region affairs to be purely an internal affair of China and “appreciates the efforts of the government of China to preserve the Uygur culture and religious freedom and freedom of nationalities of Xinjiang and supports the measures taken by the Chinese side to ensure Xinjiang’s security, stability and development”. “The measures taken by China to address the situation and continue the economic development in Xinjiang are fundamental for the people of China, which is supported and appreciated by the international community,” said the Cambodia representative. “We commend China’s efforts to combat terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang in accordance with the laws. We would like to reiterate our opposition to any countries to use human rights as an excuse to interfere any country’s internal affairs and attempts to put pressure in the name of human rights should be avoided,” said the representative from Myanmar. Zhang Jun, permanent representative of China to the UN, refuted the “baseless” comments on Xinjiang made by the United States and some other countries. Zhang said that the US and a few other countries made “groundless accusations” against China, which is “gross interference in China’s internal affairs and a deliberate provocation of confrontation”. “China firmly opposes and rejects it,” he said. He reiterated that Xinjiang’s preventive measures of counterterrorism and de-radicalization are based on law and consistent with the will of the people. “This is not about human rights and has nothing to do with racial discrimination,” he said. “China wants to tell the United States and other countries not to confront the international community and not to go any further on the wrong path.”
“This is not about human rights and has nothing to do with racial discrimination,” he said. “China wants to tell the United States (and other countries) NOT to confront the international community and NOT to go any further on the wrong path.”
The CIA declined to comment.
Godfree Roberts Study
Here is the complete write up on this issue by Godfree Roberts. It’s terribly long, but full of outstanding details. All credit to the author…
Many Chinese consider Uyghurs the descendants of a marooned, white imperialist army living on land that was China’s long before they arrived. Edgar Snow[1] visited Xinjiang in 1937 and reported, “Especially in the ninth century, when vast hordes of Ouigour Turks (whose great leader Seljuk had not yet been born) were summoned to the aid of the T’ang Court to suppress rebellion, Islamism entrenched itself in China. Following their success, many of the Ouigours were rewarded with titles and great estates and settled in the Northwest and in Szechuan and Yunnan. Over a period of centuries the Mohammedans stoutly resisted Chinese absorption but gradually lost their Turkish culture, adopted much that was Chinese, and became more or less submissive to Chinese law. Yet in the nineteenth century they were still powerful enough to make two great bids for power: one when Tu Wei-hsiu for a time set up a kingdom in Yunnan and proclaimed himself Sultan Suleiman; and the last, in 1864, when Mohammedans seized control of all the Northwest and even invaded Hupeh.”
Islam is neither the Uyghurs’ native religion nor their only one but, in its Wahabbi form, it has caused problems around the world, for which we can thank to two fervent Christians, Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski,[2] who considered a united Eurasia, “The only possible challenge to American hegemony.”
In 1979, months before the Soviet entry into Afghanistan, Brzezinski drafted and Carter signed a top-secret Presidential Order authorizing the CIA to train fundamentalist Muslims to wage Jihad against the Soviet Communist infidels and all unbelievers of conservative Sunni Islam and the Mujahideen terror war against Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan became the largest covert action in CIA history.[2] Brzezinski’s ‘Arc of Crisis’ strategy inflamed Muslims in Central Asia to destabilize the USSR during its economic crisis and, when Le Nouvel Observateur later asked if he had any regrets, Brzezinski snapped, “What is most important to the history of the world? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe?”
The Uyghurs had collaborated with the Japanese in WWII and Rebiya Kadeer, ‘Mother of the Uyghurs’ and a US Government client, after kissing the ground at Yasukuni Shrine, called Xinjiang’s postwar reversion to Chinese administration a ‘reconquest.’ Ms Kadeer’s connections are interesting. In the late 1990s Hasan Mahsum, founder of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, ETIM, moved its headquarters to Kabul and met with Osama bin Laden and the CIA-trained Taliban to coordinate action across Central Asia. In 1995 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then mayor of Istanbul declared, “Eastern Turkestan [Xinjiang] is not only the home of the Turkic peoples but also the cradle of Turkic history, civilization and culture. To forget that would lead to the ignorance of our own history, civilizati on and culture. The martyrs of Eastern Turkestan are our martyrs.” Under Erdogan Turkey became the transit point for international terrorists destined for Syria and Turkish airports were filled with Uyghurs traveling on Turkish passports.
Twenty years later, in 1999, the CIA’s Islam strategist, Graham E. Fuller, announced, “The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against the Russians. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power, and especially to counter the Chinese influence in Central Asia.”[3]
We will return to Mr. Fuller anon but, first, some background from F. William Engdahl, “Today the West–and especially Washington–is engaged in full-scale irregular war against the stability of China. In recent months Western media and the Washington Administration have begun to raise a hue and cry over alleged mass internment camps in China’s northwestern Xinjiang where supposedly up to one million ethnic Uyghur Chinese are being detained and submitted to various forms of ‘re-education.’ Several things about the charges are notable, not the least that all originate from Western media and ‘democracy’ NGOs like Human Rights Watch, whose record for veracity leaves something to be desired.”
Tarring China with the brush of intolerance will be hard work. The colophon of the earliest dated, printed book in existence–a ninth century Chinese translation of the Diamond Sutra–reads, ‘For universal free distribution.’ Though two-thirds of Chinese are atheists in the Western sense and one-fourth are non-religious Taoists, their Constitution guarantees freedom of worship in government-sanctioned religious organizations and their government supports seventy-four seminaries, one thousand seven hundred Tibetan monasteries, three thousand religious organizations, 85,000 religious sites and 300,000 full time Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Ancient Chinese, Taoist and Muslim clergy. The 2000 census recorded 20.3 million Muslims: 1.25 million Kazakhs, 8.4 million Uyghurs and 9.8 million Hui. Neither the Kazakh nor the Hui Muslims have caused trouble.
Mr. Fuller is on a first name basis with Uyghur leaders. Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of the Boston Marathon Tsarnaev brothers, was married to Fuller’s daughter Samantha in the 1990s and was an employee of the CIA-contracted RAND Corporation. In media interviews in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston bombing, ‘Uncle Ruslan’ gave an overdone performance condemning his two nephews while verifying the FBI’s portrayal of them. The media ignored the fact that Tsarni not only worked as a consultant for CIA fronts like RAND and USAID and as a contractor for Halliburton but even established an entity called the Congress of Chechen International Organizations which supported Islamic separatist militants in the Caucasus, using Fuller’s Maryland home as its registered address.
After deploying Islamists in Pakistan in the 2000s to disrupt Chinese infrastructure, in Myanmar to disrupt the China-Myanmar energy assets and across Sudan, Libya and Syria to choke off China’s oil and gas Fuller said, “Uyghurs are indeed in touch with Muslim groups outside Xinjiang, some of them have been radicalized into broader jihadist politics in the process, a handful were earlier involved in guerrilla or terrorist training in Afghanistan, and some are in touch with international Muslim mujahideen struggling for Muslim causes of independence worldwide.” Fuller assigned them to capitalize on the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, weaken trust in China’s government and provoke repression that Western media could condemn as ‘human rights crimes.’ Three weeks before the Games he sponsored a conference, “East Turkestan: 60 Years under Communist Chinese Rule” and the National Endowment for Democracy, NED,[4] handled PR for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) the emigré group headed by billionaire Rebiya Kadeer[5] and her husband, Sidiq Rouzi, a Voice of America employee. Their ideology[6] is familiar.
On the eve of the Olympics an attempted suicide bombing on a China Southern Airlines flight was thwarted but terrorists in Kashgar, Southern Xinjiang, killed sixteen police officers four days before the opening. The next year Uighur extremists murdered another two hundred in Urumqi but Western media refused to characterize the attacks as acts of terrorism and the violence continued:
- October 2013: ETIM attack at Tiananmen Square in Beijing killed five.
- February 2014: A knife attack at a train station in Kunming killed 30.
- April 2014: A knife and bomb attack in Urumqi killed three and wounded 79.
- May 2014: Two cars crashed into a market in Urumqi and the attackers lobbed explosives, killing 31 people.
- September 2014: Suicide bombers and clashes left 50 people dead and 50 injured.
- October 2015: A knife attack on a coalmine killed 50.
Then came the Syrian War and, on the sidelines of a May 2017 meeting between Syrian and Chinese businessmen in Beijing, Syria’s ambassador[7] to China startled reporters with a surprising number, 5000, the number of Uighurs he claimed were fighting in Syria for various jihadist groups. Many have since returned to China and 12,900 (Uyghur families insist on traveling and staying together, even in prison) have been sentenced to up to two years, mostly for illegally entering the country and are held in re-education camps. The NED is not hiding its involvement:
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY
China (Xinjiang/East Turkistan). ASIA China [Xinjiang/East Turkistan] Advocacy and Outreach for Uyghur Human Rights Project. $310,000.
To raise awareness about Uyghur human rights issues and to bring such issues to prominence globally. The grantee will research, document, and provide independent and accurate information about human rights violations affecting Uyghurs in China. It will also conduct outreach to Chinese citizens in an effort to improve the human rights conditions for Uyghurs. The grantee will organize leadership and advocacy training seminars for Uyghur youth; monitor, document, and highlight human rights violations in East Turkestan/Xinjiang; and strengthen advocacy on Uyghur issues at the United Nations and the European Parliament.
Today, NED money supports the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) which calls China’s Xinjiang Province ‘East Turkistan’ and China’s administration of Xinjiang as ‘Chinese occupation of East Turkistan,’ runs articles like, “Op-ed: A Profile of Rebiya Kadeer, Fearless Uyghur Independence Activist,” and admits that Kadeer seeks Uyghur independence from China.
Faced with an armed insurrection, most states impose martial law or a state of emergency, as Britain did in Malaya from 1945 to 1957 and the US did with the Patriot Act, but China decided–despite popular outrage–to write off its losses and play the long game.
China founded The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO),[1] a political, economic, and security alliance, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, who stopped funneling money and providing corridors for Uyghur terrorists to move into and out of China. The SCO has since expanded to include India and Pakistan and Iran has begun the accession process, making it world’s largest security pact in both area and population and the only one whose membership includes four nuclear powers.
Forming the SCO was easier than assuaging public outrage. An unheard-of lawsuit by victims’ relatives accused the government of reverse discrimination so they stepped up security and published their objectives:
- restore law and order
- prevent terrorists from inflicting more violence
- use ‘high-intensity regulation’
- contain the spread of terrorism beyond Xinjiang
- purge extremists and separatists from society.
Neighborhood community centres–labelled ‘concentration camps’ in the western press–educate rural Uyghurs about the perils of religious extremism and train them for urban jobs.
In 2013 President Xi toured Eurasia and proposed the Belt and Road Initiative for three billion people, designed to create the biggest market in the world with unparalleled development potential, and built a gas pipeline to China from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan which, like China’s other western pipelines, power lines, and rail and road networks, runs through the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Beijing then moved jobs to Xinjiang and opened vocational schools to train rural youth in literacy and job skills and swore to protect its neighbors from terrorism in exchange for their pledge to reciprocate. To create jobs in the province Xi directed investment from forty-five of China’s top companies and eighty Fortune 500 manufacturers to Urumqi. Corporate investment increased from $10 billion in 2015 to $15 billion in 2017 and infrastructure investments of $70 billion in both 2017 and 2018 lifted the annual goods shipments past 100 million tons with a goal of hourly departures to fifteen European capitals. Half a million Uyghurs have relocated from remote villages to cities and, as a reult, 600,000 Uighurs were lifted out of poverty in 2016, 312,000 in 2017 and 400,000 in 2018. The last poor Uyghurs will join the cash economy in mid-2020.
The real war is being fought in our media and an engineer encountered a classic example in the heartbreaking tale of savage destruction of historic Kashgar Old Town, which The Washington Post called, “An Ancient Culture, Bulldozed Away,” The New York Times, “To Protect an Ancient City, China Moves to Raze It,” TIME, “Tearing Down Old Kashgar: Another Blow to the Uighurs.” Professor Patrik Meyer takes up the story:
As a tourist, those headlines resonate with me, too. I wish to keep the Kashgar Old Town untouched and to be able to wander along its narrow, shaded alleys lined by adobe houses. However, if I were responsible for the living conditions and safety of its residents, as well as for the modernization of Kashgar writ large, then I would see Beijing’s transformation in a more positive light. Given the almost unprecedented access I was granted between 2010 and 2013 to conduct ethno-political research in Xinjiang and my robust background in civil engineering, I consider myself well positioned to provide a broader perspective on the issues raised by Western journalists when criticizing the KOT renewal project. A simple survey of Western media outlets shows that harsh criticism of Beijing’s renewal of the KOT is built on four central arguments: demolition of Uyghur’s historical heritage, destruction of Uyghur’s social fabric, absence of Uyghurs’ voices in the project, and the sufficient seismic performance of existing houses. Moreover, Western journalists often argue that the goal of Beijing’s works in Kashgar is to weaken, or even erase, Uyghur identity, not to improve their living conditions.
KOT’s historical value is indisputable, but it is not as significant as assumed by the Western critics. While some houses are centennial, with charismatic courtyards and beautifully decorated wooden frames, the majority are a poorly built patchwork of old and new mud and masonry walls. Hence, while the old town as whole has significant historical value, many of its houses are not historically valuable. Kashgar is one of the few Chinese cities where the old town is being partly preserved and remodeled following traditional standards. There is indeed some damage being caused to the Uyghurs’ historical heritage, but it is far less significant than the Western critics claim and it is intended to modernize Kashgar, not to “Demolish the Uyghur History” as argued by the Smithsonian. The second dominant argument, the tearing apart the Uyghur identity, is also happening, but again, not to the extent or for the purpose that it is being reported in the West. China’s fast modernization results in numerous communities being reshaped and displaced, including the one in the KOT. However, when asked for their view about Beijing’s renewal of the KOT, most of its dwellers welcome it. And for good reasons. Their houses are often very small, poorly ventilated, dusty and dark, have no toilets, and are unpractical. It is those who do not live in the old town–Uyghurs, tourist, and Western journalists–who are most critical of the renewal project. Hence, I believe that the KOT project is causing Uyghur identity change, not its destruction, as argued by the West.
As for the third argument, that the Uyghurs have no say in the project, it is again only partially correct. Their voice is indeed absent from the upper levels of the project’s decision making process. However, the majority of homeowners decide whether to stay or leave the KOT and how to proceed with the repair of their houses. They are offered three options, the first being to permanently move to a free, new apartment larger their old house. Second, they can opt to let the government tear down the old house and replace it with a new structure for free, which does not included finishing works such as flooring, windows, and decoration. During the time that this work is being done, the families can rent an apartment subsidized by the government at about $900 per year. In case the house is deemed to be structurally sound, the homeowners are given a subsidy (about US$90/m2) to upgrade the house themselves. Additional subsidies are also offered for those willing to finish the façade using traditional Uyghur style. While there might be some irregularities within this system, most homeowners affected by the renewal of the KOT have the choice to stay or leave, which the Western critics seems to ignore.
Finally, a fourth dominant argument against Beijing’s KOT project is that the old town must be seismically safe because it has survived hundreds of years without being destroyed. Again, this is only partly true. There are a number of houses that were built properly over a hundred years ago, but the majority have been either poorly built or structurally modified in the last 30-50 years, making them prone to structural damage in case of a significant seismic event. Based on my expertise in seismic performance of adobe structures and my countless visits to the KOT, I can confirm that it is not feasible to retrofit most of its houses because of their deficient structural condition.
But the destruction of KOT was small beer compared to the onslaught that began in August, 2018, at the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, then conducting its regular review of China’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Gay McDougall, an American lay member of an independent UN body, claimed that China was interning one million Muslims. The OHCHR’s official news release showed that its sole American member made the only mention of alleged re-education camps and said she was “deeply concerned” about “credible reports” alleging mass detentions of millions of Uighurs Muslim minorities in “internment camps.” AP reported that McDougall ‘did not specify a source for that information in her remarks at the hearing’ and video from the session confirms that McDougall provided no source for her claim. Though she failed to name a single source Reuters reported, “UN SAYS IT HAS CREDIBLE REPORTS THAT CHINA HOLDS A MILLION UIGHURS IN SECRET CAMPS.”
China then invited the UN, the EU and the World Muslim Congress to send inspectors to for independent investigations. Eleven muslim nations accepted while the EU and Turkey declined. The Muslim Council’s report commended China for its treatment of Muslims and one inspector, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, gave an interview to The Times of India:
“During this visit, I did not find any instances of forced labour or cultural and religious repression,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the Charge d‘affaires, Pakistan‘s Embassy in China, told the state-run Global Times on Thursday.
“The imams we met at the mosques and the students and teachers at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute told us that they enjoy freedom in practicing Islam and that the Chinese government extends support for maintenance of mosques all over Xinjiang,” said Baloch, who visited Xinjiang as part of delegation of diplomats.
“Similarly, I did not see any sign of cultural repression. The Uighur culture as demonstrated by their language, music and dance is very much part of the life of the people of Xinjiang,” she said.
Asked about the security situation in Xinjiang, which has been “beset by terrorism”, Baloch said, “We learned that the recent measures have resulted in improvement of the security situation in Xinjiang and there have been no incidents of terrorism in recent months.”
“The counter-terrorism measures being taken are multidimensional and do not simply focus on law enforcement aspects. Education, poverty alleviation and development are key to the counter-terrorism strategy of the Chinese government,” she said.
Xinjiang‘s regional government invited diplomatic envoys as well as representatives from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Kuwait following reports about detention of thousands of Uighur and other Muslims in massive education camps.
The UN‘s Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination last year said that it was alarmed by “numerous reports of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities” being detained in Xinjiang region and called for their immediate release.
Estimates about them “range from tens of thousands to upwards of a million,” it had said.
China defended the camps, saying they are re-education camps aimed at de-radicalising sections of the Uighur population from extremism and separatism.
The US and several other countries besides UN officials have expressed concern over the camps.
China has been carrying out massive crackdown on the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in Xinjiang province, where Uyghurs who formed majority in the region were restive over the increasing settlements of Han community.
Pakistan and several other Muslim countries faced criticism about their silence over China‘s crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang.
China has about 20 million Muslims who are mostly Uighurs, an ethnic group of Turkic origin, and Hui Muslims, who are of the Chinese ethnic origin. While Uighurs lived in Xinjiang, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Hui Muslims resided in Ningxia province.
A recent report in the Global Times said China passed a five-year plan to ‘sinicize Islam‘ in a bid to make it compatible with its version of socialism.
“This is China‘s important act to explore ways of governing religion in modern countries,” the report said.
Baloch said the delegation was given full and open access to the three centres that they visited in Kashgar and Hotan.
“The training program includes teaching of national common language (Chinese), law and constitution and vocational skills. The students also participate in recreational activities like sports, music and dance. We witnessed several skill classes being offered in these centres,” she said.
“During the visits to these centres, we had the opportunity to interact with both the management and the students. We observed the students to be in good physical health. The living facilities are fairly modern and comfortable with separate dormitories for men and women. They are being served halal food,” she said.
She said the Uighur language is being used in official establishments, airports, subway stations, police stations or hotels.
“Even the copies of the Koran that we saw in the mosques and the Islamic centre were translated into the Uighur language. The most visible sign of protection of Uighur culture by the government is the government-run bilingual kindergarten schools where children learn Putonghua as well as Uighur language and culture from a very young age,” she said.
A Chinese friend, Xiao Zhang, writes,
“I have a friend who just came back from Xinjiang and he has visited some of the re-education camps and talked with people there. He told me that Uighurs really received vocational education inside, not kidding, and cannot get out until completion of courses. The government in Xinjiang simply kept all the potential “trouble makers” they could find in detention based on the reports they received from various sources, among which reports from communities make up a major part. The government has known for years that poorly-educated, unemployed people are more easily radicalized. Now they take actions to ensure they won’t make trouble. This is another example of Chinese style of government behaviour, just like one-child policy.”
Another wrote,
“I have personally been to Xinjiang for around 20 days this summer. I went totally on my own. I did not sign up in any travel agencies for any travel groups. I did not drive but took the train, the bus, or the car, or the horse. From my personal experience, firstly, the Uyghurs are not the only minority in Xinjiang. I saw Mongols, Kazakhs, Hui Muslims and many other minorities. Here I mean Xinjiang is not a place that is dominated by Uyghurs, even if we don’t take the Han Chinese into consideration. It is a far more diverse place. Secondly, Uyghurs keep their different habits, traditions, language, and religions that are exotic to most Chinese. But they also face westernisation in clothing and habits just like people in other areas of China. People worry about the preservation of their cultures across China.
Interestingly, people in Urumqi were hardly dressed in a very religious way, although there were a great number of Muslims. I was told that the local government regarded some of the religious clothing as extremism, for they were not consistent with the local tradition. Maybe what they meant was that the local Muslims should not be dressed like extremists following strict religious laws, since there was no such law in China. People were mostly dressed in a quite modern look, or in their traditional clothing, yet no women will cover their face with black silk.
Thirdly, there is distrust between different ethnic groups. I have to admit that, because I feel that even people of the same ethnicity do not trust each other, let alone the distrust between ethnic groups. In Urumqi, the security check is very strict and almost everywhere. At the gate of a park in the city, I passed the checkpoint within seconds, but a Uyghur-looking man after me took much longer time to pass. Even though the security guard herself also seems to be Uyghur, she still checked the man’s ID cards and computer profiles very carefully. In many other places, I also feel the ‘privilege’ of being a Han Chinese. In Ili, where the East Turkestan Republic is located, I was told that Uyghur police officers were killed in an ATM nearby a year ago by the Uyghur terrorists with long swords. The terrorists were hoping to acquire guns from the officer. So the city restricted all activity in late night. Anyone who are out after midnight will be considered suspicious and the police can check their ID in the street or in the office. Here I want to make further explanation, for in most Chinese cities, it is totally safe to hang out at night at any time you want, and the police won’t patrol in the street checking your ID unless someone complains about noise and etc.
Surely there is racism arising in the distrust. In Urumqi, I asked why ethnic minorities were treated in an unfriendly way and they tried to tell me that it was because of the very unique situations in Xinjiang. Sounds like the discrimination is natural but I cannot judge based on what I learnt. A taxi driver told me that it was the Islam belief that makes the Uyghur not in harmony with the recent society led by the Communist Party and that the religion was toxic. I thought he was referring to Islamic extremism but in a seemingly biased way.
Fourth, I tried to learn about people’s attitudes towards the 2009 riots and got similar responses from Uyghurs and Han. They both feared the riots and tried to tell me how horrible that day was. Some Uyghurs who were Urumqi locals claimed that all those terrorists were not local to the city and tried to kill all the citizens with regardless of ethnicity which made them dreadful. In my journey, most of the Uyghurs I met were friendly farmers, some of whom were even willing to accommodate me for free. On one time, I was taking a 6-hour bus, I talked with a Uyghur guy sitting next to me. We almost talked about everything, including our hometowns, our families and so on. The guy was very talkative and friendly, leaving me a very good impression towards the Uyghur.
Lastly, I mean, I never heard of the re-education camp. So I guess this was not related to normal people’s life. The minorities I met were usually very talkative and complained to me about many things including the policies, the government, the relation between the Han and the minorities, except the camp. I think most Chinese people just want to live a peaceful life no matter in Xinjiang or outside Xinjiang. I was so lucky to travel in Xinjiang, because the scenery I spotted was so great that I would probably pay another visit in the future.
Another visitor, Vadim Mikhailaov, visited,
“Xinjiang appears to have no criminality whatsoever and the police in the streets are unarmed. The checkpoints aren’t too time consuming if you have a Chinese ID card and know the security guards from daily contact. At the checkpoints we visited, on the other hand, annoyed police or security guards struggled with the protocol on how to handle foreigners. We all drank until late and went home without the slightest issue. Our group was coming from many places in the West where stumbling out of a bar late at night can often be quite dangerous. We had to admit that you feel safe at night in Xinjiang. Completely safe. Most places just asked for our passports, took a look, and let us through, sometimes asking which country we came from. A few guards didn’t want to deal with the hassle and just told us to bypass the metal scanner and get out of their sight. As everything in China, enforcement is sometimes spotty. But those were the exceptions; discipline in the surveillance apparatus was generally quite high. We walked leisurely through the city, and while we attracted some attention, we were neither stopped, nor stared at, nor (I think) followed. As I mentioned, there are police everywhere; standing, walking, and driving. They’re not aggressive, or intimidating, or stopping people at random. They’re just there making themselves present.
One big difference between Turpan and Urumqi was that, again, most people were Uyghur. But the police were Uyghur, too. The people manning the checkpoints and the “convenience police stations,” and driving the patrol cars were all Uyghur. It’s worth emphasizing that whatever is happening in Xinjiang is not just an invasion by a foreign army hell-bent on annoying the locals. The locals are quite annoyed, indeed, but it’s their fellow tribesmen doing the grunt work. Or most of it, anyway. I must say that the Uyghur police we saw were more easy-going than the Han police we saw in Urumqi. More chill. Less zealous, you could say. At any rate, they never gave us a hard time, and we got plenty of smiles and easy treatment. Meanwhile France has soldiers, not police, patrolling the streets of Paris. Considering his post-resignation declaration about radical Islam replacing the Republic, I have to wonder what the former French Minister of the Interior, Gérard Collomb, would make of Xinjiang?
China’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan talked to local journalists:
Since the 1990s, the three evil forces – terrorism, religious extremism and separatism– have been a scourge in China’s Xinjiang and implemented a series of appalling terrorist attacks, including the incident in Urumqi on July 5, 2009. What should we do? Aside from taking strong measures, we also need to remove the soil for the three evil forces. All these measures aim to help people who were instigated by the three evil forces or influenced by extremism to come back to reason and to return to society to live a normal life. In order to achieve this purpose, China set up the training centers in accordance with China’s Constitution, the Counterterrorism Law and the Regulations of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on De-radicalization and by referring to the successful experience on counterterrorism from other countries.
The training centers in Xinjiang do not target any ethnic group or certain religion and all people there are treated equally without discrimination. There are two criteria for whether an individual should be in the centers – whether they participated in illegal activities of the three evil forces and whether they pose a threat to the society.
For example, some individuals used social media, such as WhatsApp to promote jihad online or spread videos on violence in circumstances that were not serious enough to constitute a crime. These people go to the training centers. Some people, who received prison sentence for participating in terrorist or extremist activities but refuse to abandon extremism and plan to take revenge, also need to go to the training centers.
To put it simply, people who obey laws and regulations and commit no wrong deeds do not need to worry about “going to the training centers” no matter which ethnic group they are from and whatever their religion is. The training center is not prison, but a school for the public. There is only one goal for the school – to educate people and to stop good people becoming bad. What do people learn in the center? They learn Putonghua to make sure that all Chinese citizens can understand, can speak and can write the national common language. This is the basic requirement and responsibility for a citizen from any civilized country.
Trainees learn knowledge on laws so that all Chinese citizens understand that they live in the 21st Century where laws are put in place and strictly enforced and anyone who violates the laws will be held accountable. The trainees should have the basic awareness of laws so they are not so easily tempted by extremism. They also learn vocational skills at the centers, including pastry making, weaving and textile printing, shoes-making and fixing machinery, hairdressing and make-up and e-commerce. Trainees can choose one to two skills to learn based on their interests. There will be more chance for them to get employment and less risk of becoming involving with the three evil forces.
With the work of these training centers being implemented in order, more and more trainees have graduated from the centers and returned to society and earned a better life. There is no torture in these training centers but only protection and respect for human rights. In contrast to the fake news, trainees’ religions and traditions are fully respected – all the centers offer various kinds of food, including halal food for them to choose. There are different entertainment activities, including singing songs, dancing, chanting or playing basketball for their physical health. Speaking of human rights, let me ask a question, if a modern person could not understand or write the country’s common language, has no idea about modern marriage or zero vocational skills and only enslaves his wife at home or is mistreated by her arranged husband and are used or brainwashed by the three evil forces, how could you say he or she understands human rights?
All the facts have told that the work of training centers has been effective and helpful. For now, the stability and situation in China’s Xinjiang has been improved and there have been no violent incidents in the region for more than two years. It is not only a positive influence on Xinjiang’s work on maintaining security but also makes a great contribution to safeguarding the stability of the adjacent Central Asia area.
Shohrat Zakir, Chairman of the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region:
Xinjiang has established a training model with professional vocational training institutions as the platform: learning the country’s common language, legal knowledge, vocational skills, along with de-extremization education as the main content, with achieving employment as the key direction. The vocational training institutions have set up departments of teaching, management, medical care, logistics and security, and allocated a corresponding number of faculty, class advisors, medical, catering, logistics and security staff. In the process of learning and training, the trainees will advance from learning the country’s common language to learning legal knowledge and vocational skills. Firstly, the trainees will take learning the country’s common language as the basis to improve their communication abilities, gain modern science knowledge and enhance their understanding of Chinese history, culture and national conditions. The teaching follows standardized plans, textbooks, materials and systems. The trainees are taught in various methods suited to their literacy to raise their abilities to use the country’s common language as soon as possible. Secondly, the learning of legal knowledge is taken as a key part of cultivating the trainees’ awareness of the nation, citizenship and rule of law. Legal experts are hired to lecture on the Constitution, the criminal law and the civil law, etc., and judges, prosecutors and lawyers are invited to teach the criminal law, the law on public security administration, the anti-terrorism law, the marriage law, the education law and Xinjiang’s de-extremization regulations. Thirdly, vocational learning is taken as a key way to help trainees find employment. Courses on clothing and footwear making, food processing, electronic product assembly, typesetting and printing, hairdressing and e-commerce have been set up to suit local social needs and job market. Multi-skill training is provided to trainees who have the desire and capability to learn, so that they acquire one to two vocational skills upon graduation. Businesses in garment making, mobile phone assembly and ethnic cuisine catering are arranged to offer trainees practical opportunities. In the meantime, they are paid basic incomes and a bonus. The mechanism has taken shape in which the trainees can ‘learn, practice and earn money.
In daily life, vocational institutions and schools strictly implement the spirit of laws and regulations, including the Constitution and religious affairs regulations, and respect and protect the customs and habits of various ethnic groups and their beliefs in diet and daily life. Faculties of the institutions and schools also try their best to ensure and meet the trainees’ needs in study, life, and entertainment on the basis of free education. The cafeteria prepares nutritious free diets, and the dormitories are fully equipped with radio, TV, air conditioning, bathroom and shower. Indoor and outdoor sports venues for basketball, volleyball and table tennis have been built, along with reading rooms, computer labs, film screening rooms, as well as performance venues such as small auditoriums and open-air stages. Various activities such as contests on speech, writing, dancing, singing and sports are organized. Many trainees have said that they were previously affected by extremist thought and had never participated in such kinds of art and sports activities, and now they have realized that life can be so colorful.
Moreover, the vocational institutions and schools pay high attention to the trainees’ mental health and helped them solve problems in life. They not only provide professional psychological counseling services, but also duly deal with complaints from the trainees and their families. All this shows that the management of the vocational institutions and schools are people-oriented.
China’s censor banned the use of ‘anti-Islamic’ words on social media after a clash that involved Muslims fighting at a toll booth went viral. Weibo blocked phrases disrespectful to Muslims and search engines block insults, mockery and defamatory terms, “It’s time to remove radical phrases that discriminate against Islam and are biased against Muslims to prevent worsening online hatred towards them. Those phrases severely undermine religious harmony and ethnic unity,” said Xiong Kunxin, a professor at Beijing’s Minzu University of China in Beijing. “China closes streets for Eid prayers, pays for Muslim Chinese to make the hajj and censors the internet and social media to prevent criticisms of Islam that might inflame social tensions. The idea that they should suddenly demand that the Muslims turn over their Qurans and Prayer mats is classic fake news and state propaganda. As a result, peace may break out and the recent deluge of fake news from Western corporate media paints the Chinese government as a gross violator of human rights while the Empire has droned, bombed, starved and killed millions of Muslim children, women from Afghanistan to Yemen and displaced millions more.”
Video: A Uyghur Re-Education Camp.
Translation: “The center provides professional training in clothing making, food preparation and IT. The guy named Ailijiang Masaidi said he received RMB 2800/month and sending RM2600 home. His family is very happy. The 2nd guy named Ahbulaihaidi is now working in a shoe making factory. He said he has mastered most skills and would get RMB 4000-5000/month soon, that would means RMB 60-70k a year. His technical manager says his company fully supports the factory’s effort in Hetian. The 2nd guy says that clothing factory has been set up in Yutian. The lady named Humakuli says she now work in a factory near her home Kashgar. She is working and learning at the same time. Training includes cultural learning about history about Xinjiang and about Zhonghua civilization. The narratives then says the center provides cultural and sports activities including painting, dance and Peking opera etc. The guy who dress as consort Yang is Abdula. He said every one admires him now because he is the best singer. Before he attend the center he was told that all sort of entertainment including singing and dancing is sinful. He said his life used to be gray and now is colorful. Then Kashgar National Congress Deputy Chairman Mijidi said he wants the people to learn about the traditional culture of the Uighur people. Singing and dancing are all acceptable.” The program was implemented in 2014, and since then no terrorist attack has happened in China. So it was considered a major success and was expanded greatly.
Notes
[1] Red Star Over China. Edgar Snow. 1937. Atlantic Books.
[2] The Grand Chessboard, 1990.
[3] Richard Labeviere, Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam, Algora Publishing, 2000, p. 6.
[4] In 2017 the American government funded 48 anti-China groups and organizations through the National Endowment for Democracy, NED, to oppose and harm China’s reputation and to create social and ethnic tensions and conflicts within China. https://www.ned.org.
[5] A Chinese friend provided her background: She had 11 children, which confirms that Uighurs were not subject to China’s One Child Policy.. She was born to a family with no background. She started her business with a roadside convenience store and worked her way to be THE richest person in the province of Xinjiang. This proved Uighurs can earn their business success through hard work. She was a senior member of the People’s Congress of Xinjiang, and a senior member of the National People’s Congress of China. This shows Uighurs were not excluded from political life in China. She was arrested because she provided funding to Eastern Turkestan Independence Movement, labeled as terrorist organization by the US.
[6] “We have to conquer our own country and purify it of all infidels. Then we should conquer the infidels’ countries and spread Islam. The infidels who are usurping our countries have announced war against Islam and Muslims, forcing Muslims to abandon Islam and change their beliefs.” Abdullah Mansour, leader of the Uyghur ETIM. “The Duty of Faith and Support,” Voice of Islam/al-Fajr Media Center, August 26, 2009.
[7] “ISIS militants from China’s Muslim minority group vow to return home and ‘shed blood like rivers’ in the terror group’s first video to target the country By GARETH DAVIES FOR Daily Mail Online PUBLISHED 08:39 BST, 1 March 2017.
Conclusion
The Uyghur “situation” in the Xinjiang state of China is a “red Herring” designed to create friction in that area to destabilize China. It is a way to interfere in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative that is creating a strong and unified Asia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping six years ago launched New Silk Roads, now better known as the Belt and Road Initiative, the largest, most ambitious, pan-Eurasian infrastructure project of the 21st century. Under the Trump administration, Belt and Road has been utterly demonized 24/7: a toxic cocktail of fear and doubt, with Beijing blamed for everything from plunging poor nations into a “debt trap” to evil designs of world domination. Now finally comes what might be described as the institutional American response to Belt and Road: the Blue Dot Network. Blue Dot is described, officially, as promoting global, multi-stakeholder “sustainable infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world.” It is a joint project of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation, in partnership with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Now compare it with what just happened this same week at the inauguration of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. As Xi stressed: “To date, China has signed 197 documents on Belt and Road cooperation with 137 countries and 30 international organizations.” This is what Blue Dot is up against – especially across the Global South. Well, not really. Global South diplomats, informally contacted, are not exactly impressed. They might see Blue Dot as an aspiring competitor to BRI, but one that’s moved by private finance – mostly, in theory, American. They scoff at the prospect that Blue Dot will include some sort of ratings mechanism that will be positioned to vet and downgrade Belt and Road projects. Washington will spin it as a “certification” process setting “international standards” – implying Belt and Road is sub-standard. Whether Global South nations will pay attention to these new ratings is an open question. - A “Blue Dot” Barely Visible from China’s “New Silk Roads”
As China’s only threat to the current global power-balance is economic, the United States is threatened by China’s rise. Thus there are numerous efforts made to create strife and destabilize Asia.
- Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
- Millennial youth in Hong Kong.
- Pork producers in Guangdong.
- Western markets for Huawei products.
- Taiwan “independence”.
To this end, neocons have been active with the CIA and NED / NID to create strife in the region. This includes a full-on propaganda onslaught, where most Americans are becoming conditioned for yet another proxy war in a far-off land.
This is welcomed by the neocons as [1] a magnificent source of personal (tax free) revenue, and [2] it’s “just” another in a long series of proxy wars. The thing is, China is not a third-world country and they will only accept CIA “pro-democracy” regime change activities only for so long.
It is possible that continued CIA psyops within China could result in a backlash of Nuclear Armageddon on American soil.
Do NOT poke the Panda.
Xinjiang is part of China and Xinjiang affairs are purely domestic affairs that allow no foreign interference. - Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang
- PressTV: Massive Escalation: US Launches 4 Sub Based ICBMs …
- Kill the Carriers: How China Hopes It Could Win a Naval …
- New arms race fears as China and Russia blast US over …
- China opposes U.S. deployment of missile on its doorstep …
- China Parades its Latest Missiles in Challenge to US …
- China opposes U.S. deployment of missile on its doorstep …
Another great link showing just who is behind this CIA narrative…
Claims that China has detained millions of Uyghur Muslims are based largely on two studies. A closer look at these papers reveals US government backing, absurdly shoddy methodologies, and a rapture-ready evangelical researcher named Adrian Zenz. By Ajit Singh and Max Blumenthal
Video
- Here’s a video about what is going on…
- Here’ another different video…
Links about China
Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events, while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world, outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank you.
And while America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources, and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Some Fun Videos
Here’s a collection of some fun videos taken all over Asia. While there are many videos taken in China, we also have some taken in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and Japan as well. It’s all in fun.
Articles & Links
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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