The death toll in this month’s violence in the Chinese province of Xinjiang is climbing closer to 200. This past weekend Chinese "security forces" (believed to be regular army troops disguisesd as policemen) shot and killed two more Uyghurs, armed with clubs and knives.
The rioting began when Uyghurs protested clashes in June between police and Uyghur migrant workers in the southern province of Guangdong. There too protesters armed with tools and primitive weapons were killed by heavily armed police.
In the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, crowds of Uyghurs rampaged through the city, attacking ethnic Han Chinese. The Communist government says the majority of those killed were Han Chinese. Uyghurs say they believe many more from their and the Hui ethnic groups died in the government crackdown.
There are about 9 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They are the majority in that province, but thanks to government-sponsored colonization by Han Chinese, are now a minority in Urumqi. The Uyghurs have complained for decades about the influx of Han Chinese and Communist restrictions on their Muslim religion. They accuse the Han of discrimination and the Communist Party of trying to erase their language and culture.
The World Uyghur Congress claims (and Walt agrees) that
the Han Chinese persecution of the Uyghur and other minorities is nothing less than state-sponsored genocide!
This hardly comes as a surprise. A government-encouraged myth of racial superiority has long been a hallmark of totalitarian ideologies -- Communism and Naziism for instance -- and nations bent on dominating the world -- Russia, Germany, Japan, but also 19th-century Britain and 20th-century America. "Hey, these people are inferior and we’re doing them a favour by imposing on them the benefits of our civilization!"
I lived and worked in China for three years. It appears to me that Han Chinese believe that they really are superior to all other races, including us "long-noses". They think the Uyghurs (and Tibetans and other "nationalities") should be grateful for the rapid economic development which has brought schools, airports, and oil wells to the sprawling and hitherto undeveloped region.
Of course "development" also brought millions of Han Chinese who now occupy the best land and dominate business and government, while the original peoples of Xinjiang (formerly known as East Turkestan) are pushed into the barren hinterlands.
The rioting in Xinjiang echoed violence in Tibet before last year’s Olympics, but international reaction has been distressingly different.
Last year, Western countries put pressure on Beijing to hold a dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy even threatening to boycott the Beijing Olympics if China refused. Beijing's protestations that Tibet was an internal Chinese affair were disregarded.
This time, however, the Western response is tepid. The USA has adopted a mild tone, with President Obama merely calling on "all parties" in Xinjiang "to exercise restraint." In so doing he suggests that the Uyghurs with their bricks and bottles are as much to blame for the deaths as the Chinese with their machineguns and tanks.
The European Union has gone even further, taking the position that violence in Xinjiang "is a Chinese issue, not a European issue." Serge Abou, the EU's ambassador to China, said Europe also had its problems with minorities and "we would not like other governments to tell us what is to be done."
Yes, the EU should know something about "problems with minorities". Didn’t one of its chief member states come up with a "final solution" to the problem of the inferior races?
The reason for the reluctance of the western powers to "interfere" in this "internal Chinese matter" is, of course, money. It’s not the not-so-almighty dollar now, but the nearly-almighty yuan! China is now seen as an indispensable partner of the USA and Europe in sorting out their self-made financial crisis. "Leave the Chinese alone, or they won’t bail us out!"
Then there’s the religious question. If the Uyghurs were Christians or (especially) Jews, the world would be up in arms, figuratively speaking at least. But they’re not. The Uyghurs are -- horrors! -- Muslims!
Such condemnation of Chinese oppression as has been expressed has come chiefly from Muslim countries. The Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents 57 Muslim governments, declared: "The Islamic world is expecting from China, a major and responsible power in the world arena with historical friendly relations with the Muslim world, to deal with the problem of Muslim minority in China in broader perspective that tackles the root causes of the problem."
The country that has taken the strongest position is Turkey, whose people share linguistic, religious and cultural links with the Uyghurs. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan actually went so far as to characterize what has happened as "a kind of genocide" and said his country would bring the matter up in the United Nations Security Council.
Yeah, a fat lot of good that will do, given that one of the permanent Security Council members -- China -- has a veto over any action that the Council might take, right down to a toothless resolution expressing its dismay.
One problem for the Uyghurs is that the world at large knows little about them. The WUC’s Rebiya Kadeer, the U.S.-based Uyghur activist accused by Chinese officials of instigating the violence, is seeking American support for the Uyghur cause. Leading a protest march to the Chinese embassy in Washington, she called on the USA to open a consulate in Urumqi. This, she said, "would be a clear signal that the United States is not indifferent to the oppression of my people." Don’t hold your breath, Rebiya!
The Uyghurs lack a charismatic figure such as the Dalai Lama to lead them. But China, perhaps unwittingly, may provide the solution. The Communists liken Ms. Kadeer to the Dalai Lama, calling them both "separatists." The People's Daily actually called Ms. Kadeer the "Uyghur Dalai Lama" and warned the Nobel committee not to award her the Peace Prize. Beijing may not realize it, but likening Rebiya Kadeer to the Dalai Lama may actually win her supporters in the West.
Walt’s Canadian readers will agree that "separatist" is a pretty loaded word. But Beijing has a different way of dealing with "separatists" than Ottawa does. Human rights advocates can organize protests and fill the newspapers and airwaves with criticism, but the Communist Chinese will not stop their campaign of genocide until they have achieved total domination of Xinjiang, Tibet, _________ and ________. Fill in the blanks for yourself.
Walt recommends three books by Frank Ching, a leading authority on Chinese history and politics: China: The Truth About Its Human Rights Record; Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems?; Hong Kong and China: For Better or for Worse
As reported here on WWW, Sweden had a general election last weekend. One of the main ballot questions (if not the main ballot question), was what to do with the "refugees", asylum-seekers and other migrants flooding into the country. The rightist Sweden Democrats, whose policy is to turn them back at the borders or send them back where they came from, did well, although not as well as hoped.
