XINJIANG SEPARATISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Signs warns of punishment
for being a member of
Muslim separtist group
Many of the Muslims in western China want their own independent state similar to what Muslims in the former Soviet Republics now have. Some activists want Xinjiang to become an independent state called East Turkestan. According to some surveys 60 percent of Uighurs favor independence.
Muslims in Xinjiang don’t like the name Xinjiang (meaning “new territories” or “newly conquered territories”) because of the tacit connection to China. They prefer East Turkestan.
In many ways the Muslims seem less likely to go along with Beijing than Tibetans. Kashgar and Khotan— Uighur dominated towns—are regarded as the hotheads of East Turkestan nationalism. In Khotan and nearby towns there increasing signs of Islamism. Many Uighur women wear head scarves and when they get married they wear veils that leave only their eyes visible.
Many see the Xinjiang situation as more complicated and potentially dangerous than Tibet because Xinjiang and the Uighurs don’t have a strong leader like the Dalai Lama that can speak for a unified group and calm things down if they get out of hand. Instead resistance is fragmented.
Source: U.S.-based Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association; German-based East Turkestan Information Center; Germany-based World Uyghur Congress; and Rebiya Kadeer’s Uyghur American Association. Experts on Uighurs and Xinjiang include Nicolas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch and Dru Gladney of Pomona College
Separatist Groups in Xinjiang
Isa Yusuf Alptekin, the exiled head of the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan, who died in 1995 at the of 94.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement was founded in the 1930s and became radicalized in the 1990s. It has been blamed for bus bombings and assassinations.
The United National Revolutionary Front (UNRF) is an Uighur separatist group with exiled leaders based in Kazakstan. The Eastern Turkestan National Freedom Center was founded by Anwar Ysuf, in Washington in 1995.
These groups say they are fighting for basic human rights for the Muslim peoples of Xinjiang. In some cases they call for an independent East Turkestan state. Most denounce terrorism and have no connections with Al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. They view themselves as nationalist movements rather than Islamic ones. Uighurs and other Muslim groups in China have traditionally not been very religious.
Global fears about Islamic radicalism have prevented Uighurs from attracted the same kind of international support enjoyed by Tibetans. Uighurs also lack of a charismatic figurehead like the Dalai Lama to make their case and lead their movement. Human rights groups have accused Beijing of overstating the threat in Xinjiang, and using it as an excuse t crack down on Uighurs,
Radical groups don’t have a lot of support among ordinary Uighurs. A reporter for a newspaper in Hotan told the Yomiuri Shimbun, “The radical independence movement hasn’t been able to win the support of local residents. The only thing they can do is cause a bit of trouble in local areas. But authorities are now alerted to trouble that may occur." A 50-year-old Uighur man said, “I think our situation has improved. I’m not happy with the rule of the Han, but I don’t think the situation is that bad that we need independence.”
See Terrorist Groups Below.
China and Separatist Movements in Xinjiang
Beijing refers to Muslim and Tibetan separatists as "splitists." In 1996, Beijing ordered police to crack down hard on activists who oppose Communist rule. They cracked particularly hard on Xinjiang and Tibet because they were sources of the “three evils” of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism
Human rights groups say that in many ways Xinjiang is more tightly controlled than Tibet. One Communist official in Xinjiang told Reuters: “Some people have used the cloak of religion to trick people. If you see through their acts you can see they want to split the motherland.”
The Chinese authorities do not make a distinction between separatist and terrorists. They lump Uighur activists engaged in rather mild political activity together with bonafide terrorists. According to Amnesty International, “Separatism in fact covers a broad range of activities, most of which amount to no more than peaceful opposition or dissent. Preaching or teaching Islam outside government controls is also considered subversive.”
Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-bases researcher for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters, “the policies are actually widening the gap between Uighurs and the rest of the population. People build up barriers to protect their ethnic identity from the attempt by the state to remodel it.”
Political Violence in Xinjiang
There has been rioting, bombings and several assassination of pro-Chinese figures in Xinjiang. Local Islamic leaders have been assassinated for supporting Beijing's policies. Uighur Muslim radicals have been blamed for carrying out bomb attacks.
It is difficult for Western journalist to get accurate information about what is going on in Xinjiang. Information leaking from the trouble areas is minimal and the Chinese government does grant foreign reporters access to these areas.
Muslim uprisings—which the Communists called "racial incidents"—in and around the city of Kasghar in the 1980s left maybe a hundred dead.
Political Violence in Xinjiang in the 1990s
In 1990, 50 Uighurs and Kyrgyz were killed in a "counter-revolutionary rebellion." The Chinese government sealed off Kashgar and closed the border between Pakistan and China. Bombs reportedly set off by Muslim separatists exploded in Urumqi in 1992 and Kashgar in 1993.
In the summer of 1995, Muslims rioted in Hotan, where a popular imam was arrested for "fomenting dissent" A dozen of people were injured. In March, 1996, a pro-Chinese religious leader was assassinated. Around the same time there were attacks on Chinese officials and their relatives.
In December, 1995?, 500 Uighurs demonstrated in Urumqi after the death of a Uighur student in a Chinese-run clinic. The student reportedly entered the clinic and was told that even though she had health insurance she wouldn't be treated until she coughed up a bribe of $120. She died when her pneumonia turned into meningitis.
Muslim separatist have reportedly bombed military vehicles in Urumqi, set off more than 50 explosions on the Xinjiang railroad network and stole important copies of the Koran from the Xinjiang Islamic Studies Center. Exiles also claim that 450 Chinese troops have been were killed by Muslim "freedom fighters" around Urumqi and 20 troops have been killed in Karamay and Turfan.
In 1999, according to the Taipei Times, separatist attacked a PLA missile base, killing 21 soldiers and destroying 18 vehicles.
Riot in Xinjiang in 1997
In the spring of 1997 rioting broke out in western Xinjiang in the town of Yinning (about 250 miles west of Urumqi near the border of Kazakstan). About 1,000 Muslim separatists and their sympathizers battled police, destroyed shops and burned cars. More than 10 people were killed, 100 were injured and 50 were arrested. The bodies of many of those who died were burned. According to some estimates as many as 80 people were killed.
The riot reportedly began when police burst into a private home that was holding a prayer meeting to mark the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, and tried to arrest an Uighur criminal who resisted arrest and attracted a large crowd that began rioting. The arresting policeman was reportedly stabbed to death and hundreds of paramilitary police had to be called in to restore order. One eyewitness said, "Police opened fire on a crowd. A hundred were killed. The same day 30 people were shot in another place without a trial, without an investigation.”
In 2000, Uighur militants and police clashed in the Xinjiang city of Aksu.
Unrest in Xinjiang in 2008
In March 2008, Chinese authorities said they had uncovered evidence that the group that was raided the previous January was planning a terrorist strike during the Olympics. A high-level official said, “Obviously the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics” but gave no specific evidence. In April, Chinese authorities said they detained 45 East Turkestan “terrorists” and closed down a ring in Xinjiang that was planning to carry out suicide bombings and abduct Olympics athletes. Uighur activists said the charges were fabricated.
In March 2008, a plane bound for Beijing from Urumqi was diverted to Lanzhou after suspicious liquids were found aboard the plane. Two people were reportedly involved in what was called a hijacking, terrorist and sabotage. attempt. A 19-year-old Uighur woman, according to government sources, confessed to attempting to hijack the plane. Officials said she was part of terrorist group that wants to establish an independent state of East Turkestan. The woman is said to have smuggled three containers with gasoline onto the plane and took them into a bathroom where she was apprehended by the crew.
In late March 2008, about a week after the Tibetan riots in Lhasa, protests occurred in Xinjiang in Hotan, about 625 miles southwest of Urumqi, after a prominent jade trader died in police custody. Hundreds marched through a weekly market. According to Free Asia, the protesters demanded an end to a ban of head scarves,, more autonomy for Uighur-populated regions and the release of political prisoners. There seemed to be no connection between these protests and those in Tibet. Some think that Hizb ut-Tahrir was responsible for organizing the protests in Khotan.
According to some accounts more than 1,000 women, demanding the lifting of the ban on wearing head scarves, were involved in the protest in Khotan. Other reports said there were about 500 demonstrators demanding Uighur independence. According to the Hoton local government website: “A small number of elements tried to incite splittism, create disturbances in the marketplace and even trick the masses into an uprising.”
The protest was peaceful and isolated but touched off fears that unrest that began in Tibet was spreading beyond Tibet. The Chinese government blamed the protests on ethic separatists. There were reports that a group of people dressed in black hijab began handing out leaflets calling for the independence of the region. These people were quickly rounded up. More than 500 people in total were detained.
Hotan (Khotan) is regarded as a hot bed of Muslim fundamentalism and Uighur separatism. After the protest, security was beefed up in Hotan out of concern that a uprising like the one in Tibet could break out there. Under near martial-law-like conditions, security personnel did house-to-house searched and asked people on the streets for their identity cards
Chinese Crackdowns in Xinjiang
A Chinese official told the Los Angeles Times, “In Xinjiang, the separatists, religious extremists and violent terrorists are all around us, In China, endangering national security is the No. 1 crime. We have to crackdown on it severely.” September 11th gave Beijing more leverage as the accused Xinjiang separatist groups of having ties with Al-Qaida.
See Repression of Islam
Beijing’s grip on Xinjiang has been described as Soviet-like. The Chinese government has restricted religious freedom, closed local publishing houses and given special powers to the special "rapid-deployment force." Soldiers and police have increased their presence. Paramilitary guards with semi-automatic weapons stand at entrances to government buildings in Urumqi. Authorities have raided street stalls and whole markets that sold Osama bin Laden merchandise.
The Chinese government has used terrorism as an excuse to crack down on any kind of activity they view as a threat or don’t like. Uighurs have been arrested for showing signs of dissent, meeting with foreigners, and fasting in Ramadan. Among those that have been arrested are travel agency workers that met with foreign tourists after work. As a carrot, Beijing has offered job opportunities as a way blunting separatist activities.
Strike Hard—an anti-crime campaign intended to fight organized crime, drugs and pornography—has become a cover to crackdown on Uighurs.
Yu Jianrong of the Institute of Rural Development told the Washington Post: “If you want a peaceful life, you must have strong and forceful measures. If the government wants to keep Xinjiang inside Chinese territory. They must take measures to crack down on separatists without any softness.”
Few Uighurs are willing to identify themselves by name when they talk to foreign reporters out of fear of drawing the attention of police and authorities to themselves. Those that do talk are very careful about what they say. One told the New York Times, “There are some words we feel in our hearts, but we cannot say.”
After the 1997 riot, Chinese troops quickly sealed off the town, closing roads and the airport. Prominent Uighurs were arrested Tear gas and water canons were used to break up demonstrations. A curfew was imposed and 1,000 Muslims were taken away in buses commandeered from local bus companies.
After the Kuqa shootout in 2001, sweeps of Uighur neighborhoods were conducted. A government spokesman said, “A lot of people were involved. We caught most of them, executed some of the them.” It is widely believed that many innocent people were arrested, and even executed.
Arrests and Executions in Xinjiang
By some estimates 1,000 people have been killed and 10,000 have arrested in crackdowns on suspected separatists and terrorists. According to exiled separatists in Kazakstan, 57,000 suspected pro-independence supporters, including academics and clerics, were arrest in 1996.
Accused terrorists are often executed. In 1997, 16 people were executed in Xinjiang for Muslim unrest. An additional 20 people wee executed in 1996 for the rolls in Yining riots and Urumqi bombings. According to Amnesty International, Xinjiang is only place where executions are carried out for political crimes. One Amnesty International listed 210 death sentences and 190 executions between 1997 and 2000. Most were Uighurs
In June 2005, 10 Uighur activists were arrested and charged with plotting independence and separatism
Beijing’s crackdown it seems have largely been successful. The bombings, protests and unrest that occurred in the 1990s now seem like events in the distant past. But some say resentment has only been driven underground. Dru Gladney, an expert of western China at Pomona Collage, told the Los Angeles Times, “They put out the fire. But the embers are smoldering. And unless they address hearts and minds, it will flare again.” One Uighur man in Khotan told Reuters, “Even for small things you hear about people being taken away. So any kind of bigger incident I don’t think could happen here.”
In November 2007, six Uighurs tied to Hizb ut-Tahrir were given prison sentences from death to life in prison on charges of “splittism and organizing and leading terrorist groups.” One of the men that was found guilty of “carrying out extremist religious activities and promoting ‘jihad,’” was accused of establishing a terrorist training base and preparing to set up an Islamic caliphate.
Xinjiang and Human Rights
Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said, “Uighur men, women and children in East Turkestan continue to live under an extremely brutal form of repression. They live in constant fear that they will become victims of state violence.”
Human Rights Watch has accused the Chinese government of waging a “whole assault” against the Uighurs, using tactics such as vetting imam, closing mosques, detaining thousands of people and executions. There have been reports of Uighur women between the ages of 16 and 25 being forcibly “transferred” to coastal cities ro work as cheap labor.
Amnesty International has reported "gross violations" of human rights, including arbitrary detention and arrests, torture, deaths during detention, and executions for vague political crimes such as "disrupting social order." By some accounts several hundred
Tohti Tuniyaz, an Uighur doctorate student at Tokyo University, was arrested in 1997 for copying a list of historical documents at a public records office for a book he was publishing and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He maintained his innocence and was still in jail as of 2009.
Uighur dissidents are often given long sentences. Local people say more than 300 Uighur civil servants have been jailed for their beliefs and some have been beaten to death in prison.
Minorities in Xinjiang are reluctant to talk about their problems or speak openly out of reprisals from the Chinese government. A taxi driver in Aksu told the Washington Post, “The police are everywhere, and they pay Uighurs to spy in every neighborhoods and every mosque. Sometimes, people just disappear.”
In May 2007, Beijing banned Uighur people from traveling to foreign countries. A number of Uighurs who fled to Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have been extradited to China and imprisoned.
German-based World Uighur Congress.
Rebiya Kadeer
Kadeer is a poorly-educated grandmother, wealthy philanthropist and businesswoman who is has become the leader of Uighur movment. For a while was regarded as the richest woman in Xinjiang.
Kadeer hopes to bring the same kind of international attention to Uighur issues that the Dalai Lama brought to Tibet and Aug San Suu Kyi brought to Burma. “Of course I want to follow the path of the Dalai Lama’s” she told the Times of London. “I will travel across the world telling the truth about the Chinese government and bring my homeland freedom. But I am different from the Dalai Lama in ths way—I won’t wait 50 years.”
Kadeer is head of the World Uighur Congress and Washington-based Uighur American Association. Beijing has described her as an “ironclad separatist colluding with terrorists and Islamic extremists.” She has been accused with having ties with the terrorist group the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
Book: Kadeer wrote Dragon Fighter: One Woman’s Epic Struggle for Peace with China
The Ten Conditions of Love by Australian filmmaker Jeff Daniels is a biopic about Kadeer.
Kadeer’s Life
Kadeer became one of the richest women in China through property dealings, a steel trading company and a department store. In the 1980s and 90s she drove around in an Audi and used three villas and was cited by Forbes as one of the 20 most successful tycoons in China,.
Kadeer founded the Thousand Mother’s Movement to promote job training for Uighur women and helped orphans and underprivileged children.
As a wealthy Uighur Kadeer was courted and honored by Beijing and placed on the national advisory body, the Chinese Peoples Political Consultive Conference. After a massacre of Uighurs in 1997 she became increasingly critical of the Chinese government and used her position to air Uighur grievances. Those efforts resulted in threats against her businesses. After seeking help from the United States she was arrested.
Kadeer’s in Prison
In 1997 Kadeer was sentenced to eight years in prison for "giving information to separatist outside the borders" and “revealing state intelligence” for sending clipping from a local newspaper to her husband in the United States and Uighurs in neighboring countries and the United States. She was arrested in 1999 while on her way to a meeting with U.S. Congressmen and was sentenced in a closed trial. Her son and secretary were sentenced to jail terms of two and three years respectively.
Kadeer spent five years in prison and work camps where she said she was routinely threatened with death and repeatedly forced to confess that Xinjiang was the “property” of China. She wrote in the Times of London, “While in prison, I was subjected to extended periods of solitary confinement and medical neglect. But far more horrifying were the times I was forced to witness torture of my fellow prisoners.” During her time in prison she told the Washington Post she missed here children so much she hallucinated about them and was often woken up by the sounds of screams from interrogation sessions.
Kadeer was released from prison in March 2005 after serving 5½ years. After her release she moved to the Washington D.C. area with her children. She was released as part of deal in which the United States promised not purse of resolution criticizing China’s human rights record.
Two of her sons, Alim and Ablikim Abdureyim are currently serving lengthy prison terms in Urumqi prisons. There are reports they have been tortured and denied treatments for serious medical conditions.
Kadeer’s Politics
After her release Kadeer has continued to speak out for Uighur rights, took the Uighur cause ti a number of countries and called for a boycoot of the 2008 Olympics.
Kadeer is not decided on whether Xinjiang should seek full independence or more autonomy within China. She has said that Chinese policy in Xinjiang goes beyond assimilation and is a form of genocide and claims that perhaps as many as 10,000 Uighurs were killed in the period of riots in Xinjiang in July 2009.
Kadeer wrote in the Times of London,“I am absolutely opposed to all forms of violence, and believe it is only through dialogue and attempts at mutual understanding that we may achieve peace.”
Kadeer and International Relations
Beijing has issued complaints about Kadeer to governments in the United States, Japan and Australia.
The Chinese government put a lot of pressure on Australia when a film about Kadeer was screened at the Melbourne Film Festival in August 2009. Chinese directors pulled their films from the festival, hackers attack the festival’s website, inserting Chinese flags, and Beijing sharply condemned the festival for showing it. In Beijing, the Australian ambassador was summoned to lodge a formal protest on the issue.
Kadeer was invited to the White House along with four Chinese dissidents several days before the Olympics.
China, Central Asia and Separatist Movements in Xinjiang
Beijing is worried about support given to these separatist groups given by China's central Asian neighbors, particularly Afghanistan and Kazakstan.
Beijing has forged closer ties with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakstan partly to gain their support against Uighur separatists. These countries now regularly extradite alleged separatists, some of whom have are believed to have been executed. In return Chins has given these countries military aid and invested in their economies.
One Western diplomat told AFP, "Beijing will never give up its strategic link to Central Asia and Pakistan, but certain elements of the ethnic Uighurs population will attack their Chinese rulers whenever they have a chance."
Kazakhstan has cooperated with China by repatriating Uighur that Beijing has accused of being terrorists.
In April 2007, China jailed Uighur-Canadian Huseyib Celil to life in prison for “terrorist activities and plotting to split the country” and warned Canada not to get involved in the case. Celil was described as prominent member of pro-East Turkestan “terrorist organization.” Celil fled China in the mid-1990s and was granted refugee status in Canada where he became a citizen in 2005. In March 2006, he was detained in Uzbekistan while visiting relatives and sent to China in June of that year
Source: Thomas B. Allen, National Geographic, March 1996
Image Sources: Mongabey
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
© 2008 Jeffrey Hays