Tuesday, June 03, 2014

China's Colonial War

On 1 March 2014, a group Uighurs with knives attacked people at the Kunming Railway Station killing at least 29 and injuring 130 others.

On 18 April 2014, a group of 16 Uighurs refugees engaged in a shootout with Vietnamese border guards after seizing their guns as they were being detained to be returned to China.

On 30 April 2014, two attackers stabbed people before detonating their suicide vests at an Ürümqi train station.

On 22 May 2014, twin suicide car bombings occurred after the occupants had thrown multiple explosives out of their vehicles at an Ürümqi street market. The attacks killed 31 people and injured more than 90.

It is frequently overlooked that among the detainees of Guantanamo Bay were Uighurs.

China claims that "Xinjiang has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times", Xinjiang in Chinese literally means "New Territory". The use of "East Turkestan" by Uighurs is criminalised.Scholars consider the modern Uighurs to be the are descendants of a number of people, a mix of European and East Asian.  Uighurs are classified as a "national minority” rather than an indigenous group—in other words, they are considered to be no more indigenous to Xinjiang than the Han, and have no special rights to the land under the law. East Turkestan is roughly the size of Iran and the living standard of Uighurs is one of the lowest in China.

 The Chinese Red Army occupied the East Turkestan Republic in October 1949 with the support of the Soviet Union and pacified the resistant Uighur people through public executions and massacres. Tens of thousands of Uighurs were killed in China's conquest of East Turkestan. The promised self-rule was soon reneged on its promise after annexation and the "Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region" established in 1955.  Han Chinese were settled  into East Turkestan, provided with jobs, housing, bank loans and economic opportunities denied to Uighurs. The Uighur population in East Turkestan, which was nearly 90 percent in 1949, is now only 45 percent, while the Chinese population grew disproportionately due to state-sponsored mass settlement from around six  percent in 1953 to the current 40 percent (excluding the Chinese military, seasonal workers and floating population). Much like the process in Tibet that raises more attention due to high-profile figures such as the Dalai Lama and activities of entertainment stars. Chinese state corporations exploited the huge reserves of natural gas, oil, gold, uranium, coal and other minerals found in the region. What is more, China tested 45 nuclear devices, both under and above ground, between 1964 and 1996 in East Turkestan, polluting air, water, land, and slowly killing both people and livestock due to the effects of radiation.

Uighur resentment toward Chinese rule has been further reinforced by China's current policies of cultural "genocide" on Uighur identity, culture, religious beliefs and practices. Chinese soldiers' have been accused of extrajudicial and indiscriminate killings of Uighur men, women and children.This systematic repression of Uighur people and their subsequent  resistance to it has been  reframed as a fight against "Islamic terrorism". Moderate Uighurs such as Professor Ilham Tohti and linguist Abduweli Ayup who had tried to work within the Chinese system and legitimately protest that treat the Uighur people were not being treated as genuine Chinese citizens by honouring China's constitution and Regional Ethnic Autonomy Laws, were denounced and arrested. Others out of desperation, feeling  powerless to defend their historic homeland, their way of life, identity, culture, language and religion from Beijing's ever-intensifying onslaught and Chinese settlers appropriating everything that once belonged rightfully to them, have committed horrific acts of political violence against not only Chinese security forces, but also against settlers. The July 2009 Ürümqi riotswere a series of violent riots over several days that broke out in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang that mainly targeted Han Chinese.  PRC officials said that a total of 197 people died,with 1,721 others injured, however, Uyghur exile groups say the death toll is higher. Many men disappeared during wide-scale police sweeps in the days following the riots; Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented 43 cases and said figures for real disappearances were likely to be much higher.

Such acts provided the Chinese government with the propaganda that it faces a Muslim terrorist threat to win public opinion both in China and the world and silence criticism of its neo-colonialism. Russia with its own Turkic-speaking Muslims population are unlikely to criticise the Chinese position.

It will only be socialism that will end the causes of oppression and for the moment that does not appear an option to very many who instead would rather engage in self-destructive action.

Taken from here 

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