Category: East Asia & Pacific

Demonstrators in Washington Protest Chinese ‘Terror’ Against Uighurs

By Laurel Bowman
Washington
08 July 2009

Passions flared in Washington Tuesday as ethnic Uighurs and their supporters marched through the streets.

They were protesting what they call the Chinese government’s rough treatment of ethnic Uighurs in western China.

Shouting “Shame on China,” supporters of China’s Uighur minority marched through the streets of Washington.

More than 100 people turned up to protest what they say is China’s brutal suppression of their friends and relatives in the western province of Xinjiang.

Rebiya Kadeer is a Uighur, an advocate for her people, and President of the World Uyghur Congress.

“We want to be the voices of Uighurs who are dying in Urumqi in Xinjiang. We want to be their voices and get their message across to you,” says Rebiya Kadeer.

Chinese officials have blamed Kadeer for the violence in western China, where Muslim Uighurs have clashed with Han Chinese, the country’s dominant ethnic group.

Chinese authorities say 156 people died Sunday when Uighurs took to the streets to protest a brawl between Han Chinese and Uighurs in Guangdong last month.

On Tuesday, Muslim women sobbed in the streets and argued with riot police.

Han Chinese men wielded clubs, shovels and knives; and the government declared a curfew.

Meanwhile, Kadeer says the official casualty figures are too low.

“Do you think out of all those demonstrations the only people who died were 156? I don’t think so. I believe that the upward number is 1000 and the lower number 500,” says Rebiya Kadeer.

Kadeer spent close to six years in a Chinese prison before being released in 2005 and coming to the United States.

“Uighur people consider me to be their mother and the leader of their democratic movement, and I will continue to lead them,” says Rebiya Kadeer.

Kadeer’s daughter, Kekenus Sidik, was also at the demonstration.

“My mother was in prison for six years, my father for ten years all for political reasons. I haven’t seen the rest of my family for over a decade. So I am a Uighur and this is the perspective I can give you,” says Kekenus Sidik.

VOA NEWS

Photos below are from Sincan

July 9, 2009
Uighur Protesters March in Washington

Associated Press
Tuesday, July 7, 2009; 5:00 PM

Video: Click on the Picture

An exiled Uighur leader accused by China of inciting ethnic violence says the Chinese government is responsible for the rising tensions.

Rebiya Kadeer spoke to Uighur protesters at a rally in downtown Washington on Tuesday. About 100 people are holding blue flags with a white crescent and chanting “Shame on China” as they march to the Chinese Embassy.

Chinese authorities have accused Kadeer of inciting violence between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese, in which at least 156 people have been killed. The riots broke out Sunday in China’s Xinjiang region.

Kadeer disputes the number of fatalities, saying she believes at least 500 people have been killed in the riots.

Kadeer says she’s seeking a stronger statement from the U.S. government about the violence.

Washington Post

July 8, 2009
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Brutality against Uighurs must be prevented”

Baku – APA. Turkish Prime Minister Racab Tayyib Erdogan took stance on bloody events taking place in Xinjiang-Uighur autonomous region of China, APA reports quoting Haberturk.

Turkey is closely following the developments there: “Our Uighur brothers living in Turkey and Turkish people feeling this pain in their hearts hold protest actions condemning these events. We have always seen our Uighur brothers as a bridge between Turkey and China, the country we have always had normal relations with throughout the history. Necessary measures must be taken to prevent this brutality. We are temporary member of the UN Security Council for 2009-2010. We will also take these events into consideration there”.

08 Jul 2009

APA

July 8, 2009
Chinese Authorities Blame Internet for Fanning Uighur Anger

Chinese authorities blame foreign activists for inciting violent protests this week in Xinjiang, and say the Internet enabled them to do it. Uighur groups have used the Internet to rapidly get out images from what they say was a provocative government crackdown on a peaceful demonstration.

Following Sunday’s violence in Xinjiang region, Chinese authorities were hasty to point fingers.

At a news conference Monday, Xinjiang’s police chief Liu Yaohua blamed the World Uighur Congress, an international Uighur rights group.

Liu accused the organization of distorting China’s ethnic and religious policy to stir up conflict. But he especially singled out the Internet, describing it as the main medium that foreign forces use to communicate with Uighurs in China.

Uighur activists say a peaceful demonstration Sunday in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, turned violent after police began cracking down. Chinese authorities accuse groups like the World Uighur Congress of masterminding a riot from afar, in an effort ultimately aimed at creating an independent Xinjiang.

Twitter disabled

The government has acted quickly to block access to information. Authorities acknowledge that Internet service in Urumqi has been interrupted, but they do not say how long it will be out. They say the interruption was done legally, and is necessary to maintain social stability.
In Beijing, the Twitter messaging system, which protesters in Iran recently used to report on police crackdowns there, has been disabled. And while cell phone connections in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, still operate, getting a call to the city, or making an international call from there, is proving difficult.

Xiao Qiang teaches journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. He also edits China Digital Times, a round-up of Chinese-language content on the Internet.
Internet is playing a bigger role this year,” Xiao noted. “Partially because what happened in Urumqi was immediately exposed by lots of cell-phone cameras, digital cameras, videos – there’s a lot of witness(es), people [who] immediately wrote and sent out video images on the Internet.”

Internet gains importance

Xiao compares what happened in Urumqi to the events last year in the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, when scores of Tibetans clashed with security forces there. He says Internet use in Urumqi is much more than in Lhasa.

He says Chinese authorities immediately began removing all Internet references to the Urumqi protest, and blocking social networking sites.

There are ways of getting around Web restrictions. Xiao says Chinese Internet users have been engaging in a tactic called “tomb digging.” Users on a bulletin board forum post an up-to-date response to an older post that mentions Xinjiang and has not yet been deleted.

“It’s basically a covered-up way to discuss those banned issues, under the nose of the editors of those forums, and it could be very effective,” Xiao said.

What caused violence?

Xiao says the opinions on Internet forums are much more varied than those in official Chinese media. Some support the government and the use of force to crack down on chaos. But other users are mistrustful of the government’s handling of the situation and are more reflective about the cause of the violence.

The Uighurs are a mostly Muslim ethnic group with cultural and linguistic ties to Central Asia. For years, many have complained that country’s ethnic majority, the Han, are taking over their traditional home, Xinjiang, in western China, and that they face government discrimination.

University of Washington Chinese studies Professor David Bachman says the images of the crackdown he has seen show the use of force has been “extensive” and “in some ways merciless.” Despite the government’s criticism of the Internet, the wide dissemination of pictures like those also helps spread Beijing’s stern warning.

“Clearly, the Chinese government is saying to Uighurs and to others in Xinjiang and to Tibetans and other minority groups, or for domestic protesters in the heart of China, that protests will be met with strict and harsh measures. Don’t even think about it,” Bachman said.

Possible solution

Bachman says cracking down – on both a restive minority and on public access to information – may solve short-term problems, but will only breed more resentment and opposition in the long run.

He says there is no quick fix to the long-standing tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs. He says any efforts to make the problem better, though, should first focus on deeper issues, such as trying to alleviate perceived imbalances, discrimination and inequality.

Voa News

July 8, 2009
Cyber Attack Knocks Out Major US Websites

A “massive” cyber attack which shut down the websites of several US government agencies could be linked to a similar outage in South Korea.

The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department sites were all down at various points over the weekend and into this week, officials said.

Some of the sites were still experiencing problems on Tuesday evening after the attack, which started on July 4.

The agencies, including some which are responsible for fighting cyber crime, were working with their internet service provider to resolve the problem, the officials added.

Government agencies and banks in South Korea also had their websites paralysed by a suspected cyber attack on Tuesday, with some still unstable or inaccessible yet.

The problems in the two countries appeared to be linked, said Ahn Jeong-eun, a spokeswoman at the Korea Information Security Agency.

The US sites experienced a “massive outage”, according to Keynote Systems, a company which monitors 40 government sites in America.

Ben Rushlo, director of internet technologies at the firm, said of the transportation department site problems: “This is very strange. You don’t see this.

“Having something 100% down for a 24-hour-plus period is a pretty significant event.”

He added: “The fact that it lasted for so long and that it was so significant in its ability to bring the site down says something about the site’s ability to fend off (an attack) or about the severity of the attack.”

A computer emergency team from the Homeland Security Department has issued a notice to federal departments about the problems, spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said.

The message advised agencies “of steps to take to help mitigate against such attacks”.

Networks in the US are targeted every day and measures have been put in place to minimise the impact on federal government websites, Ms Kudwa added.

SKY

July 8, 2009
The Real Uighur Story

Chinese propaganda obscures what sparked Sunday’s riots.

By REBIYA KADEER

When the Chinese government, with the comfort of hindsight, looks back on its handling of the unrest in Urumqi and East Turkestan this week, it will most likely tell the world with great satisfaction that it acted in the interests of maintaining stability. What officials in Beijing and Urumqi will most likely forget to tell the world is the reason why thousands of Uighurs risked everything to speak out against injustice, and the fact that hundreds of Uighurs are now dead for exercising their right to protest.

On Sunday, students organized a protest in the Döng Körük (Erdaoqiao) area of Urumqi. They wished to express discontent with the Chinese authorities’ inaction on the mob killing and beating of Uighurs at a toy factory in Shaoguan in China’s southern Guangdong province and to express sympathy with the families of those killed and injured. What started as a peaceful assembly of Uighurs turned violent as some elements of the crowd reacted to heavy-handed policing. I unequivocally condemn the use of violence by Uighurs during the demonstration as much as I do China’s use of excessive force against protestors.

While the incident in Shaoguan upset Uighurs, it was the Chinese government’s inaction over the racially motivated killings that compelled Uighurs to show their dissatisfaction on the streets of Urumqi. Wang Lequan, the Party Secretary of the “Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region” has blamed me for the unrest; however, years of Chinese repression of Uighurs topped by a confirmation that Chinese officials have no interest in observing the rule of law when Uighurs are concerned is the cause of the current Uighur discontent.

China’s heavy-handed reaction to Sunday’s protest will only reinforce these views. Uighur sources within East Turkestan say that 400 Uighurs in Urumqi have died as a result of police shootings and beatings. There is no accurate figure for the number of injured. A curfew has been imposed, telephone lines are down and the city remains tense. Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs. They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland.

The unrest is spreading. The cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, Aksu, Khotan and Karamay may have also seen unrest, though it’s hard to tell, given China’s state-run propanganda. Kashgar has been the worst effected of these cities and unconfirmed reports state that over 100 Uighurs have been killed there. Troops have entered Kashgar, and sources in the city say that two Chinese soldiers have been posted to each Uighur house.

The nature of recent Uighur repression has taken on a racial tone. The Chinese government is well-known for encouraging a nationalistic streak among Han Chinese as it seeks to replace the bankrupt communist ideology it used to promote. This nationalism was clearly in evidence as the Han Chinese mob attacked Uighur workers in Shaoguan, and it seems that the Chinese government is now content to let some of its citizens carry out its repression of Uighurs on its behalf.

This encouragement of a reactionary nationalism among Han Chinese makes the path forward very difficult. The World Uighur Congress that I head, much like the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan movement, advocates for the peaceful establishment of self-determination with genuine respect for human rights and democracy. To achieve this objective, there needs to be a path for Han Chinese and Uighur to achieve a dialogue based on trust, mutual respect and equality. Under present Chinese government policies encouraging unchecked nationalism, this is not possible.

To rectify the deteriorating situation in East Turkestan, the Chinese government must first properly investigate the Shaoguan killings and bring those responsible for the killing of Uighurs to justice. An independent and open inquiry into the Urumqi unrest also needs to be conducted so that Han Chinese and Uighurs can understand the reasons for Sunday’s events and seek ways to establish the mutual understanding so conspicuously absent in the current climate.

The United States has a key role to play in this process. Given the Chinese government’s track record of egregious human-rights abuses against Uighurs, it seems unlikely Beijing will drop its rhetoric and invite Uighurs to discuss concerns. The U.S. has always spoken out on behalf of the oppressed; this is why they have been the leaders in presenting the Uighur case to the Chinese government. The U.S., at this critical juncture in the East Turkestan issue, must unequivocally show its concern by first condemning the violence in Urumqi, and second, by establishing a consulate in Urumqi to not only act as a beacon of freedom in an environment of fierce repression but also to monitor the daily human-rights abuses perpetrated against the Uighurs.

As I write this piece, reports are reaching our office in Washington that on Monday, 4,000 Han Chinese took to the streets in Urumqi seeking revenge by carrying out acts of violence against Uighurs. On Tuesday, more Han Chinese took to the streets. As the violence escalates, so does the pain I feel for the loss of all innocent lives. I fear the Chinese government will not experience this pain as it reports on its version of events in Urumqi, and it is this lack of self-examination that further divides Han Chinese and Uighurs.

Ms. Kadeer is the president of the Uighur American Association and World Uighur Congress.

The Wall Street Journal

July 7, 2009