Arab and Islamic Countries Defend China on Uyghur Persecution
By
New Age Islam Special Correspondent
7
April 2021
While
the world denounces China on its persecution of Uyghur Muslims, China brazenly
defends it as only anti-terrorism and deradicalisation process ad denies that
Uyghurs are being tortured and killed and their women are sterilised, tortured,
raped and even killed. According to reports 1.5 to 3 million Uyghur Muslims,
Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turk and even Christian ethnic minority people are being held
in detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017 under the government of Xi Jinping.
Saudi crown prince defends China's
right to put Uighur Muslims
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But
the irony of fate of these hapeless Uyghurs is that many of the Muslim
countries have not only turned a blind eye to their plight but have also
supported or defended China.
Recently,
the persecution of Uyghurs again assumed centrestage in global political arena
when on March 21, 2021 the US, UK and Canada released a joint statement
condemning China's persecution of Uyghurs. The statement said:
"We
the foreign ministers of Canada, United Kingdom and the United States Secretary
of State are united in our deep and ongoing concern regarding China's human
rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang."
Four
days later, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu conveyed
"sensitivity" regarding the treatment meted out to Uyghur Turks
during his meeting with his Chinese counterpart on 26 March in Ankara. Protests
were held in Istanbul where Turks shouted slogans "Dictator China"
and "Stop Uyghur genocide, close the camps".
To
counter the criticisms and protests by the US, UK, Canada and Turkey, China
took the help of its Arab allies. The government owned news network of Saudi
Arabia Al Arabiya published a long interview of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi on 27 March, 2021. In the interview, Mr Yi justifies his government's
inhuman treatment of Uyghurs. He says:
"Fundamentally,
the issues related to Xinjiang are about the fight against violence, terrorism
and separatism. There was a time when Xinjiang was a target of frequent violent
and terrorist activities which generally undermined the right to survival and
development entitled to all ethnic groups living there. In recent years,
putting the well being of the people front and center, the Xinjiang region
responded actively to the call of the UN, drew on the useful practices of many
countries and redoubled prevention, counter terrorism and deradicalisation
efforts."
He
further says, " Between 2010 and 2018, Xinjiang Uyghur population grew
from 10.17 million to 12.72, an increase of over 25%, much faster than the 2%
growth of Han population in Xinjiang during the same period. How can it be
"ethnic genocide"?
He
also argues,"On the contrary, we find that some western countries have
implemented the policy of dissolving the indigenous population in their
official narrative. As a result, many children were forced to concert to
Christianity and learn English."
But
the FM of China fails to give example of detention camps for cimmunists or
Muslims in European countries. He also forgets that Muslims are entitled to the
right to preach and profess their religion in European countries. Their women
are not sterilised or forced to undergo abortions.
Surprisingly,
the reporter of Al Arabiya does not ask Chinese Foreign Minister about Uyghur
detention camps, torture of men and women in these camps, forced abortions,
rape and sterilisation of Uyghur women in and outside the detention camps. It
seems that the Saudi Arabia government gives China a platform to defend itself.
According
to reports, 1.5 to 3 million Uyghur Muslims and people of other ethnic
minorities have been held in these detention camps. According to a report by
Associated Press in June 2020, "The State regularly subjects minority
women to pregnancy checks and forces intrauterine devices, sterilisation and
even abortion on hundreds of thousands".
The
foreign minister of China gave the statitistics of population growth of Uyghur
Muslims from 2010 to 2018. It is clear that the Xi Jinping government built
detention camps in 2017 with the purpose of stopping the growth of Muslim
population. He did not say how many Uyghur Muslim women have been sterilised
and forced to undergo abortion, raped, tortured and killed in order to bring
about a demographic change in Xinjiang since 2017.
The Xi
Jinping government claims that it is only taking steps to curb terrorism and
radicalisation in the Muslim population of Xinjiang. But a political economist
in the University of California Victor Shihi had said in 2019 that the mass
internments were unnenessary because no active insurgencies existed, only
isolated terrorist incidents.".
Turkey
and European countries have repeatedly accused China of detaining and torturing
Uyghurs in the province of Xinjiang.But many Muslim countries have defended and
supported China on the issue of Uyghur persecution and Saudi Arabia is one of
them. The Chinese Embassy in India, on its website claimed that "In the
recently concluded session of the UN Human Rights Council, 21 Arab and Islamic
countries spoke up for justice in support of China." Currently 39
countries denounce China and 45 countries defend it on the issue of Uyghur
persecution. Out of these 45 ciuntries, 21 are Muslim countries. Saudi Arabia
has trade ties with China and so defends it; Pakistan needs China to keep India
at bay in Afghanistan while Iran needs China to protect itself from the US
agression. Turkey critises China but only coveys its "sensitivity" on
the Uyghur issue. Amid all this sycophancy, insensitivity and hypocrisy of the
Arab and Islamic countries, Uyghur Muslims have been going through all the
torture, humiliation and persecution under the Chinese regime.
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