Recently in Uyghur minority group Category

By Howard W. French | The New York Times (Books of the Times)
April 23, 2009

It is the awkward fate of China, more than any other country, to be arriving late to any number of parties where most other revelers are either long gone or leaving, having declared the celebrations déclassé. Such is the case with China's booming smokestack economy and with its ardent new fling with the automobile, with its desire for a deep-water navy built around aircraft carriers, and with its ambition for a space program that will land on the Moon.

China is also just beginning to grapple with the creation of what most in the developed world would recognize as a modern legal system and acceptable standards for human rights, and it is in much the same position with its cobbling efforts to reinvent the welfare state.

Most anachronistic of all, though, is the country's treatment of its two largest minorities, the Tibetans and Uighurs, both old, non-Han indigenous civilizations that claim meaningful autonomy in China's vast, resource-rich and sparsely populated west. Our Western legacy of land expropriation and slaughter of native peoples by European settlers and imperial armies may give us little to cluck about, but in today's world the rights and interests of native peoples have rightly won greater recognition.

In this memoir, "Dragon Fighter," part defiant political tell-all, part engrossing personal saga, Rebiya Kadeer paints a vivid picture of her life as a mother of 11 and a businesswoman who spent nearly six years in prison on her way to becoming the Uighur people's most prominent dissident.

Since its Communist revolution of 1949 China has employed a brimming catalog of tactics to bring its western region to heel. These include invasion; disappearing of political leaders; gerrymandering to disperse minorities across new, eccentrically redrawn provinces, flooding the cities with subsidized Han immigration; limits on worship, government control of clergy, desecration of temples and harsh repression.

Even Westerners who pay relatively little attention to China will be at least vaguely familiar with the plight of Tibetans, whose religious leader, the Dalai Lama, has been lionized by the Nobel committee and received at the White House.

Such is not the case with the Uighur, a central Asian people who are distant relatives of the Turks and native to what China calls the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, or the New Frontier, an area three and half times as large as California, whose indigenous people look all but set to join the ranks of history's great, overrun losers.

One thing the Uighur, spelled Uyghur in this book, have never had is a leader with great recognition outside China, like the Dalai Lama, who has contributed a brief introduction for this memoir of Ms. Kadeer. She writes: "Politicians and human rights organizations from all over the world were active on behalf of Tibet. The conditions in the Uyghur nation were much the same. But interest from abroad in the two, though literally we were next-door neighbors sharing a common border and both under Chinese occupation, could not have been more dissimilar."

Nor, she might have added, scarcely could the plight of these two neighboring peoples, both of which have long maintained cultural and often political autonomy on the periphery of imperial China, be more fundamentally similar. That the Uighur have never enjoyed anything like the global sympathy extended to Tibetans stands out as a historical oddity that may have something to do with their predominantly Muslim culture, which evokes little of the warm feeling engendered by Tibet's red-robed, incense-burning, sutra-chanting Buddhists.

In the end, though, even this may not matter. Ms. Kadeer writes perceptively about the many humiliations imposed by Beijing on the Uighurs, including routine business harassment and forced abortions, massacres and barriers to trade and contact with other central Asian neighbors. Beijing makes it hard for the Uighurs to believe in anything but ultimate submission to the grand, centrally conceived plans of a powerful China.

On one level Ms. Kadeer's book is a routine account of recent Chinese history. Much more interesting is its core autobiographical story: the remarkable rise from modest roots to a life as, the author claims, the wealthiest woman in China and a politically prominent member of the National People's Congress.

Here, though, the book is marred by language that betrays limited modesty and perhaps even limited self-knowledge. We are constantly reminded of the author's qualities: she is chaste, smart, beautiful, clever, strong, indomitable, selfless, moral, wise and fearless -- especially fearless.

By the end of the book, however, the last of these claims will leave few readers in doubt. Through sheer force of personality Ms. Kadeer overcomes a bad marriage to an abusive husband, then seeks out and marries a former political prisoner and poet, telling him flatly that "after our wedding, our first task will be to liberate the land."

Years, several children and many arduous commercial voyages across China later, having built a fortune (and a big reputation) in department stores and real estate, while she and her second husband dreamed of liberating the land, Ms. Kadeer begins to attract the wooing calls of the party. Her big moment comes in a speech before the Congress in Beijing, in which she boldly switches the approved text to ask: "Is it our fault that the Chinese have occupied our land? That we live under such horrible conditions?"

If not the first time she had spoken truth to power, it was certainly the beginning of the end. Soon afterward Ms. Kadeer was arrested on her way to a meeting with a member of the United States Congress. She was tried, imprisoned for nearly six years and exiled to the United States.

This remarkable life is now added to the saga of the Uighur people, a people without leaders.

>> Original source

*** lakh is a unit in the Indian measuring system 1.9 lakh = 190,000

Thus title means 190,000 killed in China's nuclear tests
The Times of India - April 19, 2009

The nuclear test grounds in the wastes of the Gobi desert have fallen silent but veterans of those lonely places are speaking out for the first time about the terrible price exacted by China's zealous pursuit of the atomic bomb.

They talk of picking up radioactive debris with their bare hands, of sluicing down bombers that had flown through mushroom clouds, of soldiers dying before their time of rare diseases, and children born with mysterious cancers.

These were the men and women of Unit 8023, a special detachment charged with conducting atomic tests at Lop Nur in Xinjiang province, a place of utter desolation and -- until now -- complete secrecy. "I was a member of Unit 8023 for 23 years," said one old soldier in an interview. "My job was to go into the blast zone to retrieve test objects and monitoring equipment after the explosion.

"When my daughter was born she was diagnosed with a huge tumour on her spinal cord. The doctors blame nuclear fallout. She's had two major operations and has lived a life of indescribable hardship."
Hardship and risk counted for little when China was determined to join the nuclear club at any cost. Soldiers galloped on horseback towards mushroom clouds, with only gas masks for protection. Scientists jumped for joy, waving their little red books of Maoist thought, while atomic debris boiled in the sky. Engineers even replicated a full-scale Beijing subway station beneath the sands of the Gobi to test who might survive a Sino-Soviet armageddon.

New research suggests the Chinese nuclear tests from 1964 to 1996 claimed more lives than those of any other nation. Jun Takada, a Japanese physicist, has calculated that up to 1.4 million people were exposed to fallout and 190,000 of them may have died from diseases linked to radiation. The victims included Chinese, Uighur Muslims and Tibetans, who lived in these remote regions.

It is the voices of the Chinese veterans, however, that will resonate loudest in the nation. One group has boldly published letters to the state council and the central military commission -- the two highest government and military bodies -- demanding compensation. China has already responded to pressure from the groups. Last year Li Xueju, the minister of civil affairs, let slip that the state had started to pay "subsidies" to nuclear test personnel.

>> Original source

By Matthias Kehrein and Florian Godovits | The Epoch Times
January 05, 2009

The Uighurs, a nine million Muslim minority, residing in Eastern Turkistan in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, are one of the worst abused people at the hands of the Chinese regime.

In contrast to worldwide awareness of problems in Tibet, the Western media and politicians give little attention to these people's dilemmas. This might be due to cleverly manipulated Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, making people believe the Uighurs are allied with a network of Al Qaeda operatives.
 
The Uighurs have now chosen a spokesperson who shares the same charisma as the Tibetan leader--Rebiya Kadeer, once China's wealthiest woman. She was a respected businesswoman back in the 1990s and was elected to speak before the National People's Congress in Beijing on behalf of the Xinjiang Region. She chose not to hide her people's plight before the Chinese leadership and eventually found herself in solitary confinement in a Xinjiang forced labor camp, in China. Her ordeal lasted six years. She would hear agonizing screams from youths in neighboring cells whose will the abusers tried to break.
 
She is untiringly championing the cause of her people, in spite of threats and intimidation for those of her eleven children who had opted to remain in Xinjiang. [Please see addendum at the end of this interview]
 
The Uighur World Congress took place in Berlin, Germany between April 21 and 23, 2008. Rebiya Kadeer spoke with us about the plight of the Uighurs, her hopes, her views on the international community, and the parallels between her country and Tibet.
 
Epoch Times (ET): Why do so few Western media outlets report about the Uighurs and so much about Tibet?

Rebiya Kadeer (RK): The main reason is the Dalai Lama, who had raised so much awareness in the West these past years. He was fortunate to flee with some of his people and his government. Since he is also the Tibetan spiritual head, people recognized him as Tibet's leader.

For us, the Soviets coerced the Uighur leadership to negotiate with Mao, and they were supposed to fly to mainland China. There were assertions the plane had exploded, and seven Uighur leaders--the president and other ministers--were killed. Since then, the Soviets/Chinese control our territory. Our political administration was unable to flee.

Following that, the Chinese regime dispersed all other Uighurs who could have become leaders, making it impossible to select one overall leader for all the worldwide Uighur organizations.
 
The Chinese regime had dispatched numerous spies and informants in this game of "Divide and Conquer." But this time, following China's severe, grave suppression, the Uighurs have decided to unite. The international community and media had shown Tibet enough interest during the past few years. I am now the voice for the Uighurs.
 
Following the Tibetan protests, mostly Uighur women staged peaceful protests in Hotan on March 23 and 24. The Uighurs are convinced that should Tibet become free, we will also become free! Although the general public is largely unaware of our plight, politicians and scientists know of our dilemma. Even China looks upon us as a sensitive/delicate problem to deal with.

ET: What has it been like since the protests?

RK: Right now the circumstances are horrible. Chinese agents hunt down Uighurs and incarcerate them. Sometimes these CCP people go house-to-house, searching--abominable!

ET: Were there other recent demonstrations in East-Turkistan?

RK: Uighurs have protested the Chinese regime since the CCP had occupied our nation. The head judge of the highest court declared during a January 18, 2008 conference that there were 1,013 instances of unrest. That shows that similar protests have happened. The official line is that these were all "anti-government or separatists' activities."

ET: Forty-five Uighurs were arrested and accused of having planned terrorist activities; what is your opinion?

RK: Because of the events in Tibet, China has lost her credibility around the world. The world pays much attention to China. Now, China aims to draw attention away from herself.

Concurrently, the Chinese people focus on the regime's action at home, because the CCP hopes to direct the population's attention and sentiments toward [a new-found] nationalism, away from the regime's problems. The best "out" the regime had was the Uighurs. The regime once again deceived the Chinese population into believing Uighurs were terrorists, creating the whole story by concocting this ploy.

Initially, the Chinese regime insisted the airplane explosion and death of the Uighur politicians was factual, but never provided any evidence or proof. Following that, they arrested 45 of us, claiming these 45 wanted to abduct foreign journalists, reporters, and tourists. The CCP regime attempted to make these 45 of our countrymen appear to be like Bin Laden followers.
 
The anti-terrorist effort is a worldwide quest. That would have demanded of the CCP regime to prompt an international investigation to determine if these suspected terrorists are what the regime claimed them to be.

Nevertheless, the Uighurs are banned from ever engaging legal representation to defend themselves against unfounded accusations. The Chinese regime would extract confessions under torture, to make the unjustly accused confess things they had never done; even Uighurs detained at Guantanamo were found innocent! If the 45 in question were tried according to international law, I am convinced they would be found innocent.
[...]
 
ET: What could the West do to help Uighur?

RK: My hope for the long run is for the international community to consider our problem the way the Tibetan situation is handled. The international community could send investigation teams and reporters to discover what is happening with the Uighurs; to urge the Chinese during bilateral dialogue to respect our rights; to have Western leaders meet with us and express their empathy with our plight; to negotiate with the Chinese regime for a peaceful solution to our concerns. It would be marvelous if Western nations could dispatch teams to inspect our prisons and execution chambers; to witness how Chinese nationals torture and execute our people. The world needs to know!
 
Following incarceration at the hands of Chinese Communist rulers for allegedly having connections to national separatist activities, Ms. Kadeer was released into U.S. custody on March 15, 2005 and has since lived in Washington, D.C. with her family, except for her children who are still in Xinjiang, as mentioned in the above article.

>> Original source

By Edward Wong | THE NEW YORK TIMES
18 December 2008

A court in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang has sentenced two men to death for an attack in August that killed 17 paramilitary officers, according to a report on Wednesday by Xinhua, the state news agency. The assault was one of the deadliest against security forces since at least the 1990s.

The court determined that the men, who were sentenced in the attack on Aug. 4 in the remote oasis town of Kashgar, were trying to "sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games that began Aug. 8," Xinhua reported. The men, Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, are ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people. Some Uighurs advocate independence in Xinjiang and resent what they call discriminatory policies put in place by the ruling ethnic Han Chinese.

Most, if not all, of the paramilitary officers killed or wounded on Aug. 4 were Han Chinese.

The Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar sentenced the men for "intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives," Xinhua reported.

Chinese officials said the day after the attack that the men, a taxi driver and a vegetable vendor, had rammed a truck into a group of about 70 officers from the People's Armed Police who were out for morning exercises and had then attacked the officers with machetes and homemade explosives. At the time, the authorities said 16 officers were killed and 16 others injured. The attackers were arrested, the authorities said.

The assault was the first and deadliest of four in Xinjiang in August for which officials blamed Uighur separatists. The violence killed at least 23 security officers and one civilian, according to official tallies.

In interviews in September, three foreign tourists who were in the Barony Hotel, across the street from the site of the assault, gave details of the attack to The New York Times that appeared at odds with aspects of the official version. The tourists confirmed that the truck plowed into the officers, leaving many dead and injured. But they said they did not hear multiple explosions afterward.

Furthermore, they said they saw paramilitary officers using machetes to attack what appeared to be other men with the same green security uniforms. The men with the machetes mingled freely with other officers afterward, the tourists said.

The Xinhua report on Wednesday provided more details of the assault to back up the earlier official version. The report said that the two men, armed with guns, explosives, knives and axes, drove a heavy truck that they had stolen to the site of the assault at 6 a.m. and waited for the officers to emerge from their compound. About 8 a.m., Mr. Azat drove the truck into the officers when they came out for their exercises, killing 15 and wounding 13, Xinhua reported.

When the truck turned over, he detonated explosives to kill another person, according to Xinhua.

At the same time, the Xinhua account said, Mr. Hemit tossed explosives toward the gate of the security compound and brandished a knife at the police officers who had been felled by the truck. Mr. Hemit killed one officer and wounded another, Xinhua said.

One of the foreign tourists, a man who provided photos of the assault to two Western news organizations, said in September that he had seen a severely injured man tumble out of the driver's seat after the truck rammed the officers. The driver crawled around and did not appear to be in any condition to carry out further attacks, the tourist said.

The Xinhua report did not give any details on what kind of evidence was reviewed by the court in Kashgar during the trial of the two men. It also did not mention the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a shadowy organization that Chinese officials have long cited as the main separatist threat in Xinjiang. The day after the assault, the party secretary of Kashgar, Shi Dagang, told reporters that it appeared that the two men were members of that group.

>> Original report

By Edward Wong | The New York Times
November 19, 2008

URUMQI, China -- An exhibit on the first floor of the museum here gives the government's unambiguous take on the history of this border region: "Xinjiang has been an inalienable part of the territory of China," says one prominent sign.

But walk upstairs to the second floor, and the ancient corpses on display seem to tell a different story.

One called the Loulan Beauty lies on her back with her shoulder-length hair matted down, her lips pursed in death, her high cheekbones and long nose the most obvious signs that she is not what one thinks of as Chinese.

The Loulan Beauty is one of more than 200 remarkably well-preserved mummies discovered in the western deserts here over the last few decades. The ancient bodies have become protagonists in a very contemporary political dispute over who should control the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

The Chinese authorities here face an intermittent separatist movement of nationalist Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people who number nine million in Xinjiang.

At the heart of the matter lie these questions: Who first settled this inhospitable part of western China? And for how long has the oil-rich region been part of the Chinese empire?

Uighur nationalists have gleaned evidence from the mummies, whose corpses span thousands of years, to support historical claims to the region.

Foreign scholars say that at the very least, the Tarim mummies -- named after the vast Tarim Basin where they were found -- show that Xinjiang has always been a melting pot, a place where people from various corners of Eurasia founded societies and where cultures overlapped.

Contact between peoples was particularly frequent in the heyday of the Silk Road, when camel caravans transported goods that flowed from as far away as the Mediterranean. "It's historically been a place where cultures have mixed together," said Yidilisi Abuduresula, 58, a Uighur archaeologist in Xinjiang working on the mummies.

The Tarim mummies seem to indicate that the very first people to settle the area came from the west -- down from the steppes of Central Asia and even farther afield -- and not from the fertile plains and river valleys of the Chinese interior. The oldest, like the Loulan Beauty, date back 3,800 years.

Some Uighurs have latched on to the fact that the oldest mummies are most likely from the west as evidence that Xinjiang has belonged to the Uighurs throughout history. A modern, nationalistic pop song praising the Loulan Beauty has even become popular.

"The people found in Loulan were Uighur people, according to the materials," said a Uighur tour guide in the city of Kashgar who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of running afoul of the Chinese authorities. "The nationalities of Xinjiang are very complicated. There have been many since ancient times."

Scholars generally agree that Uighurs did not migrate to what is now Xinjiang from Central Asia until the 10th century. But, uncomfortably for the Chinese authorities, evidence from the mummies also offers a far more nuanced history of settlement than the official Chinese version.

By that official account, Zhang Qian, a general of the Han dynasty, led a military expedition to Xinjiang in the second century B.C. His presence is often cited by the ethnic Han Chinese when making historical claims to the region.

The mummies show, though, that humans entered the region thousands of years earlier, and almost certainly from the west.

What is indisputable is that the Tarim mummies are among the greatest recent archaeological finds in China, perhaps the world.

Four are in glass display cases in the main museum here in Urumqi, the regional capital. Their skin is parched and blackened from the wear and tear of thousands of years, but their bodies are strikingly intact, preserved by the dry climate of the western desert.

Some foreign scholars say the Chinese government, eager to assert a narrative of longtime Chinese dominance of Xinjiang, is unwilling to face the fact that the mummies provide evidence of heterogeneity throughout the region's history of human settlement.

As a result, they say, the government has been unwilling to give broad access to foreign scientists to conduct genetic tests on the mummies.

"In terms of advanced scientific research on the mummies, it's just not happening," said Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania who has been at the forefront of foreign scholarship of the mummies.

Mr. Mair first spotted one of the mummies, a red-haired corpse called the Cherchen Man, in the back room of a museum in Urumqi while leading a tour of Americans there in 1988, the first year the mummies were put on display.

Since then, he says that he has been obsessed with pinpointing the origins of the mummies, intent on proving a theory dear to him: that the movement of peoples throughout history is far more common than previously thought.

Mr. Mair has assembled various groups of scholars to do research on the mummies. In 1993, the Chinese government tried to prevent Mr. Mair from leaving China with 52 tissue samples after having authorized him to go to Xinjiang and to collect them.

But a Chinese researcher managed to slip a half-dozen vials to Mr. Mair. From those samples, an Italian geneticist concluded in 1995 that at least two of the mummies had a European genetic marker.

The Chinese government in recent years has allowed genetic research on the mummies to be conducted only by Chinese scientists.

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