US Congress condemns China for treatment of Uighurs
December 4, 2019
A US bill that describes Beijing's treatment of Muslim minorities as "gross violations" of human rights has been overwhelmingly supported. China has refuted the claims, saying they are merely trying to combat terrorism.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/epa/D. Azubel
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The US House of Representatives approved a bill late on Tuesday aimed at increasing pressure on China over the brutal crackdown on Muslim minorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Congress voted 407-1 in favor of the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, which has already passed the Senate.
The Act decries China's "gross human rights violations" linked to the maltreatment of more than 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in so-called reeducation camps.
The minorities at the camps are subjected to political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and food deprivation, as well as denial of religious and linguistic freedom.
Rising tensions
The Act urges US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Chinese officials behind the Uighur policy, including Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party chief for Xinjiang.
"The Chinese Government and Communist Party is working to systematically wipe out the ethnic and cultural identities of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang," said Senator Marco Rubio.
The Republican lawmaker added: "Today, Congress took another important step to hold Chinese officials accountable for egregious and ongoing human rights abuses."
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, told her colleagues prior to the vote: "Today the human dignity and human rights of the Uighur community are under threat from Beijing's barbarous actions, which are an outrage to the collective conscience of the world."
Congress "is taking a critical step to counter Beijing's horrific human rights abuses against Uighurs," Pelosi continued, before adding, "America is watching."
Chinese outrage
The legislative measure sparked a furious response from Beijing.
"We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes, prevent the aforementioned Xinjiang-related bill from becoming law, and stop using the Xinjiang-related issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
"China will respond according to the development of the situation," spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
Hua said the measure smeared China's attempts to fight terrorism.
"Xinjiang-related issues are not issues of human rights, ethnicity or religion, but issues related to anti-terrorism and anti-separatism," Hua said, adding that China's actions in Xinjiang had prevented any terrorist attack from happening in the past three years.
China's Uighur heartland turns into security state
China says it faces a serious threat from Islamist extremists in its Xinjiang region. Beijing accuses separatists among the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority of stirring up tensions with the ethnic Han Chinese majority.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
China's far western Xinjiang region ramps up security
Three times a day, alarms ring out through the streets of China's ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, and shopkeepers rush out of their stores swinging government-issued wooden clubs. In mandatory anti-terror drills conducted under police supervision, they fight off imaginary knife-wielding assailants.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
One Belt, One Road Initiative
An ethnic Uighur man walks down the path leading to the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamakan Desert. A historic trading post, the city of Kashgar is central to China's "One Belt, One Road Initiative", which is President Xi Jinping's signature foreign and economic policy involving massive infrastructure spending linking China to Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
China fears disruption of "One Belt, One Road" summit
A man herds sheep in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. China's worst fears are that a large-scale attack would blight this year's diplomatic setpiece, an OBOR summit attended by world leaders planned for Beijing. Since ethnic riots in the regional capital Urumqi in 2009, Xinjiang has been plagued by bouts of deadly violence.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Ethnic minority in China
A woman prays at a grave near the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamankan Desert. Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking distinct and mostly Sunni Muslim community and one of the 55 recognized ethnic minorities in China. Although Uighurs have traditionally practiced a moderate version of Islam, experts believe that some of them have been joining Islamic militias in the Middle East.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Communist Party vows to continue war on terror
Chinese state media say the threat remains high, so the Communist Party has vowed to continue its "war on terror" against Islamist extremism. For example, Chinese authorities have passed measures banning many typically Muslim customs. The initiative makes it illegal to "reject or refuse" state propaganda, although it was not immediately clear how the authorities would enforce this regulation.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
CCTV cameras are being installed
Many residents say the anti-terror drills are just part of an oppressive security operation that has been ramped up in Kashgar and other cities in Xinjiang's Uighur heartland in recent months. For many Uighurs it is not about security, but mass surveillance. "We have no privacy. They want to see what you're up to," says a shop owner in Kashgar.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Ban on many typically Muslim customs
The most visible change is likely to come from the ban on "abnormal growing of beards," and the restriction on wearing veils. Specifically, workers in public spaces, including stations and airports, will be required to "dissuade" people with veils on their faces from entering and report them to the police.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Security personnel keep watch
Authorities offer rewards for those who report "youth with long beards or other popular religious customs that have been radicalized", as part of a wider incentive system that rewards actionable intelligence on imminent attacks. Human rights activists have been critical of the tactics used by the government in combatting the alleged extremists, accusing it of human rights abuses.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Economy or security?
China routinely denies pursuing repressive policies in Xinjiang and points to the vast sums it spends on economic development in the resource-rich region. James Leibold, an expert on Chinese ethnic policy says the focus on security runs counter to Beijing's goal of using the OBOR initiative to boost Xinjiang's economy, because it would disrupt the flow of people and ideas.