China: Uighur Dissident Condemns Chinese Crackdown in Xinjiang

And the violence in Xinjiang is causign outrage among the Uighur population living overseas. Among them, Wu’er Kaixi, who fled China after leading students to protest on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Here’s what he has to say about the violence there.

Now living and working in Taiwan, Wu’er Kaixi says the Communist Party uses the U.S. sponsored fight against terror as an excuse to crack down on the China’s Uighurs.

[Wu’er Kaixi, Uighur Dissident]:
„Especially after 9-11 incident in the U.S., when U.S. has asked China to join the allies in anti-terrorism, Chinese has adopted this method to label all Uighur ethnic demonstration or protest, even if it’s very peaceful protest, label it as terrorist act. The very fact that Uighur people being Muslim, unfortunately in the world, is one of the reasons not getting attention and sympathy.“

Wu’er Kaixi fled to France at the age of 21 and studied at Harvard University before moving to Taiwan.

China’s Communist Party has rejected his request to return to the country to visit his aging parents.

Wu’er says the Party’s policy in Xinjiang means that future unrest is likely.

[Wu’er Kaixi, Uighur Dissident]:
„After using such a terrorizing force to establish order may not be that difficult for the Chinese government, but to have the people’s willingness to submit to the government, that is not going to be an easy task. I see similar incident return. It will come back. I feel very sad about the fact that the hatred between the two ethnic groups, between Han Chinese and the Uighur people, are increasing day by day, but the Chinese government is not doing anything to ease that, on the contrary, they are pouring oil on the flame.“

Xinjiang is the doorway to China’s trade and energy ties with Central Asia, and is itself rich in gas, minerals and farm produce.

But many Uighurs say they see little of that wealth. Almost half of Xinjiang’s 20 million people are Uighurs.

The population of Urumqi is mostly Han Chinese, and the city is under tight police security even in normal times.

(NTDTV)