Focus Taiwan stated that a number of Taiwanese NGOs expressed their support for the Uyghur people’s fight to establish their own independent country and urged others to speak out against China’s persecution of the minority group.
“As human rights workers in Taiwan, the least we can do is speak out for the Uyghurs on the anniversary of the establishment of the East Turkestan Republics.” East Turkestan
On July 4, Ho Chao-Tung, the head of the Taiwan East Turkestan Association, staged a gathering outside Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. He claimed that since the Chinese People’s Liberation Army invaded East Turkistan in 1949 and took away their sovereignty, the Uyghurs have been denied even the most fundamental human rights.
For years, Uyghurs have fought to create an independent East Turkestan. The Uyghurs were successful in founding the East Turkistan Republic in 1933, but it only existed for a brief time. The East Turkistan Republics were then re-established in 1944, but Focus Taiwan claims that this one also didn’t last for very long.
According to Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights commissioner, China has violated the rights of the Uyghur and “other mostly Muslim populations” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region this year, according to a report she released in August (XUAR).
The report, which was released on the last day of Bachelet’s four-year term in office, stated that the violations occurred in light of the Chinese government’s claim that it is using so-called vocational educational and training centres (VETCs), also known as re-education camps, as part of a counter-extremism strategy to target terrorists among the Uyghur minority.
According to Ho, the CCP’s oppressive rule over the Uyghurs in Xinjiang is intended to make them conform to Han Chinese culture and has increased their mistrust of the Chinese government.
A democratic system would grant the people of China the right to self-determination, according to Wu’er Kaixi, a Uyghur national who served as a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. This was reported by Focus Taiwan.
East Turkestan Republic might be able to achieve independence if China one day adopts democracy, according to Wu’er Kaixi, secretary-general of Taiwan’s Parliamentary Human Rights Commission.
The majority of NGOs concerned with Hong Kong and Tibet’s human rights attended the remembrance event in Taipei. According to Focus Taiwan, it also included the raising of the national flag of the East Turkestan Republics and the playing of the national anthem.