In a major development, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on three senior Chinese officials over “human rights abuse” on the ethnic and religious minorities in China. The sanction bars them from entering the United States. The step comes after US President Donald Trump enacted “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act” which requires various governmental bodies to report on the human rights abuses by Chinese government against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
These sanctioned officers are Chen Quanguo, Zhu Halim and Wang Mingshan. All of them are related to the Xinjiang region where Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minority communities have been targeted by the Communist Party of China. After the US intervention, it becomes important to know and analyse the situation of minorities in China.
China is known for its censorship over media and press but still many courageous journalists and scholars try to expose the real picture before the world. Conditions in Xinjiang, as per media reports and research, are very dangerous. Uyghurs, who form the ethnic minority group and majority of them follow Islam, have been subjected to constant torture and repression from the Chinese authorities. German scholar Adrian Zenz has recently released a report on the plight of Uyghurs in China. He prepared this report with the help of government data, policy documents and by interviewing Uyghur women. According to this report, Chinese officials threaten to send Uyghur women along with other ethnic minorities to detention camps for their refusal to abort pregnancies exceeding birth quotas. Report also alleges China for sterilising women in Xinjiang without their consent. By doing so, it is trying to control the population of the Uyghurs.
China doesn’t stop here with just physical torture; it has planned psychological torture too. It has reportedly planned to rewrite the religious books including Quran and Bible to ‘reflect socialist values’. China has also opened the detention camps, officially called as ‘Vocal Education and Training Centres’, to indoctrinate the Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017. Exiled Uyghurs have been demanding justice for their ethnicity for a long time and they are vocal for it. One such group of Uyghurs has submitted evidence of Chinese ‘genocide’ at International Criminal Court on 7 July. This evidence holds China and its president Xi Jinping responsible for committing “genocide”.
Conditions in Tibet are no more different than Xinjiang. Crackdown, arrests and self-immolations in the region from Chinese authorities are widely known. On 5th July, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy released its annual report of 2019 on ‘human rights situation in Tibet’. China, as stated in this report, launched a 3-year nationwide political campaign to destroy ‘black and evil forces’ in 2018. Report further accuses the Chinese authorities for using targeted surveillance against bloggers, journalists and human rights activists. Tibetan language, the report says, has been replaced by Mandarin and migrants from other regions are also changing demographics in Tibet. Other than Tibetans and Uyghurs, Huis and Mongols are meeting the same fate. Hui activists have alleged that Chinese authorities are targeting them after prosecution of Uyghurs. Hui Muslims were also found in the detention camps of Xinjiang where Uyghurs are being detained. China, to Mongols, is using their land resources and snatching their political as well civil rights.
Questions are many after these reports and researches. Why has the world generally maintained silence on human rights abuse and minority persecution in China? Why is China above scrutiny and questioning? Why are there no protests across the world like protests which were organised after George Floyd’s death? Why do human rights groups in India, which organise series of seminars in the Constitution Club over minor strife, have become completely cold-blooded and ruthless? Strange thing is that even Islamic countries are acting ignorant on the issue of Uyghur Muslims. The UAE, Egypt and Turkey have maintained an eerie silence. In November 2019, when Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was asked about Uyghurs, he ‘frankly’ said that he didn’t know much. And then suddenly after two months he claimed to talk about it with China ‘privately’ and blamed India as usual.
China, either directly or by sponsoring, often launched vitriolic attacks on India on international platforms but the condition of the minorities there is really callous. It is using its imperial ambitions to claim territories of other countries. The US government has taken a step in the right direction and has internationalised the issue. To put China on the back foot, India and other countries, too, should raise voice on the plight of minorities or they should at least provide moral support to those who are raising their voices against oppression.
The author is a columnist, news researcher and political observer.