Foreign Policy Blogs

Genocide in China?

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Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, compared the violence in China’s Xinjiang region against the minority Uighurs to genocide on Friday. Speaking about the violent protests that have taken place between ethnic Han Chinese and Uighurs he said, “The event taking place in China is a kind of genocide . . . There are atrocities there, hundreds of people have been killed and 1,000 hurt. We have difficulty understanding how China’s leadership can remain a spectator in the face of these events.”Turks share religious and cultural bonds with the Muslim Uighurs, who have faced increasing crackdowns by the Chinese government this past week after a small protest by Uighers in the predominantly Han Chinese city of Urumqi escalated into riots on July 5. Tensions between Uighurs and Han Chinese have been high in recent years, as Uighurs believe that they are often singled out for unfair treatment by the government.

While Uighurs account for over half the population in Xinjiang province, they are a minority in the region’s capital of Urumqi. However the peaceful protest on Sunday concerned a brawl that took place last month between Han Chinese and Uighurs at a toy factory in Guangdong province, more than 2000 miles away. That brawl left two Uighurs dead at the hands of a Han Chinese mob, and no suspects arrested for the incident. However, when Uighurs students peacefully protested the government’s inaction on Sunday, they were met with security forces who dealt with the situation by allegedly firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

This led to violent rioting by Uighurs on Sunday, and retaliations by Han Chinese throughout the week that have left hundreds dead, thousands under arrest, and has led to a flood of Chinese military into the region. The violence is the worst in China since Tienanmen Square protests in 1989. Mosques were ordered closed throughout the city for security reasons, preventing the Muslim Uighurs from practicing their religion, while further protests by Uighur women concerning the continued holding of their men folk have been quashed by security forces. An ethnic breakdown of riot causalities released by the Chinese government on Friday showed that most of the 184 killed were ethnic Han Chinese, however those figures are disputed by many outside observers.

Nevertheless, it is not stopping Turkey from pushing the Uighur cause. In addition to Prime Minister Erdogan’s comments, which are some of the harshest made by a foreign official after the violence started, many in Turkey are pushing for a complete boycott of Chinese goods until the violence against Uighurs is stopped.

 

Author

Kimberly J. Curtis

Kimberly Curtis has a Master's degree in International Affairs and a Juris Doctor from American University in Washington, DC. She is a co-founder of The Women's Empowerment Institute of Cameroon and has worked for human rights organizations in Rwanda and the United States. You can follow her on Twitter at @curtiskj

Areas of Focus: Transitional justice; Women's rights; Africa