A human rights activist and intellectual Maung Zarni
A human rights activist and intellectual said he withdrew from a Beijing-sponsored forum in London to protest the detention of a million Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang.
“As a human rights activist, a Buddhist educator and a politically engaged scholar of genocide, racism and violence, I cannot, in clear conscience, participate in the three-day forum which is officially endorsed by the Government of China,” wrote Maung Zarni in his withdrawal letter on Friday.
Zarni was scheduled to deliver a speech on his country Myanmar’s genocide on Dec. 7 at the 5th Global China Dialogue on Governance for Global Justice.
“[…] the ruling Communist Party of China today stands credibly accused of commissioning a systematic and racially motivated persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Province,” he went onto say.
Recalling an event, he attended in Geneva in September, Zarni said a Muslim Uyghur man delivered a speech which said his mother had died two weeks ago in one of the concentration camps and the man had not seen his mother for the last 20 years.
“I was moved by this Uyghur exile – born and raised in what he and his fellow people call East Turkistan vis-à-vis China’s official name for his homeland, Xinjiang,” he said, sympathizing with the man as he also saw his mother for very brief times in the last 30 years before her death in February, “as a Burmese exile from military-controlled Burma, or Myanmar”.
He also said he saw at the same event some evidence of “a vast complex of concentration camps” – as a German investigative journalist put it.
“I saw photographic evidence of one complex encircled by a tall concrete wall, with watch towers, CCTV surveillance cameras and machine-gun-holding guards,” he noted.
Mihrigul Tursun, a 29-year-old Uyghur Muslim, said the torture and abuse at one of the internment camps Chinese authorities use to detain 1.5 million people from religious minorities was so bad she begged for death.“I thought that I would rather die than go through this torture and begged them to kill me,” she said at the National Press Club in Washington.After her second arrest in 2017, Tursun said she was interrogated for four consecutive days without sleep, had her hair shaved, was electrocuted and also forced into an intrusive medical examination.Tursun moved from China to Egypt to study, and met her husband there. She had triplets and returned to China in 2015 to see her family.China’s ‘vocational camps’ employ draconian measures, use 360-degree surveillance in washroomsShe was immediately arrested and her children were taken from her. Three months later, she was released only to find that one of her triplets had died and the others had developed health issues.Two years later, she was arrested again and then released only to be arrested for a third time.Tursun said she shared a prison cell with 60 other women for three months, during which nine of her cellmates died. The women had to take turns sleeping and even use the bathroom while being watched by surveillance cameras. “The authorities put a helmet-like thing on my head, and each time I was electrocuted, my whole body would shake violently and I would feel the pain in my veins,” Tursun said, referring to an incident when she was made to sit a high chair and her legs and arms were shackled.“I don’t remember the rest. White foam came out of my mouth, and I began to lose consciousness. The last word I heard them saying is that you being a Uighur is a crime,” she added.Tursun said the facility employees forced the inmates, including herself, to take strange medication, some of which caused them to faint. The inmates were also made to drink a white liquid that caused some women to bleed and others to stop menstruating.Ultimately Tursun was freed so she could take her children to Egypt but she was directed to return to China. Once she arrived in Egypt, she reached out to the U.S. and has resided in Virginia since September.Scholars condemn China for mass detention of Muslim UighursMany refer to China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.They believe that the Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.Established under the pretext of “political reeducation” for China’s Muslim population, Beijing has amped up its construction of detention camps in the past three months, expanding them by an additional 700,000 square meters, according to satellite imagery.China’s Muslim incarceration camps have attracted heavy criticism from the international community as Beijing continually denied their existence and repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses against the country’s Uighur minority for years, opting to call them “vocational camps” instead.Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group which makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has long accused China’s authorities for cultural, religious and economic discrimination.In rare coordinated move, Western envoys seek meeting on Xinjiang concernsHundreds in US march in solidarity for UyghursGermany cannot accept China’s camps for Uighur MuslimsSecurity spending soars in China's troubled Xinjiang region: report
‘I begged them to kill me,’ says Uyghur woman who survived Chinese detention camp
Stability in Saudi Arabia is the cornerstone of prosperity and progress in the Gulf, and China firmly supports Riyadh in its drive for economic diversification and social reform, President Xi Jinping told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Meeting in Buenos Aires, host of the G20 summit of industrialized nations on Friday, Xi said China has always attached great importance to its relations with Saudi Arabia, China's official Xinhua news agency reported."China firmly supports Saudi Arabia in its drive for economic diversification and social reform, and will continue to stick together with Saudi Arabia on issues involving their core interests," Xinhua cited Xi as saying.The Saudi press agency reported early on Saturday that the crown prince and Xi discussed partnership between the two countries and harmonising Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision with China's Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Saudi energy supplies to China and mutual investment.China and Saudi Arabia have close energy ties.Saudi Arabia is set to expand its market share in China this year for the first time since 2012, with demand stirred up by new Chinese refiners pushing the kingdom back into contention with Russia as top supplier to the world's largest oil buyer.Saudi Arabia, the biggest global oil exporter, has been surpassed by Russia as top crude supplier to China the past two years as private "teapot" refiners and a new pipeline drove up demand for Russian oil.China also has good relations with Saudi's regional rival, Iran, and has long had to balance its ties between Riyadh and Tehran. Saudi, UAE step up support for PKK terrorists in northeast SyriaSaudi Crown Prince sidelined in G20 family photo
China supports Saudi Arabia in economic and social change: Xi
Zarni recalled a statement of Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee, saying she was concerned about a UN report, which said China had "turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp".
He also called on “China’s intellectuals and China-friendly global academics” to work towards reversing the “deeply troubling path” of the country.
“Until then I have decided to boycott any public or private educational or cultural event that is officially backed by the Government of China.”
Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. The Turkic Muslims have long accused China’s authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.
China stepped up its restrictions on the region in the past two years, banning men from growing beards and women from wearing veils, and introducing what many experts regard as the world’s most extensive electronic surveillance program, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Up to 1 million people, or about 7 percent of the Muslim population in China’s Xinjiang region, have now been incarcerated in an expanding network of “political re-education” camps, according to U.S. officials and United Nations experts.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will wrap up a global summit on Saturday with high-stakes talks expected to determine whether they can begin defusing a damaging trade war between the world's two biggest economies.With the United States and China locked in growing disputes over commerce and security that have raised questions about the future of their relationship, Trump and Xi are due to sit down for dinner at the end of a two-day gathering of world leaders in Buenos Aires.The first day of the G20 summit offered glimmers of hope for progress between Washington and Beijing despite Trump’s earlier threat of new tariffs, which would increase tensions already weighing on global financial markets.But on the eve of what is seen as the most important meeting of U.S. and Chinese leaders in years, both sides said differences remained, and the outcome of the talks were uncertain.This year's summit has proved to be a major test for the Group of 20 industrialized nations, whose leaders first met in 2008 to help rescue the global economy from the worst financial crisis in seven decades.With a rise in nationalist sentiment in many countries, the G20, which accounts for two-thirds of the global population, faces doubts over its ability to deal with trade tensions and other geopolitical differences among.G20 nations were still struggling to agree on the wording for the summit's communique on major issues including trade, migration and climate change, which in past years have been worked out well in advance.Looming large at the summit is the trade fight between the United States and China, which have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars on each other’s imports after Trump began an effort to correct what he views as China's unfair commercial practices.With the trade war weighing on the global economy, world financial markets are hanging on every development and will be watching closely to see if any compromise can be struck between Trump and Xi. The meeting will also be a test of the personal chemistry between the two leaders, which Trump has hailed as a warm friendship.Another big unknown, however, may be Trump’s personal unpredictability and his penchant for injecting drama into his appearances on the world stage.Saudi Crown Prince sidelined in G20 family photoTrump: A deal 'would be good'Trump was typically coy on Friday even as he noted some positive signs."We're working very hard. If we could make a deal that would be good. I think they want to. I think we’d like to. We’ll see," he said, speaking during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.A Chinese foreign ministry official in Buenos Aires said there were signs of increasing consensus ahead of the discussions but that differences persisted.Beijing hopes to persuade Trump to abandon plans to hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent in January, from 10 percent at present. Trump has threatened to go ahead with that and possibly add tariffs on $267 billion of imports if there is no progress in the talks.Trump has long railed against China's trade surplus with the United States and Washington accuses Beijing of not playing fairly on trade. China calls the United States protectionist and has resisted what it views as attempts to intimidate it.The two countries are also at odds militarily over China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea and U.S. warship movements through the highly sensitive Taiwan Strait.Xi and leaders from the BRICS group of leading emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - called in a statement on Friday for open international trade and a strengthening of the World Trade Organization (WTO).Trump cited Russia's seizure of Ukrainian ships last week as the reason he canceled a planned bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.The presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the summit also raised an awkward dilemma for leaders, and Saudi Arabia's de facto leader cut a lonely figure standing at the edge of the G20 family photo on Friday.Prince Mohammed arrived under swirling controversy over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Saudi Arabia has said the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder.Human Rights Watch asked Argentine prosecutors to investigate him for human rights abuses.Putin warmly greets Saudi crown prince at G20 summit
Trump, China's Xi poised for high-stakes summit over trade war
The 1.5 million “prisoners,” a million of whom are Uighur Muslims, locked up in China’s “vocational training centers” in Xinjiang are subject to such severe indoctrination and security measures that “some are tortured and die there,” the Bitter Winter online magazine reported on Monday.The report is based on a video published by Bitter Winter on Nov. 26 that delves inside one of the centers in the Yining area of Xinjiang.The video shows a complex with various buildings, each four stories tall. The windows are barred and also have netting. Each exit is monitored by three surveillance cameras. The inside of the buildings are highly reminiscent of typical prisons.“Each room has double iron doors, and the outermost iron door also has guard railing and a keypad lock. Up to 15 people can live in each dorm. Surveying has also revealed that each floor holds 28 dorm rooms and three classrooms,” the Bitter Winter reported. The building shown in the shocking video also reveals a surveillance room. “From the large-screen monitor, it is apparent that 360-degree surveillance cameras are installed in every corner of the building—including not only classrooms, dormitories and corridors, but even washrooms. Every move by the detainees is monitored, 24 hours a day. They are totally deprived of freedom and privacy.”The draconian security measures are used to keep people inside and prevent them from escaping. The building is also littered with propaganda aimed at assimilating those being held.“A slogan is written on the external walls of the buildings, which reads: ‘Heartfelt thanks for the cordial care of the [Chinese Communist] Party’s central committee, with comrade Xi Jinping as the core,’” the Bitter Winter reported. “Various slogans are written on the walls outside of the classrooms, such as: ‘Make a habit of studying Mandarin’ (intended for Uyghurs, who normally do not speak Mandarin but only their own Uyghur language) and ‘Follow the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and untiringly strive to achieve the dream of the people of China to bring about a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.’”Many refer to China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.They believe that the Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China. Established under the pretext of “political reeducation” for China’s Muslim population, Beijing has amped up its construction of detention camps in the past three months, expanding them by an additional 700,000 square meters, according to satellite imagery.China’s Muslim incarceration camps have attracted heavy criticism from the international community as Beijing continually denied their existence and repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses against the country’s Uighur minority for years, opting to call them “vocational camps” instead.Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group which makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has long accused China’s authorities for cultural, religious and economic discrimination.Scholars condemn China for mass detention of Muslim UighursIn rare coordinated move, Western envoys seek meeting on Xinjiang concernsGermany cannot accept China’s camps for Uighur MuslimsChina says world should ignore 'gossip' about XinjiangChina triples spending to expand detention camps for Uighur Muslims
China’s ‘vocational camps’ employ draconian measures, use 360-degree surveillance in washrooms