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The Great Uighur Tragedy
History repeats itself, as they say, but this might be the last time it does for the people of East Turkestan.
By Hector Miranda Plaza, December 26, 2020
Title Image: Reuters
On January 20, 2021, the United States government denounced the People’s Republic of China for its alleged genocide of the country’s Uighur population. Although this was shadowed by the commotion of the then-President elect Biden’s inauguration, it signals a stark shift in US-China relations from an open detente to a cold unease.
Altogether, 39 countries have already condemned China’s treatment of its minority populations. Despite such international attention, many are still unaware of the Uighurs’ mistreatment. What is going on, and why is the Chinese government doing this?
Throughout its long and complicated history, China’s territories have been inhabited by many other people besides what is considered “Chinese”. The Han Chinese, the ethnic group that is most colloquially considered Chinese, engaged in a process of cultural assimilation known as sinicization.
Beginning in the Yellow River Basin, they slowly expanded, conquering their neighboring ethnicities and assimilating them. This continued until as late as the 20th century, leaving shrinking minorities in Manchuria, the mountainous south, and the far west. The majority muslim Uighurs, which inhabit the remote deserts of East Turkestan, are among these.
Sitting on the fringes of modern day China, the Uighur lands are mostly desert and sparsely inhabited. Because the land they inhabited was crucial for control of the Chinese borderlands, having a minority inhabit the area could allow for foreign subversion of their border.
Therefore, the Chinese government attempted to assimilate them multiple times in the past, but failed due to the sheer distance of East Turkestan from the Han mainland and the area’s rough geography. For the hundreds of years that their culture has been attacked by China, the Uighur people have stood strong. This may not be the case for long, though.
Although their territory is controlled by China, the Uighurs are culturally related to the Turkic countries of Central Asia. Sven Hedin
Military checkpoints and constant government surveillance are a fact of life all citizens have to deal with if they wish to travel from the Xinjiang province (also referred to as East Turkestan by the non-Han population). More than 10,000 mosques, the bedrock of the region’s sociocultural and religious life, have been demolished by the government. Uighur women have been forced to be sterilized. All of this compliments a much more nefarious system of oppression, however.
Under the guise of “preserving national security”, the Chinese have one again begun a cultural assimilation campaign by forcing East Turkestanis into “reeducation camps'' for “egregious crimes” such as having a beard and engaging in Uighur culture. Those imprisoned in these camps range in age, size, gender, and profession; the Chinese government is certainly no picky chooser. It is in these camps that China’s attempt to eradicate East Turkestani culture hides its most nefarious deeds.
In these camps, Uighurs are tortured and killed with impunity. According to firsthand accounts from survivors, captives were fed pork, consumption of which is considered sinful in Islam, and on Fridays, which is considered a holy day of the week. Some are even cruelly thrown in pits with their hands and legs tied, and accused of crimes they did not commit. All of this is to, as Xi Jinping said in a leaked speech after a small, “show absolutely no mercy” to the Uighur people.
Despite the abundance of evidence showing abuse, the Chinese government continues to deny this, with official statements from Chinese embassies and the government denying all cases of abuse at their hands. Even after documents in which CCP leaders in the area such as Chen Quanguo gave the order to “round up everyone who should be rounded up”, China’s government has dishonestly refused the existence of these camps.
There is some hope, though. With the US denouncing China’s attempt at ethnically cleansing the region of Uighurs, they become the first world superpower to do so. This draws attention to the issue and puts great pressure on its allies to follow suit.
The dark clouds of oppression cover Xinjiang, but if we collectively raise awareness and demand our governments take action, we can help stave off the incoming storm.