The Uyghur Crackdown: An Ugly Reflection of the Chinese Communist Party
Many of us have probably swiped by an Instagram story with the caption “Free Uyghurs,” seen the leaked satellite images of Uyghur detention centers, or heard calls for boycotting the Disney movie Mulan for thanking government security agencies in the Xinjiang province in their final credits. But who exactly are the Uyghurs and why is the Chinese government conducting a campaign of genocide?
The Uyghurs are one of the 55 officially recognized ethnic minority groups in China and are a Turkic-speaking group that practices the Muslim faith. They populate around half of the population in an area northwest of China called Xinjiang, with approximately 11 million people. [1]
Since 2014, the Chinese government has been cracking down on the Uyghur population, detaining possibly over a million Uyghurs in detention camps aimed to force ideologies and brainwash members to honor the Chinese Communist Party and renounce their religious beliefs. [2] While China initially denied the existence of these camps, satellite photographs show stark evidence that these camps exist.
Other reports have shown that within the Xinjiang area, China has targeted the cultural practices of the Uyghur Muslims by preventing them to fast during the month of Ramadan, restraining them from attending mosques, and forbidding them to name babies with certain Muslim names. [2] The country has also turned to force sterilization upon Uyghur women, whether that is through women being involuntarily fitted with intrauterine devices (IUDs), mandatory birth control, or sterilization surgeries for the sake of population control in the region. [3]
China’s justification is the following: crackdowns on the Uighur population will eradicate extremism and separatist movements. According to Beijing, the country has “destroyed 1,588 violent and terrorist gangs, arrested 12,995 terrorists, seized 2,052 explosive devices, punished 30,645 people for 4,858 illegal religious activities, and confiscated 345,229 copies of illegal religious materials” in the Xinjiang region since 2014. [4] Furthermore, suspicion towards Muslims, exacerbated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the rise of the Islamic State, has pushed forward an “us vs. Muslim Uyghurs” dichotomy in China. [5]
However, it is pretty easy to look beyond China’s reasoning to discover their true intentions. To put it simply, China is scared. One of the Chinese Communist Party’s biggest fears is the threat of extremist and separatist movements that could cause internal disorder and potentially become the ruling party. The Uyghurs and the increasing sentiment for secession are not the only threat to China; Tibet, inner regions of Mongolia, Hong Kong, and other regions have all seen significant secessionist movements rise in the past few years and decades. [6] If China loses grasp of its authority upon Xinjiang, this could invigorate other movements as well and cause major disruption in China’s “harmony”. Through its crackdown, the Chinese government also tries to fight potential foreign influence. China has great concerns about the possibility of foreign states influencing society in the country through the Uyghur Muslim religion. [7]
Unsurprisingly, there are more practical motives to China’s intentions, one of them being the fact that Xinjiang is an important contributor to the Chinese economy. The region is rich in resources; it is home to “30% of the country’s oil and 40% of the country’s coal resources” and supplies one-third of China’s cotton production. Geographically, Xinjiang is also a huge asset to China as the region is the gateway to Central Asia and Pakistan for the Belt and Road Initiative. With so many investments made towards the Xinjiang region, China cannot afford to let it go. [8]
What China fails to notice is that detention camps and efforts to abolish the Muslim religion only strengthens the Uyghur identity even more. While China hopes that economic prosperity and propagating atheism will stimulate Uyghur assimilation, the Uyghur community views China’s plan as “a determined effort to destroy their culture and ravage their homeland.” [8] Governmental actions against the Uyghurs do not discourage the population but instead acts as a stamp of legitimacy and strengthens their identity and solidarity.
The Uyghur crackdown is a blatant act of genocide, one that should be strongly condemned by the international community. It is an ugly reflection of a power-hungry, economic-driven Chinese Communist Party.
Sources
Maizland, Lindsay. “China’s Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang.” Council on Foreign Relations, 2020. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uighurs-xinjiang.
“The Uighurs and the Chinese state: A long history of discord.” BBC, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037.
“China forcing birth control on Uighurs to suppress population, report says.” BBC, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53220713.
Blanchard, Ben. “China says 13,000 'terrorists' arrested in Xinjiang since 2014.” Reuters, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang/china-says-13000-terrorists-arrested-in-xinjiang-since-2014-idUSKCN1QZ08T.
Mahmut, Dilmurat. “CONTROLLING RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION FOR COUNTERING RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM: CASE STUDY OF THE UYGHUR MUSLIMS IN CHINA.” FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education Vol. 5, Iss. 1, 2019, Pg. 25. (2020): https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1207558.pdf.
“List of active separatist movements in Asia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_movements_in_Asia.
Ma, Alexander. “Jailing Muslims, burning Bibles, and forcing monks to wave the national flag: How Xi Jinping is attacking religion in China.” Business Insider, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-xi-jinping-is-attacking-religion-in-china-2018-11.
Boehm, Dana Carver. “China's Failed War on Terror: Fanning the Flames of Uighur Separatist Violence.” Berkeley journal of middle eastern & islamic law Vol 2:1, (2020): https://escholarship.org/content/qt37j635hs/qt37j635hs_noSplash_534f7a4ec28b4c608ad75d9434e1f682.pdf?t=ph3unn.