Dear reader, tired about Peter Klevius Human Rights defense? Below the videos an alternative - but can you tell:
Xinjiang And Uyghurs – What You’re Not Being Told
By Chris Kanthan, World Affairs.
“1
million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps!” … “Ethnic Cleansing and
Cultural Genocide!” … the western media is very effective at using
emotional phrases.
But what’s the real story? Let’s go beyond exaggeration, distortion and sensationalism.
First of all, the media will never show the peaceful, prosperous parts of Xinjiang:
And
Western media won’t talk about the billions of dollars that China has
invested in Xinjiang, modernizing the cities, building 21 airports,
linking the region with bullet trains etc. Here’s a video of Urumqi, the
capital of Xinjiang. See how prosperous it is:
The Chinese government’s efforts are reflected in the exponential GDP growth of the Xinjiang region:
Regarding
the Muslim minority, there are thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, a
region whose recorded history goes back more than 2000 years when the
ancient Silk Road linked China to Italy and Greece. In China, there are
mosques that were built in the 10th century, which demonstrates the
tolerance and respect for religious rights in Chinese society.
There are about 20,000 mosques in Xinjiang. There are thousands of Imams who lead the mosques in Xinjiang.
Like
a few other provinces, Xinjiang is an “autonomous” region, which means
it is run by Uyghurs for the most part. For example, the current
“governor” is
Shohrat Zakir, an Uyghur man who’s been in charge since 2014.
Also
to remember are two nuggets of information: Xinjiang is a really vast
region — it’s four times as large as California(!); and Uyghurs make up
only about 40% of Xinjiang’s population. Overall, Uyghurs account for
only 0.7% of China’s population. That’s about the same percentage as the
Native American population in the U.S. now.
Here’s another fascinating fact:
Uyghurs
were exempted from the one-child policy that China initiated in 1978.
This is why the Uyghur population in Xinjiang has doubled in the last
forty years. How’s that for a “genocide”?
Uyghurs (and other
minorities in China) also get many preferential treatments — Chinese
affirmative action — in colleges and other areas.
Now, let’s break down the facts. There are four types of Uyghur Muslims:
Well-educated Uyghurs who are moderate/secular Muslims
Poor and lower middle-class Uyghurs
Nomads
Separatists and terrorists
Moderate/Secular Uyghurs
These
are middle or upper middle-class Muslims who enjoy normal lives, have
good jobs, and integrate easily with the mainstream Chinese culture.
There are even popular Uyghur musicians, rappers (here’s an example), TV
hosts, politicians etc. in China. Here are two famous Uyghur actresses —
Guli Nazha and Dilraba Dilmurat. There are also male Uyghur actors like
Merxat Yalkun.
Uyghur kids from educated families go to schools,
live normal lives and have a lot of fun on social media like Tik Tok
(“Douyin” in China):
Politically, there are also powerful Uyghur people. One such example is
Arken
Imirbaki, who has been the Vice Chairman of the National People’s
Congress since 2013. More importantly he’s a member of the powerful
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
Then there is An Waer, the Uyghur man who is the Chinese ambassador to Bahrain, the Islamic country in the Middle East!
Working Class Uyghurs
There
are also many working class Uyghurs who may own restaurants and gift
shops or work as artists and craftsmen in touristy places. Their lives
aren’t bad and most of them don’t get into trouble with the government.
Really Poor Uyghurs
Then
there are really poor Uyghurs who live in slums. These are prime
targets for recruitment by jihadists. Many of these Uyghur kids work on
the streets and shine shoes or help their families with menial jobs like
taking care of donkeys, camels etc.
When the Chinese government
mandates that these children go to school, the Western media scream
bloody murder. What hypocrisy! If these Uyghurs come to the US, the
children will be forced to attend schools as well. Here is a school that
the “evil CCP” forces the Uyghur kids to attend:
Most of these
kids don’t even speak Chinese, which greatly limits their abilities to
find jobs later on as adults. So when they learn Chinese in school, the
western propaganda screams, “cultural genocide.” Sheer idiocy!
The
BBC admits that the “communist” (gasp!) government has spent $1.2
billion in the last five years on upgrading and building new schools for
children in Xinjiang. This should be applauded, not demonized!
The
Chinese government has done a phenomenal job by lifting 1.85 million
Uyghur Muslims out of poverty between 2014 and 2017. Of course, the
western media will never talk about it.
Watch this quick video
about how the Chinese government helped a rural Uyghur family in
Xinjiang move into modern housing and helped everyone in the family get
jobs. This is a true humanitarian approach that focuses on poverty
alleviation/reduction.
Nomadic Uighurs
Then there are Uyghurs who are herders and nomads in the vast Xinjiang region.
Although
it seems romantic, their lives are not compatible with modern days.
Most of them are stuck in extreme poverty and their kids also grow up
completely illiterate. Sometimes the Chinese government relocates tens
of thousands of these people into the cities and gives them jobs, free
housing, health care etc. Of course, US media will spin this as “ethnic
cleansing.” (The government has helped millions of Chinese people in
other areas get out of extreme poverty by similar relocation projects as
well).
Many of these nomads appreciate the new life: “With
central heating, gas, running water, Internet and cable TV, we no longer
need to worry about things that troubled us in the past.”
Sometimes,
if the parents don’t want to give up their nomadic lives, the
government may move the children to boarding schools, where they get
free lodging, meals and education.
Separatists and Terrorists
China
didn’t try to explain the terrorist problem to the world. So, of
course, western media took control of the narrative. Now CGTN has
released a few documentaries, which is a good start:
History of Western Subversion
What
is not mentioned in the mainstream media is that the West has been
stroking separatism in Xinjiang since the 1950s! When the Chinese
communists won in 1949 (by defeating the US-supported faction, which
went on to establish Taiwan as the new fake China), the US started
arming/funding separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Intelligence
documents declassified in the 1990s show how the US gave millions of
dollars every year to Tibetan dissidents, including Dalai Lama. Then the
US also trained Tibetan guerillas in Nepal as well as in Colorado.
As
for Xinjiang separatists, the US brought in a lot of these extremists
into Germany in the 1970s and helped them foment a movement for “East
Turkestan.” Currently, the so-called “World Uyghur Congress” (WUC) is
funded and glorified by the US government through NGOs such as National
Endowment of Democracy (NED) — which also played a major role in the
Tiananmen Square clashes in 1989 (see my article). Much of the atrocity
propaganda stories come merely from hearsay testimonies of WUC members.
There are also horror stories about organ harvesting spread by Falun
Gong members in the so-called China Tribunal.
WUC is led by a
woman named Rebiya Kadeer, who used to be … the richest woman in all of
China! That’s how much discrimination she faced as an Uyghur. While
she’s spreading all kinds of lies now, her granddaughters back in
Xinjiang made her a video that shows a modern subway/metro system and
upscale malls that feature stores like Gucci and Versace.
Fake News and Atrocity Propaganda
As
for the allegations, it’s worthwhile to point to a 2014 NY Times
article that called the refugee/asylum process an “Industry of Lies.” It
talks about how refugees from China and elsewhere were taught to make
up horror stories which were, of course, impossible to verify. Later, US
federal officials secretly recorded conversations of lawyers coaching
their clients to lie. The article concluded that, “most asylum
applications were at least partly false, from fabricated narratives of
persecution to counterfeit supporting documents and invented witness
testimony.” However, now that China is officially a geopolitical enemy,
every allegation from anti-China separatists must be totally believed!
Another
source for crazy propaganda is the social media, where people post
sensational fake photos and videos that quickly go viral (revealing the
average IQ of people on social media).
For example, a video
of Indonesian police beating up a thief was posted as “Chinese beating
up a Muslim for reading the Quran.” And that stupid video got millions
of views.
In another case, a photo from a sex/BDSM club in Taiwan was used to claim that Uyghurs were being tortured in China.
A viral video in 2020 claimed to show handcuffed and blindfolded
Uyghurs being led by the police. It was actually an old video from
another province (Guizhou) where some non-Uyghur (Han) people got caught
in a massive financial fraud (pyramid scheme).
Peter Klevius just wants to add:
