Meanwhile, in China ...

Our Esteemed Trading Partners are taking care of business as usual:

Radio Free Asia reported Tuesday that 22 ethnic Uighurs were killed Aug. 20 when security forces opened fire at a house in a suburb of Kashgar.

The area, which lies close to China's borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, has been a frequent site of bloodshed between the dominant ethnic Han Chinese and Uighurs, a Muslim minority.

Local sources verified the Radio Free Asia account to the Los Angeles Times, saying the dead were buried before their families were notified of their deaths. But they provided no further details.

The World Uyghur Congress,  a Germany-based advocacy group, says that it has documented a number of deadly incidents since March, some of which were also reported by the official Chinese media. In all, they say 103 to 138 people have been killed and at least 125 arrested.

Funny how we aren't so concerned about the plight of the Uighurs as we are about other peoples who have had their land stolen, their culture suppressed and who are bullied into submission by totalitarian thuggery.

Bastards yet again

While we're on the subject of Uighurs, what about this?

Last December, 20 Uighur refugees were forcibly deported back to China from Cambodia. Now, one year later, they’re still missing.

The ethnic Uighurs from northwest China had been applying for asylum in Cambodia because they feared persecution and torture in China. They fled China’s Xinjiang region during a crackdown that followed deadly riots there in July 2009. Hundreds of Uighurs were arrested, and several were executed, after what Human Rights Watch called “grave violations of due process.”

Just one day after the Uighurs were deported last year, China’s Vice President arrived in Cambodia. That visit ended with $1.2 billion dollar grant-and-loan deal for Cambodia. (1)

And, if you're still struggling to wotrk out what's going on, maybe this will help:

Ablikim Abdureyim, one of Kadeer's 11 children, told relatives who visited him in prison last week that he was mistreated, placed in solitary confinement and that his health has been deteriorating, supporters said.

Amnesty International said Abdureyim was confined after refusing to sign a document denying that he witnessed an unspecified "controversial incident" in the Urumqi city prison.

Catherine Baber, the rights group's Asia-Pacific deputy director, urged China to release Abdureyim and called his treatment "the latest example of systematic human rights abuses suffered by China's Uighur population." (2)

Life sentences, torture and disappearances. These are our valued trading partners.

1 - "20 Uighurs Still Missing After Being Sent Back to China in 2009," unattributed article. Publsihed by NTD TV, 22nd of December, 2010. (http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_china/2010-12-22/126167258980.html)
2 - "China urged to probe Uighur 'torture'," unattributed article. Published by AFP. Reproduced by Google News, 22nd of December, 2010. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iqg3aS0stiN43TR0fDu0CFC13COg?docId=CNG.60eb4047766bf2f855b1e742fd8c9784.ca1)

Bastards

Our valued trading partners are up to their usual tricks:

China has jailed three minority Uighurs who ran websites with content considered politically sensitive by the government, according to a media report and an advocacy group.

-oO SNIP Oo-

Last week, the three men, identified as Dilshat Perhat, webmaster of Diyarim; Nureli, webmaster of Salkin; and Nijat Azat, webmaster of Shabnam, were sentenced to five years, three years and 10 years respectively, said Radio Free Asia and the Uyghur American Association, citing a brother of one of the men.

The Diyarim, Salkin and Shabnam websites were among the most popular Uighur-language sites, which were all blocked in China following the deadly unrest. The men were convicted of "endangering state security" during the one-day trial that took place sometime at the end of last week, according to Perhat's brother, Dilmurat Perhat, who lives in London.

Abject bastards. Makes me sick to see John Key groveling on his recent trip, and to think that Phil Goff brags about signing a historic free trade agreement with these swine.

Free trade trumps free speech?

Who'd have thought it. What a fucked up world.

1 - "China jails 3 Uighurs for sites deemed sensitive," by Tini Tran. Published by the Associated Press, 30th of July, 2010. Hosted by Google. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gSjMTGA_93sjHUt2y3ACaI8ak7vQD9H96H4O0)

800,000 forced abortions carried out on Uighurs in the PRC

It has been estimated that 800,000 forced abortions have been carried out on unborn Uighur children since 1979 (1). This inspite of the fact that the Uighurs - as a minority within China - are supposedly notcovered by the 'One child' policy.

If this is true, it's a fucking disgusting act of genocide, deliberately targeting unborn children - hand in hand with the ethnic 'rebalancing' seen in East Turkestan, where the proportion of Han chinese now make up 42% of the population (2).

And these evil bastards are our valued trading partners. This is obscene. With due respect to godwin's Law, this is akin to doing business with Nazi Germany in the 30s, when it was sterilizing the 'feebleminded' and the mentally ill, 'asocial' Gypsies and homosexual 'deviants' (3). And yes, I know we were quite happy to make that trade then, as now.

1 - "East Turkestan: Uyghurs in East Turkistan Suffer from China’s Forced Abortion," unattributed article published on the website of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples' Organisation, 25th of January, 2010. (http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10621/107/)

2 - "Xinjiang: China's 'other Tibet'," by Lydia Wilson and Poppy Toland. Published by Aljazeera.net, 25th of March, 2008. (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/03/2008525184819409441.html)

3 - "Nazi Persecution of the Mentally and Physically Disabled," unattributed article published by the Jewish Virtual Library. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/disabled.html)

Immediate response

I'm not sure how I feel about Maori TV screening the Chinese Government's film, Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth, immediatately after 10 Conditions of Love. Two reasons why.

First because it gives the impression this is rebuttal of the image of Kadeer presented in 10 Conditions ..., which it is not. Second, because I'm a pampered westerner I find images of people being kicked and clubbed to death disturbing, especially when they are presented without adequate warning. The program was preceded by a generic warning about violent contents - as had preceded 10 Conditions of Love. Ten Conditions ... contained a very few, shocking moments of mass public execution. Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth contained extensive, graphic footage of people being beaten and kicked to death.

I wonder if anyone at Maori TV had even watched the film before broadcasting it. It wasn't scheduled, which suggests it was a last minute decision. The announcement that Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth would follow 10 Conditions ... was made part way through the latter, which would be bizzare if they had planned it as a follow up. Perhaps a copy was made available to them, and they decided to go with it.

So this will be more about Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth than about 10 Conditions of Love. The latter was a fairly routine account of Kadeer's life, contianing little nbew information and only giving her a chance to demonstrate her magnetic personality and her sense of humour - perhaps that is what the intrisically humourless Maoists found so disconcerting. But there was nothing that couldn't have been gleaned from her biography on wikipedia.

Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth fell into several parts.

The first part was a genuinely embarrassing hymn to the glories of unity and harmony, illustrated with kitschy tourist ad style visuals showing Uighurs happily enjoying their cultural practices in slightly too vivd technicolour. Thankfully it was over in seconds.

The next portion was made up of footage of the riot of the 5th of July. It was shocking, but no-one has denied that a riot didn't happen, or that the violence against Han Chinese was anything other than repulsive. Some - myself included - have suggested something like this would occur as a result of the policy of ethnic saturation the Beijing government has waged for the last 50 years - but explaining why something happens is not the same as saying that it is good or okay that it happened. It just puts some responsibility on the authoritites in Beijing, set the whole sorry thing in motion when they decided to swamp the region with Han to stop the Uighurs finding any democratic means to achieve independence.

This section served one very obvious purpose - to sicken and repell the viewer so that the response to whatever came next would be visceral, not rational. It is hard to consider things cooly when your head is full of the images of someone being kicked repeatedly in the head, or smashed to a pulp with iron bars. But that is the point of propaganda, isn't it?

The next section was the most important part, where an attmetp was made to link the riots with Kadeer's World Uighur Congress. It is repeated several times that events were organised and planned, but what is not shown is that a riot was intended. Kadeer and others are quoted talking about a 'demostration' and as far as can be deduced from the information given, it seems like it was an international show of Uighur solidarity, not a bloodbath. Out of context, the quotes seem sinister. Kadeer is quoted, from the 4th of July, saying:

Many things have happened and we all know something will happen tommorrow evening in Urumqi. (1)

Which might seem ominous, if you persist in thinking she's talking about a planned blood bath. On the other hand, if she's talking about a demonstration, it is innocuous enough.

A lot is made about what was said in the days immediately after the riot, by Kadeer and others. But the situation was very confused - Beijing put a stranglehold on the region and very little hard information was available. It isn't susprising that people were confused abotu what was actually happening and that false information was given. All of which points not to some dastardly conspiracy, but to people reacting to a situation that's moving too quickly for them.

An example of this is the use of footage of Kadeer being interviewed on Al Jazeera, on July the 7th, showing a photograph she alleged was of the Urumqi riot. Infact, it was of a riot in Shisou a few days earlier - but the mistake was originally by Reuters, who used the image on the 6th of July, identifying it as Urumqi (2). The judicious narrator says Kadeer was spreading "rumours" and adds that the image had been widely distributed before the July riot, creating the impression it was a WUC orchestrated fraud. That Kadeer was responding in good faith to an image provided by a reputeable news source isn't explained, and the viewer is left with the impression that Kadeer was peddling a falsehood.

Frequently, throught out this section, images of the riot are repeated, ensuring that the immediate reaction is gut revulsion, and diverting the viewer's attention from the tenuous links they attempt to draw between the WUC and the violence.

Finally, we're back to where we started, assured that peace and harmony has return to the region, and the day days of seperatist agitation are in the past. Which is, of course, nonsense. Nothing, fundamentally, has changed, except some people ahve died and some people's lives have been wrecked. And July the 5th will not be the last time this happens.

1 - Rebiya Kadeer, quoted in Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth.
2 - As per Wikipedia's sumamry of events, "July 2009 Ürümqi riots: media coverage." Viewed on 1st of September, 2009. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots#Media_coverage)

I'm sure that will do the trick ...

The USA has asked the Chinese government - nicely - not to collectively punish the extended family of Reeiya Kadeer:

"As a general matter, we hope that the Chinese would not undertake coercive measures against her family, and we continue to look at this very closely," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

-snip-

The authorities have given eviction orders to more than 30 of her family members including children, grandchildren and siblings living there, according to her supporters. (1)

I'm sure that will do the trick. The Bastards of Beijing have always shown themselves very responsive to the concerns of other nations, humanitarian organisations and the like.

One can't help wondering, however, why we're friends with people who need to be asked not to behave like that. Then I stopped being silly and naive, and came up with a SOLUTION.

If, by some mischance, these kind words fail to have the necessary effect, perhaps Mr Jon Bon Jovi (2) could be persuaded to do a cover of Imagine, or some similarly vapid ditty, to resolve the issue?

Certainly, it wouldn't be any less effective than asking the Bastards of Beijing not to engage in bastardry.

1 - "US asks China not to harm family of Uighur leader," unattributed AFP article. Published by google, 27th of August, 2009. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFwICwUya26dbgQK8P2t7-QArSiA)
2 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/08/horror-horror.html

200 Uighurs tortured and killed

It's been alleged that the Chinese police tortured and killed 200 Uighurs arrested after the July riots:

Kadeer, who lives in the Washington area, said Monday she received a fax from a Uighur policeman who fled to nearby Kyrgyzstan and gave a grim account of Urumbay prison south of the city of Urumqi.

The policeman said that 196 Uighurs detained in a clampdown in the region "were tortured and killed" at the detention center, according to Kadeer.

"One of the Uighurs, named Erkin, couldn't stand the torture and killed himself," she said during a recording of a segment on the current affairs cable network C-Span about her memoir, "Dragon Fighter," which was published in May.

The World Uighur Congress leader said it was impossible to verify the account as phone lines had been cut.

"I'm sure that as soon as this is made public, China will say that it's not true," she said. "We cannot prove it because everything is down." (1)

Interestingly, there is some confusion about the number of detainees awaiting trial after the riots. Officially the total is 83, but earlier reports suggested a figure of 200:

On Monday, the state-run China Daily reported on its front page that prosecutions would begin later this week against at least 200 people involved in the violence.

But on Tuesday Li Hua, an official at the Xinjiang government media office, questioned the accuracy of the report.

"At present, there is no scheduled date for the trial," he told reporters. "I don't know how China Daily got that information, but it's not true. We will announce it to the media when there is a trial."

He also denied that the number of people facing trial was as many as 200, citing an earlier report which put the figure at 83. (2)

Perhaps somone accidentally released the figure of those who are being tried and 'dealt with' in camera, rather than the show trials?

1 - "Uighur exile airs prison killing allegation," unattributed AFP article. Hosted by google, 25th of August, 2009. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWj7kMhvfE2MZBoQ5ewS8EPyJFaA)
2 - "Confusion over Xinjiang trials," unattributed BBC article, published 25th of August, 2009. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8219900.stm)

Nothing personal ...

According to the American Uighur Association, relatives of Rebiya Kadeer have been ordered to leave the properties they live in and rely upon for their income, so the buildings can be demolished (1).

Obviously, we should be impressed by the communit's benevolence. After all, if they were evil, they'd just have knocked the buildings down with people inside.

1 - "Demolish Kadeer kin's homes," unattributed AFP story. Published in the Straits Times, 20th of August, 2009. (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_419233.html)

PRC helpfully offers Maori TV programming advice

The PRC has asked Maori Television not to screen a documentary about Rebiya Kadeer, and to replace it with a documentary about the Urumqi riots produced by the Chinese state broadcaster (1).

Even the mild mannered Lincoln Tan seems to think this is going a bit far. You can detect a raised eyebrow in the opening paragraph:

China is to pressure Maori Television to screen its own, government-produced film on riots in a Muslim-majority province instead of an independent documentary on an exiled leader.

Maori TV is to screen 10 Conditions of Love, an Australian film about the struggle of Muslim Uighur people in Xinjiang, the scene of recent ethnic riots, and their figurehead, Rebiya Kadeer.

Beijing, however, has produced its own documentary, Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth and has asked Maori TV to screen it instead. (1)

I'm quite sure the snappily titled Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Riot: Truth is entirely factual, balanced and considered. I wouldn't dream of suggesting otherwise. Lefthandpalm would probably get hacked to pieces if I was to do so.

It's a shame that Tan resorts to the slef serving Jimmy He for a quote, though at least now He's status as an interested party is made clear (2).

Again, a big "Well done" to Maori TV for getting hold of 10 Conditions of Love. Stick to your guns, and tell the totalitarians where to go.

1 - "China wants Maori TV to show riot film," by Lincoln Tan, published n the New Zealand Herald, 11th of August, 2009. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10589937)
2 - As described previosuly on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/08/maori-tv-to-screen-kaader-doco.html

What a surprise ...

In a move that no-one could possibly have predicted, the PRC has decided condemning Burma for sentencing Aung San Suu Kyi to a further 18 months detention, is not justified:

The world should respect Myanmar's judicial sovereignty following the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months in detention, China said on Wednesday, suggesting Beijing would not back U.N. action against the country.

-snip-

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu repeated a call for all sides in Myanmar to talk to each other, but requested non-interference from the outside world.

"As a neighbor of Myanmar's, China hopes all sides in Myanmar can push ethnic reconciliation through talks, and gradually realize stability, democracy and development," Jiang said in a brief statement faxed to Reuters.

"This not only accords with Myanmar's interests, it is also beneficial to regional stability," she added, in China's first official comment following the sentencing.

"As for the related domestic case, international society should fully respect Myanmar's judicial sovereignty," Jiang said, referring to the Suu Kyi case. (1)

Given the PRC's recent crackdowns on the Uighurs (2), and its long history of crushing opposition and jailing activists, the PRC is understandably keen to make sure that a norm is established, where a nations right to deal with its internal affairs as it sees fit is repected - especially when those internal affairs relate to the pesky issues of internal dissent, ethnic tension, human rights and protest.

(Though not the right of Australia to screen films (3). Apparently, that sovereign right is not one worthy of respect. Though perhaps the PRC is just following Australia's own lead here, as that country showed little heed to Iraq's sovereign right not to be invaded by a massive international army in 2003.)

The regimes in the PRC and in Burma are similar in many regards.

Both have apalling records on democracy.

Both use brutal tactics to crush dissent.

Both use detention to silence opposition.

And both, of course, are New Zealand's valued trading partners (4).

1 - "Respect Myanmar sovereignty, China says after trial," unattributed Reuters article, published 12th of August, 2009. (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57B0O020090812)
2 - As described previosuly on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/search/label/Uighurs
3 - As described previosuly on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/07/chinese-hack-aussie-film-festival.html
4 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-is-most-unfair.html

Who would you believe?

The Chinese government has published a letter (1), written by the members of Rebiya Kadeer's family - including two of her children - blaming her for the July Riots in Urmqi.

The letter states, "Because of you, so many innocent people lost their lives in Urumqi on July 5," though it is interesting this is the only direct link made between Kadeer and the riots in the text. The rest is general stuff about how good XinJiang is, now that it is no longer an Uighur majority region, and how ungrateful Kadeer is for criticising the regime that imprisoned and then exiled her.

For what it is worth, I think the letter sounds like it was dictated by particularly uninspired bureaucrats trying to manufacture a propoganda coup. Perhaps it loses something in translation, but soemthing like sounds completely artificial and unnatural:

There are no difference between ethnic groups so long as you're willing to work hard. There are many Uygur millionaires and countless new buildings in Urumqi, and Uygur people enjoy various preferential policies from the government. Isn't this the result of good policy of the Government? (3)

The source for that seems more likely to be the Communist Party's Report on Progress And Development in Xinjiang Province.

Kadeer has said the letter was written under duress (3).

Chinese Television also showed dennunciations by Kadeer's family, including her son Alim, currently imprisoned in China, who said:

"The road my mother has chosen leads to a bottomless hole ... She will not succeed in her separatist endeavours." (4)

Which, again, sounds like a a line from a very bad film. Though, of course, these reelases aren't intended to convince international critics - China knows it doesn't have to worry about us - but at the internal audience, who have heard this sort of stilted, scripted ppropoganda so often they probably think it is genuine.

1 - "Full text of letter to Rebiya Kadeer by her family members," by persons unknown (sic), published 3rd of AUgust, 2003, by xinha. (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/03/content_11818841.htm)
2 - ibid.
3 - "Beijing forced family's 'denunciation': Uighur leader," by Amy Coupes, published by AFP, 4th of August, 2009, hosted by google. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gCIw84BauXwOZEmd7CelGWIFUS4Q)
4 - ibid.

Maori TV to screen Kadeer doco

Good on 'em:

China's New Zealand representatives may complain to the New Zealand Government about a planned screening of a documentary about a Uighur activist Beijing has accused of inciting ethnic riots, an official said.

A Maori Television spokeswoman says the film about the life of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, called 10 Conditions of Love, will screen on September 1.

"It will be brought to the attention of the ambassador, who will decide if a complaint will be made," a Chinese embassy spokeswoman said. (1)

The report also contains a gob-smacking comment from the chairman of United Chinese Association, Jim He:

"We are surprised that the Melbourne Film Festival decided to use the event to make a political statement by inviting a terrorist leader, but there is no reason for us to spread the untruths here" (2)

One wonders on what authority He brands Kadeer a 'terrorist leader' and the film as a monstrous lie?

Thuten Kesang, chairman of the New Zealand Friends of Tibet - admittedly, not exactly an unbiased source - described the members of the United Chinese Association as "heavily involved in the import/export business ... [who] ... feel they need to be the mouthpiece of the Chinese government in order to get favours and good business relations with China" (3). It is the organisation that initially opposed the planned visit by that other renowned terrorist, the Dalai Lama (3).

Jim He is also the chairman of the Pacific Culture and Arts Exchange Centre,an organisation that "has been taking New Zealand films to China since 2002" (5).

So he might be sensitive to the PRC's fondness for collective punishment, especially in the realm of the visual arts. Earlier this year, he was negotiating a deal to have a series of Chinese films made in New Zealand (6).

Given how the PRC pulled all Chinese films from the Melbourne Film Festival when they decided to screen the Kaader film, he might be feeling a bit vulnerable.

Intruigingly, all but one of the strories referenced are by the same journalist, Lincoln Tan. I wonder if he's making any connections?

1 - "China upset at NZ plan to screen ethnic film," by Lincoln Tan, published in The NewsZealand Herald, 3rd of August, 2009. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10588291)
2 - ibid.
3 -"Chinese community leaders split on Dalai Lama's planned visit to NZ," by Christopher Adams, published by Pacific Media Centre, 26th of May, 2009. (http://pacificmediacentre.blogspot.com/2009/05/chinese-leaders-split-on-dalai-lamas.html)
4 -"Chinese seek to ban Dalai Lama from NZ," by Lincoln Tan, published in The New Zealand Herald, 2nd of April, 2009. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10564785)
5 - "Festival group sees NZ films in China as bright new dawn," by Lincoln Tan, published by The New Zealand Herald, 26th of April, 2008. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/trade-deal-with-china/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501819&objectid=10506262)
6 - "China stars set for $20m local film," by Lincoln Tan, published in The New Zealand Herald, 18th of February, 2009. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/movies/news/article.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10557275)

10,000 disappeared?

Rebiya Kadeer claims that the Chinese government has made mass arrests since the Urumqi riots earlier in the month and almost 10,000 people are unaccounted for:

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer charged on Wednesday that nearly 10,000 people "disappeared" in ethnic unrest in China's northwest this month and expressed disappointment at the US response to the violence.

Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, said that "the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people," speaking during a Japan visit that angered the communist government in Beijing.

Speaking through an interpreter and citing local sources, she said "close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night" when authorities cracked down from July 5 on the unrest in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.

"Where did those people go?" she said. "If they died, where did they go?"

On the one hand, it seems impossible that so many people could be disappeared, literally overnight. On the other hand, we are talking about the most brutally totalitarian regime on the planet. If anyone could accomplish this, they could.

Put it like this: I would not be surprised if the number of those arrested runs into the low thousands. I think it unlikely that it could be as many as ten thousand. Does it have to be? Would that be enough to wring some condemnation from Barak Obama and other western leaders. If not, how many?

I also think that many of those arrested will already have been released. But there will probably be a large number whose fate will not be known, or who will be given a quick show trial and then sentenced to life in some reducation labour camp, where they can manufacture consumer baubles for the west. Which is why our leaders are so strikingly mute.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are hinting to Washington that they should take steps to silence Kadeer :

In Washington, China's vice foreign minister Wang Guangya on Tuesday said his side had asked the United States to "restrain and prevent" anyone from using its soil to conduct "separatist activities against China." (2)

Kadeer is beinng represented as someone a bit like Osama bin Laden, and the Uighurs as the equivalent of Al Queada. I suspect they will have failed to furnish any evidence to back up their claim that Kadeer is behind the rioting. On the other side, speaking out in support of Kadeer, we have the Dalai Lama (3).

Normally I'd expect a western nation to tell the Chinese to go to Hell, but given the USA's cavalier attitude towards evidence in its attempts to extradite Gary MacKinnon, I'm not sure that's anything more than wistful thinking (4).

1 - "Uighur leader says nearly 10,000 'disappeared'," by Hiroshi Hiyama, published by AFP, 29th of July, 2009. Hosted by Google. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4Hm6p5Pgi_B-hJKOLrpio0KbDsQ)
2 - ibid.
3 - "Uighur head against violence: Dalai Lama," unattributed AFP article. Reproduced in The Sydney Morning Herlad, 29th of July, 2009. (http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/uighur-head-against-violence-dalai-lama-20090729-e0ed.html)
4 - "Extradition to the United States," a general description of the impact of the 2003 Extradition Bill, as part of the Freedom Bill campaign run by the Liberal Democratic Party. (http://freedom.libdems.org.uk/the-freedom-bill/3-extradition-to-the-united-states/)

Praise for Obama

Perhaps Barak Obama had an eye on history, particularly the dispossession and marginalisation of America's original indigenous population, or the longstanding and ongoing injustices heaped on black Americans, when he bit his tongue over Beijing's policy towards the Uighurs. Perhaps he thought, "Well, we did that. So I guess it's okay for them to do the same."

Probably, he was more concerned with America's cheque book (1). It's a bargain that would have made Faustus sicken.

As far as the Communists in the PRC are concerned, he has done precisely the right thing, that is, what they wanted him to do - nothing. They have commended him for doing nothing and saying nothing:

A Chinese diplomat says China appreciates what he calls the "moderate attitude" of the U.S. response to ethnic riots in China's oil-rich Xinjiang region.

Speaking in Washington, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said Tuesday that U.S. officials also indicated that the U.S. position on violence involving Muslim minority Uighur residents was that it constituted a domestic affair of China. (2)

One can't help but wonder what the response would be if the Communists decided to roll tanks over a crowd of students in 2009. Presumably, that would also count as a 'domestic affair of China.'

If you are being praised by the heirs of Chairman Mao, surely it is obvious that you're doing something wrong.

1 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-is-why-rebiya-kadeer-will-be.html
2 - "China welcomes 'moderate' US response to riots," unattributed AP article, 29th of July, 2009. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hqLramON8toBQBppkuM6zEzExUZgD99NO9B82)

What Obama's new best friends are up to

While Barak Obama was pledging "co-operation, not confrontation" with the PRC (1), Alimujiang Yimiti is due to go on trial for allegedly "instigating separatism and stealing, penetrating, purchasing and illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to overseas organisations and individuals" (2).

He has been held in captivity for over a year and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared his detention to be arbitrary.

Astronishingly, the decision of the court has already been decided. His wife and mother - who is forbidden to attend the trial - has been informed "he will not be released without charges" (3).

I do not share Alimujiang Yimiti's beliefs but - unlike the Bastards of Beijing and, it seems, Barak Obama - I cherish his right to hold them.

1 - "Obama declares new era of co-operation with China," by Martin Crutsinger, published by Associated Press, reproduced in The Independent, 28th of July, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/obama-declares-new-era-of-cooperation-with-china-1763489.html)
2 - "China: Uighur Christian faces trial for 'revealing state secrets'," unattributed article, posted on www.christian today.com, published 27th of July, 2009. (http://www.christiantoday.com/article/china.uighur.christian.faces.trial.for.revealing.state.secrets/23883.htm)
3 - ibid.

This is why Rebiya Kadeer will be waiting a long time

Recently, Uighur spokeswoman Rebiya Kadeer asked the Obama administration (1) to condemn the violence, killings and arrests in Xin Jiang/East Turkestan, and the broader campaign to reduce the Uighurs to a minority in their own homeland, while keeping them economically and politically powerless. That is, without the numbers, the money or the political means to assert themselves, or even prevent their culture and history being eroded as part of a systematic campaign by the Beijing government to crush the Uighur national liberation movement.

But she'll have to wait a long time for Obama, or any American government, to mouth any concern over the plight of her people, or any of the human rights abuses of the Communists.

Here's why:

The Chinese, who have the largest foreign holdings of US Treasury debt at $801.5 billion, have expressed worries that soaring deficits could spark inflation or a sudden drop in the value of the dollar, thus jeopardizing their investments. (2)

It's the economy, stupid. Who cares about a bunch of peasants and camel herders in a desert somewhere beyond Outer Mongolia, when the people who hold the largest slice of US foreign debt need to be appeased?

Never mind that torture, the imprisonment, the lack of free press, the show trials, the executions, the corruption, the anti-union brutality, the crushing of the indigenous populations (hey, what country are we talking about here? This all sounds very familiar ...) - the Uighurs are very far away from the White House, don't make cheap DVD players for US consumers and don't own very much ot the US economy.

So screw 'em, eh, Barak?

1 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-wouldnt-hold-my-breath.html
2 - "Obama declares new era of co-operation with China," by Martin Crutsinger, published by Associated Press, reproduced in The Independent, 28th of July, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/obama-declares-new-era-of-cooperation-with-china-1763489.html)

Chinese hack Aussie Film Festival website

After failing to bully the Melbourne International Film Festival into withdrawing a documentary about Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, Chinese hackers have now defaced the festival's website:

Hackers attacked the Melbourne International Film Festival website on Saturday, replacing information with the Chinese flag and leaving slogans criticising exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, The Age newspaper reported.

Chinese directors have already withdrawn their films over the August 8 screening of the Kadeer documentary and festival director Richard Moore has accused Chinese officials of trying to bully him into pulling the documentary.

The Age reported that festival staff had been inundated with abusive emails over Moore's refusal to withdraw the film and cancel Kadeer's invitation to attend the screening.

"The language has been vile," Moore told the newspaper. "It is obviously a concerted campaign to get us because we've refused to comply with the Chinese government's demands." (1)

Not content with conquering the independent (or at least, soviet dependent) Second East Turkestan Republic, systematically supressing the culture of the minority population, flooding the region with Han settlers who are given the best jobs and all the real power and impoverishing the Uighir majority (2), they now try to stop anyone even talking about the Uighurs.

What a bunch of despicable crap heads these totalitarian bastards our esteemed trading partners are.

1 - "China hackers hit Uighur film at festival: report," unattributed articl, published by AFP, 26th of July, 2009. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jH9tCBKbxNMuTbGPO5Od8kvYtvlg)
2 - As described previously on lefthandpalm: http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2009/07/chinese-minorities-worse-off-than-30.html

I wouldn't hold my breath

Rebiya Kadeer wants the USA to condemn the PRC for its decades long campaign against the Uighurs:

Kadeer, speaking through an interpreter, said she hopes the United States will not remain "silent and indifferent" to the Uighurs' plight and warned of the executions of those detained following the riots. (1)

Condemnation strikes me as unlikely. Unlike Iran, the PRC is a major economic and strategic partner of the USA. So - like Israel in the Occupied Territories and Russia in Chechnya - it gets to do pretty much as it pleases.

Also, the Bastards of Beijing are our staunch allies in the War on Terror. Given that agents of the PRC were brought in to interrogate Uighurs imprisoned at Guantanamo - all of whom were later cleared and released - I don't think the fate of the Uighurs in general, or those arrested after the riots, will be of much concern to the USA.

1 - "Uighur activist urges US to condemn China," by Foster Klug for the Associated Press, published by the Taiwan News, 21st of July, 2009. (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1008905&lang=eng_news)
2 - "US Lawmakers Demand Answers on Uighur Detainees," by Michael Bowman, published by VOA News, 16th of July, 2009. (http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-16-voa59.cfm)

Chinese minorities worse off than 30 years ago

Falling standards of living are being touted as a possible contributing factor to the recent violence in the PRC. While the Bastards of Beijing are quick to claim they recognise diversity and extend privileges to minorities that are denied to the Han majority, economic data from State Ethnic Affairs Commission tells a different story:

The commission's figures showed that annual per capita disposable income for city dwellers in minority regions rose to 13,170 yuan, or about $1,930, last year from 414 yuan in 1980. For rural and pastoral regions, it increased to 3,389 yuan from 168 yuan.

National statistics show that overall income grew faster. Nationally, urban disposable income grew to 15,781 in 2008 from 478 yuan in 1980. In the countryside, per capita income rose to 4,761 yuan from 191 yuan.

That means minority farmers and herders now earn only 72% of the national average, versus 88% in 1980. Minority city dwellers earn about 84% of the national average, versus 87% in 1980. (1)

Add to that, the restrictions on relgioous freedom that affect Uighirs, who are predominantly Muslims. The repeated message that seperatism, or even meaningful autonomy, is an impossibility. The massive influx of Han into the region, enjoying the best jobs and and the benefits of the progress there has been in extracting oil and gas reserves. You can understand why they would be angry and tensions could release, explosively.

1 - "Beijing's Ethnic Policy Faces Data Challeng," bu Ian Johnson in The Wall Street Journal, 22nd of July, 2009. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124816735513967749.html)

Violence in the PRC

I am sickened by the violence in the PRC (1).

The root cause of the savage violence that has left more than 150 people - mostly ethnic Han Chinese - dead, are the racist policies of the Bastards of Beijing our valued trading partner. For decades, the communist crackpots have been funnelling Han into the area in huge numbers, to fustrate any democratic effort by the majority Uighurs to independence or genuine autonomy.

It is interesting to speculate that this may be caused by the economic slowdown - it has been suggested that growth of less than 8% could lead to civil unrest in the PRC, simply because anything less will mean there are not enough jobs to go round (2). If so, places like Xinjiang, where there is a large non-Han population that is economically disadvantaged and has a history of independence, will be the first to 'brew up.'

I await the sort of condemnation directed at Iran to be aimed at Beijing. Lefthandpalm expects, cynically, it will not be forthcoming, as the PRC is for too economically important to annoy. Profits over principles, as usual.

1 - "China's ethnic tinderbox ," by Dru Gladney, published by the BBC online, 9th of July, 2009. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141867.stm)
2 - "World Bank Cuts China's 2009 Growth Forecast," by Joe MacDonald, published by the AP, 18th of March, 2009. Reproduced by ABC News. (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/WireStory?id=7108532&page=2)