Washington Abetting Racism in China

Racism, alas, is not a uniquely American or European phenomenon. I can personally attest to the fact that racism abounds in Asia. The Japanese have long discriminated against immigrants, the Koreans like to contend they are most homogeneous population on the planet, and Han Chinese have a thinly disguised disdain for minority groups who constitute the other 8% of Beijing's 1.3 billion constituents. On 5 July 2009, that disdain became painfully evident in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Xinhua, Beijing's official news agency, is now reporting riots in Xinjiang's capital resulted in over 140 deaths, more than 800 injured, and significant property damage.

Xinhua's explanation for this carnage is little more than a reiteration of the standard party-line: "terrorism, separatism, and extremism." Unfortunately, Washington is poorly positioned to refute this claim. The Bush administration's blind haste to launch a global war on terrorism provided Beijing with the ultimate excuse to crackdown on the Uyghurs. China's pledge of support for the U.S. campaign was secured by having our State Department place an obscure Uyghur group on the watch list of global terrorist organizations. In one fell swoop Washington blessed Han Chinese racism and granted Beijing a license to hunt Uyghurs at will.

The results were predictable. Human Rights Watch reports Beijing has established "a multi-tiered system of surveillance, control, and suppression of religious activity aimed at Xinjiang's Uyghurs." The group goes on to state, "peaceful activists who practice their religion in a manner deemed unacceptable by state authorities or Chinese Communist Party officials are arrested, tortured, and at times executed."

That's just for openers. According to Human Rights Watch, "The harshest punishments are meted out to those accused of involvement in separatist activity, which is increasingly equated by officials with 'terrorism'." This focus on alleged separatists is not accidental. The Chinese Communist Party cannot afford to be perceived as incapable of maintaining a unified China. This explains the continuing crackdowns in Tibet, the development of military capabilities sufficient to corral Taiwan, and curtailment of civil liberties in Xinjiang.

The real issue here, however, is not Beijing's persistent separatist paranoia. The real problem is how local officials seek to realize Beijing's intentions. China attempts to protect minority populations in her constitution, legal system, and via official statements guaranteeing religious freedom. The intent is noble; the execution is atrocious. As Human Rights Watch notes, "The reality is that Muslims in Xinjiang have only as much religious freedom as local and national authorities choose to allow at any given moment. For many who experience state repression, arbitrariness is the touchstone: what is permissible for some can result in harsh punishment for others, particularly those suspected of having separatist tendencies, leadership qualities, or disloyal political views."

Now let's return to the actual cause of the 5 July 2009 riots. In June 2009, a blogger in southern Guangdong province posted a message claiming six boys from Xinjiang had "raped two innocent girls." Local readers took this to mean "two Han women" and reacted by attacking Uyghurs employed at a factory where the alleged rape occurred. By the time local officials cleared the crowds 2 Uyghurs were dead and 118 people had been injured. At this stage, the horrific similarity to the 1923 riots in Rosewood, Florida, should cause some members of the Obama administration to immediately contemplate changing the State Department terrorist watch list--but, I suspect that's just wishful thinking on my behalf.

On 5 July 2009, several thousand Uyghur youths--many said to be university students--peacefully gathered at several locations in Urumchi, Xingjiang's capital city. According to a press release from the World Uyghur Congress, the protestors waved Chinese national flags as they loudly demanded justice for the Uyghurs killed in Guangdong. The demonstrators were also said to be protesting the increased racial discrimination Uyghurs encounter in China. The World Uyghur Congress claims authorities responded to these protests by dispatching a large security force equipped with tear gas, rifles, and armored vehicles.

We don't know who threw the first stone or fired the first shot. We do know the violence assumed a racial overtone from the outset. An official at one of Urumchi's largest hospitals told the Wall Street Journal they had treated 291 injured people. Of that lot, 233 were Han Chinese, 39 Uyghurs, and the remainder belonged to other ethnic minority groups. This body count alone speaks volumes. A more politically correct official might have declared 291 Chinese were injured--instead we have casualties identified by ethnic or racial composition. One can only speculate who was treated first...my bet is the Han.

How should Washington respond to this incident? First, avoid lectures on human rights. Beijing is not interested--and, as I have previously argued--the human rights rhetoric is widely understood as little more than a condemnation of another state's government. Instead, Washington should remove the Uyghurs from Secretary of State Clinton's terrorism watch list. We should not condone nor abet prosecution of any minority group by simply declaring them suspects in the war on terrorism. Finally, President Obama needs to make a statement concerning racism as it exists abroad and at home. The United States has come a long way since 1923 Rosewood, Florida, now we need to help other nations commit to a similar voyage.

 

Comments

[calcal2]

Chinese Americans do not have sympathy for "mother mullah" Kadeer or any of her uighurs muslim thugs who butchered Han Chinese families including women and children. Chinese Americans do not have ill wishes towards either China - our ancestors' home land or Chinese people -- our brothers and sisters by blood.

China has Chinese Americans' full support! China should and will rule these crazy uighurs thugs by "blood and iron". As a Chinese, I am really proud of the bloody blow Chinese government has dealt to these uighurs thugs.

Chinese leaders should follow the footsteps of Bismarck - China " must collect and keep its strength for the right moment, which has been missed several times already"; China's "frontiers ?. are not conducive to a healthy national life; it is not by means of speeches and majority resolutions that the great issues of the day will be decided-that was the great mistake ?.-but by blood and iron"!

in Just one night - 2000 crazy muslim nuts/uighurs seperatists rioters and 140+ shot dead and 1400+ arrests and 800 casualties - wow! That will surely teach those uighurs mulah nuts and tibetan monks a serious lesson - do not ever mess with CHINESE!

the extraordinary harshness and swiftness of the crack down and the promptness the government handled it and anounced it tells the world loud and clear - the Chinese Nation bears absolutely no mercy towards seperation by any minorities.

China have Chinese Americans' full support!

[shane9219]

Among large minority groups, Huis, Mongols and Manchuas did not have the kind of tension with Han similar to that between Han and Tibetan and Uighur, while Huis, Mongols and Manchuas also maintain a distinctive identity and large presence of around many cities in China.

The deep-rooted mistrust is related to royalty of a population group towards China especially during times of hardship. I have to emphasis that Chinese culture are very forgiving and mostly peaceful and inclusive. But once a population group made attempts to break away during time of hardship, their actions are usually not forgiving for a long time. This historical background has to be addressed head-on between Tibetans and Uighurs with Han openly someday, the sooner the better.

On the other hand, people knew how Huis, Mongols, Manchuas and Han struck together at times of foreign invasion, civil wars and hardships, even though there were kinks among them too

[Urumqi]

Good read

Dr. Sean Roberts ( George Washington University) Q&A on Uyghurs from Washingtonpost:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/07/07/DI2009070701491.html?hpid=topnews

[Urumqi]

Uighur Protesters March in Washington DC

See washingtonpost. article and Video
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070702287.html?hpid=topnews

[PDH5204]

Eric, the Chinese government has no more love for Han Christians than it does for Uyghur Muslims. So the "free exercise of religion" thing has nothing whatsoever to do with racism. The reality is simply that the atheistic communist state has no room for God.

Re the "body count", also not racist. The racism would be earthquake and the "body count" was broken down by race, i.e., race would be external to cause of death and so why bother to sort? Here, race is cause of death and so some sorting by race might be in order [might tell us who is doing the killing and who is being killed].

Lastly:

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090706/155446820.html

So at least one soul in Russia wants the Han Chinese to restore order. And consider:

"People from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring countries routinely go to Urumqi for their purchases, medical assistance, and recreation. Urumqi is a trade and business center of a booming economic zone, which incorporates all Central Asian people and their West Chinese colleagues­."

Look at the available photos. Should be the boonies, but looks well developed? Booming economic zone [that why all the destitute Han Chinese are moving there]. People coming from all over Central Asia. But, yes, despite allowing all that, the Han Chinese government is racist [and not simply an atheistic communistic land empire with no room for the idea of God, much like the former Soviet Union].

[MichaelTurton]

Eric, China swallowing Taiwan, the policy your other post here so ardently supported, is a manifestation of exactly the same racism. I had a piece in Asian WSJ a couple of months ago on it. As I noted then:

"Given this history, the claim that the people on both sides of the Strait belong to the zhonghua minzu is clearly colonialist: To say that someone belongs to the zhonghua minzu is to assert that they and their territory are part of the Chinese nation. It is thus common to hear Chinese nationalists define such disparate peoples as Manchus, Tibetans, Mongolians, Uighurs and Taiwanese indigenous peoples as "Chinese" and therefore, inevitably, part of China. To the Chinese, who constantly refer to their "brothers and sisters" across the Strait, this language legitimates China's drive to swallow Taiwan."

Han racism is an important driver of Chinese expansionism. The question for me is why you laud it when it comes to Taiwan, but deplore it in Xinjiang.

Michael Turton
The View from Taiwan blog

[noweknow]

I analyze this event from both sides' perspectives and examine critically all information from both sides to come to my own conclusion. I do not trust nor rely on reports from a single source.

Corporate journalists are known for their bias reporting and sleeper cell provocateurs with hidden political agenda are busy spreading misleading information and rumors.

It's important to have an open mind with the capacity to understand this complex situation from more than just a single perspective to reach a balanced conclusion. It's helpful to consult more sources of information aside from corporate media. It challenges our minds when we digest information from multiple, and sometimes conflicting, sources.

[Urumqi]

Before posting comment, we should do some research on the Uyghurs if we could.
I read the Uyghurs 's main frustrations are:
1. Han Chinese’s rapid migrations to Xinjiang, particularly Capital City Urumqi.
The data shows the Han Chinese population increased from 4 % to now over 40% in the last 60 years, Uyghurs and other minority’s fears losing their identity and homeland.
2. The unemployment rate of Uyghurs are very high, they could not get a job because they have to compete with a flow of Han Chinese migrants from other part of the China. The younger generation feel hopeless because they saw most college graduates could not get a job, they lose motivation of study hard in school.
3. Discrimination and Restriction on the Uyghurs and other minority: In the work place, security check point, weddings, public transportation and religious practice etc.
4. The oil and natural gas resources, rare metal resources and other resources are raped away by central government, did not bring local Uyghurs jobs, economic benefits, but brought the cost of living increased enormously, compared to 10 years ago.

[myidiot]

This is a real dilemma for the US. On one hand, we have a violent Muslim separationist group (as well as being a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Turkestan_Islamic_Movement) trying to promote jihad, on the other hand, we have China, with whom the US has a very complicated love-hate relationship.

This incidence will certainly give the US an opportunity to re-evaluate its relationship with and attitude towards China. The US main-stream media and most of the US population are still carry the ancient cold war era mentality towards China, Russia and anything remotely related to communism. With all the violence in the Middle East as well as the economic crisis and energy problem, I hope the US would realize that China has been nothing but a friendly ally to America, and that terrorism, global warming and energy shortage is the America's real enemies.

[LMPE]

What I've never understood is why, when China's modern borders got drawn up in 1911, why Tibet and Uyghurstan got included. When you look at China's borders, it looks as though someone drunkenly wandered through the Himalayas and created the borders, as opposed to limiting the country to the areas closer to the Pacific Ocean. With all the different ethnic groups in that country, it seems as if China should only be about half the size that it is.

I seriously doubt that China plans to attack Taiwan. They know what the US would do under those circumstances. As for the apparent anti-Japanese sentiment in China, many people still remember what Japan did to them in the '30s and '40s.

[blinded1]

How convenient it is. When you try to portrait minorities are repressed, you call Hans ‘Chinese’ while emphasize the physical, cultural and religious differences between Hans and minorities (Tibetans, Uyghurs,), implying these minorities are not Chinese. Hans, as well as most minorities in China see all these ethnic groups Chinese. FYI, there are Huis, Miaos, Mongols, Zhuangs, Tujias, … 56 in all, and many do have different appearance than Hans, not only different cultures. Even for Muslin minorities, the Uyghurs are not the only one, and not even the largest one. If the government wants to assimilate (or conduct cultural genocide as some called it), with 96% Hans, it can be done in 10 years, and there would be no any minority group left by now. Tibetans and Uyghurs are not the only minorities living in the border areas. Does it make any sense that the government singles out the Tibetans and Uyghurs for prosecutions while leaving others at large, if not for that fact that some Tibetans and Uyghurs are separatists and conduct terrorist acts?

As for your ignorance, rosychick: most of the 140 killed are Hans, and by the rioters. What make you so sure that these are mostly muslins? What a typical American!

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

I was in China some years ago and local Chinese came up to me to tell me how filthy the Tibetans are. He said the Tibetans take only two baths in their life (once when getting married and once at birth). He then laughed. He also said Tibetans were barbaric in that they left their deceased out in the open to be eaten by birds. He laughed again. Sad to see Tibetans lose their Country to Hans who despise them so much.

Not all Han have this attitude but it is there.

[Cyclone1234]

Thanks for pointing out "Not all Han have this attitude but it is there"

Not all westerners having a chauvinism attitude toward Chinese but it is there.

I sometimes feel amused that some people tend to show-off his/her heroic thoughts to rescue Tibetan or whoever from a imagined demon -- a.k.a. this case China, or Chinese government, or even could be Chinese people (I think sometimes they are confused about this, knowingly or not). I thought don Quixote was in the past but ...

Come on, Tibetan and Uighurs are treated no worse than American Indians being treated in present US.

[rosychick]

THANKS for at least publishing the article on killings of more than 200 Chinese Muslims, who are fighting for their human rights and freedom for the last several decades.
The Western media was very upbeat and over-dramatic to publish political unrest of a losing party of Iranians, for 10 long days but did only lip service for this State sponsored terrorism and barbarism of China. It may be because of power of China or their economical relation with China or as usual their mindset that Muslims do not deserve human rights and freedom. We Muslims have hope that after Obama such thinking will be changed at least in the White House but regretfully Obama is no difference than any other President. After lecturing Muslims and giving them false hope, he remained silent on this and many such issues related to the Muslim sufferings.

[Roadblock]

My Goodness, would you please read the news story? You've got it all backwards. It was the Muslims who killed 156 Hans. It just makes me sad whenever I see the Western mind takes the Chinese as "barbaric" perpetrators of violence while in fact we are the victims. Remember, the Chinese are the people who built the Great Wall to fend off barbarism.

[noweknow]

There's racism in every country in the world.
There question is: what are you going to do about it?
Civil war? Insurgency? Terrorism? Riots?
Maybe leave the innocent civilians alone?