China continues to deceive the Islamic world

By Memet Tohti Atawulla*

According to Chinese state media, another visiting delegation from West Asian and South African countries visited East Turkistan on November 1 at the invitation of the Chinese regime. The delegation were specially welcomed by the heads of the Chinese authorities in the region. According to the news, the members of this group are composed of religious scholars and journalists from more than ten Muslim countries (Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and others).

Visiting the Uyghur region under the name of “representatives of Islamic countries” and speaking for China’s interests is well-known characteristics of these kind of delegations. Inviting selected groups, such as journalists, politicians and scholars toEast Turkistan to deny the existence of the Uyghur Genocide is undoubtedly one of the most effective propaganda tactics used by the Chinese regime. Even before the Uyghur Genocide, whichcame to the agenda of international public opinion in 2017, Beijing has been carrying out extensive propaganda invitationsto the Muslim world. Such visits have been organized to use the delegates as propaganda tools to deceive the Muslim World.

The Western Asian and South African countries here actually refer to the Middle East, the Arab Muslim countries, which are the core of the Islamic world. China has previously organized such representatives from Muslim countries in Southeast Asia. Next time it may form another area. China’s main goal here is to prevent the entire Islamic world from standing for the Uyghurs, to spread false information to Muslims about East Turkistan and the Uyghurs, and to blind the eyes of the Islamic world.

Why does China organize such visits? China’s purpose in organizing such visits can be broadly summarized into two points. Firstly, China wants to deceive the Muslim world by making them believe that the news about the Uyghur genocide is a “propaganda attacks carried out by the West to discredit China…” and in this way, it wants to keep the Islamic world at its side.

In the reality the Chinese regime has launched war on Islam and Muslims in East Turkistan for years. China’s atrocities against Uyghur Muslims have already been accepted by many Western countries as genocide and crimes against humanity. There is currently a mountain of evidence in the world press about this, and the Chinese regime is unable to cover up or deny it, even with enormous propaganda efforts.

Secondly, through the mouth of these so-called “Muslim representatives”, China wants to deny its oppression and genocide of Uyghurs. More specifically, China wants to throw the question before the world: if the Uyghurs are really going through a genocide, then why are Western countries, not Muslim countries opposing it? China knows very well that it can kill two birds (Muslim world as well as non-Muslim world) with one stone when denying the Uyghur genocide through the mouths of Muslim scholars and journalists.

It is a fact that for 70 years, China has carried out similar propaganda to the Islamic world. One of the main reasons whythe Uyghur Muslims are not able to make their voices heard in the Muslim world is related to the some degree to the deep Chinese influence that its long propaganda campaign has createdamong the Muslims. Therefore, it cannot be said that such acts of disinformation will not have certain consequences. But you can’t cover the sun with skirts. China’s hostility towards Islam and Muslims in East Turkistan will soon be exposed to the Muslims of the world.

*Memet Tohti Atawulla is the Senior Program Officer at Center for Uyghur Studies