Press Release
For Immediate Release
Aug 28, 2023
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Uyghurstudy.org
During the stopover in Urumchi on Saturday on his way back from the BRICS summit in South Africa, Xi Jinping called for the continuation of the hardline approach against the Uyghurs in East Turkistan, stressing the need for maintaining “social stability” and “counterterrorism measures”. In particular, Xi called for further “Sinicization” of Islam, saying “it should be deepened in order to effectively handle all sorts of illegal religious activities.” This is another signal that China’s genocidal and Islamophobic policies in East Turkistan will not stop and instead will intensify in the future.
Since 2014, the Chinese regime has been engaging in an active genocide and attack on the religious freedom of the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan under the guise of “Strike Hard” campaign. Millions of Uyghurs have been locked up in concentration camps; the birth rate of Uyghurs has plummeted to 0% in some regions in East Turkistan; Uyghur intellectuals and religious scholars were imprisoned; Islamic practices and traditions have been banned; Thousands of mosques were destroyed or converted into restaurants, pig barns, and tourist attractions; Uyghur women were forced to marry Han Chinese communist men. As a result, East Turkistan has become a perfect police state.
Over the last few years, China’s crimes against the Uyghurs have been making the headlines of international media outlets. Governments of democratic countries, human rights organizations and activists have criticized China for its policies in East Turkistan. More than a dozen country has now recognized the Uyghur Genocide. An August 2022 report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said China’s crimes in East Turkistan might amount to international crimes including crimes against humanity. Uyghur Tribunal, a people’s tribunal established in London determined that China has committed genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkistan.
Xi’s affirmation and call for the intensification of the policies in East Turkistan exposes the real nature of the Chinese regime to the world, yet again. It is also an evidence that the Uyghur Genocide and China’s War on Islam were and have always been carried out under the directive of the PRC central leadership.
Executive Director Abdulhakim Idris said, “Xi’s speech in Urumchi states that China’s genocide and war on Islam in East Turkistan has always been the policy of the PRC. It also shows that the international community was not effective in pressuring the Chinese regime to give up its genocidal policies in East Turkistan. On the other hand, the failure of the Islamic World in denouncing China has encouraged the Chinese regime to continue its genocide and war on Islam. Unfortunately, this is a failure of the international community, this is a failure of the Muslim Ummah. The world must not let the Chinese regime continue its genocide against the Uyghurs.”
The Center for Uyghur Studies (CUS) strongly condemns Xi’s call for further strengthening of the genocide and war on Islam against the Uyghurs. The CUS calls on the international community to live up to its commitment for international laws, human rights, and freedom and garner stronger pressure on the PRC to stop its genocide in East Turkistan.
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