THE UIGHURS REVISITED #349

GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON

On the issue of Xinjiang and the Uighurs, there are two conflicting narratives. The first is that China is committing genocide against the Uighur people. The Second is that Muslim extremists are determined to create a new independent state in Xinjiang free of control by China. So, is the issue one of Race or one of Security?

Critics of China draw parallels with Nazi Germany in an attempt to damage China’s international reputation. But there are significant differences. In 1924 Hitler wrote Mein Kampf and underlined his race hate of the Jews that led to Auschwitz and the death of 6m Jews. Jew-hate was everywhere in Nazi Germany. Now, ask diplomats, businessmen, politicians who have visited China since the 1950s and none will cite any race-hate against the Uighurs emerging in any trade, political, business, cultural or social discussions with Chinese counterparts.

The genocide allegation started with Trump’s Secretary of State Pompeo at the end of the Trump Presidency. Frustrated by the failure of penal US tariffs to stop China’s seamless ascendancy to becoming No 1 Economic Power, Pompeo latched onto a conflict between Muslim Extremists in Xinjiang and China and created the genocide allegation in order to build an anti-China alliance across the US/Europe and Australia. Muslim Governments have conspicuously refused to join in the US-led allegations.

As China emerges from Covid with 5,000 deaths – US/UK figure is close to 1m deaths – and with its economy continuing to grow and its people continuing to show support for its Government, the pressure on the West to derail China and bring it to heel has increased and so the genocide allegations appear with greater frequency. The purpose is to damn China.

So two points – don’t rely on the UK Daily Mail or the S Times for your information but range wider and read the accounts written by non-Chinese who live, work and travel in China. (Modestly, my own website contains a 15,000-word analysis of the Genocide allegations). Second, the Muslim extremists in China are ISIS under another name – they are first cousins of the extremists who knifed UK citizens on London Bridge, killed 29 youngsters at the Manchester Arena and went to war in Chechnya.

Graham Perry 

NEXT POST 7 FEBRUARY – THE XI/BIDEN MEETING IN BEIJING.