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Uyghur News / Uyghur American Association

» Uyghur leader back in Australia - 08-October-2011
ABC Meff Waters reported this story on Friday, October 7, 2011 18:34:00 MARK COLVIN: One of the world's best known freedom activists has warned Australia that Malaysia has a record of sending refugees back to China. Rebiya Kadeer is the exiled president of the World Uyghur Congress, and is herself a former Chinese political prisoner. Last time she came to this country it resulted in protests from Chinese officials; this time she's slipped in quietly for a human rights conference in Brisbane. Rebiya Kadeer made a full-time job of fighting for the ethnic Uyghur population in north-western China. She says the so-called Malaysia solution is that very risky because of that country's track record with deporting her countrymen back to China. Jeff Waters reports from Brisbane. JEFF WATERS: When Uyghur leader, Rebiya Kadeer, last visited Australia in 2009 it caused a bit rift with China. Beijing cancelled a visit by a vice minister of foreign affairs and issued complaints against this country

» Pakistan Pulls Closer to a Reluctant China - 06-October-2011
The New York Times October 6, 2011 By JANE PERLEZ ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As relations with Washington plummeted in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden in May, Pakistan’s leaders turned to China, which is seen here as an enduring all-weather friend, an alternative to the troublesome and overbearing Americans. Over the years, Beijing has sent military assistance to Pakistan, provided crucial help in initiating Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program and cooperated closely on intelligence. Sturdy Chinese-Pakistan relations are seen as a hedge against India, a rival to both nations. In recent months Pakistani officials have gone to Beijing seeking Chinese investment in a naval base and weapons, as well as trade deals worth millions of dollars. But on closer examination, Pakistan’s ability to use China to offset its collapsing relations with the United States may be far more limited than it appears, raising the prospect that Pakistan will be left on the world&

» Dalai Lama cancels South Africa Tutu trip over visa - 05-October-2011
BBC, 4 October 2011 The Dalai Lama has cancelled his trip to South Africa, where he had been invited by fellow Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Tibetan spiritual leader’s office said the South African government had failed to grant him a visa on time. Pretoria has maintained that it did not come under pressure from China to stop the visit. Archbishop Tutu said South Africa was “worse than the apartheid government” for failing to issue the visa. “… At least you were expecting it from the apartheid government,” he told a nationally televised news conference. The Dalai Lama had been due to take part in celebrations on Friday to mark the archbishop’s 80th birthday. The row intensified as South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe visited China for four days of talks last week, signing a number of bilateral trade and investment deals. He made no public mention of the visa issue while in China. It is the second time in

» Chinese Mark ?National Tragedy Day? Worldwide - 05-October-2011
The Epoch Times, 4 October 2011 By Mimi Li and Amelia Pang Officially, Oct. 1 is China’s National Day, the anniversary of the founding of communist China. But every year groups of Chinese outside China gather to mark the anniversary a different way, by commemorating Memorial Day, or National Tragedy Day to rebuff the Communist Party and its history of violence and atrocity. In Hong Kong, 800 practitioners of the Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) spiritual practice marched through the streets of the Kowloon District in support of the more than 100 million who have rejected the Chinese Communist Party. The group’s Tian Guo Marching Band drew a crowd that included some mainland Chinese who were shocked to see freedom of speech on display, as such a large gathering would have been banned or brutally suppressed in China. Onlookers explained the significance of Memorial Day to them: “Today [Oct. 1] isn’t a day for celebration, it’s one of sorrow. Ever since

» China's economic espionage has reached an intolerable level: US... - 05-October-2011
The Times of India 5 October 2011 WASHINGTON: Asserting that China’s economic espionage has reached an ‘intolerable level’ a top American lawmaker said it’s time that the US and its allies in Europe and Asia confront Beijing and demand to put an end to this piracy. “China’s economic espionage has reached an intolerable level, and I believe the US and our allies in Europe and Asia have an obligation to confront Beijing and demand they put a stop to this piracy,” Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the house select committee on intelligence said at a Congressional hearing. “Whether or not we will ever be able to convince Beijing to voluntarily stop their economic cyber espionage campaign and their predatory economic behaviour, we have a lot of work to do here in the US to improve our cyber security, including improving the sharing of cyber threat information with and between the government and the private sector,” he said. He said t

» Russia claims China spy arrest - 05-October-2011
Article Link AFP, 5 October 2011 By Dmitry Zaks MOSCOW — Russia on Wednesday revealed holding a Chinese national for the past year on espionage charges linked to repair manuals for a missile system that Beijing had been buying from Moscow for years. The rare public spy spat between the two giants emerged just days before a visit to China by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — a former intelligence agent who plans to return to the Kremlin for up to 12 more years in power in March. China issued no comment while Russian officials stayed mum about why they kept the unusual case quiet since making the initial arrest on October 28 last year. The FSB domestic security service said the case of Tong Shengyong was forwarded by prosecutors to the Moscow City Court on Tuesday. “The investigation established that the Chinese national (was) working on assignment from the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China,” FSB said in a statement. It said Tong h

» Pakistan and China: Strengthening Ties - 04-October-2011
American Spectator By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi on 10.4.11 @ 6:07AM As U.S. military operations in Afghanistan drag on, a strengthening relationship between Pakistan and China has emerged as tensions between the former and the United States continue to grow. Of particular interest are the trilateral meeting just held between Chinese, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence officials in Islamabad and a two-day visit to Pakistan by the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Meng Jianzhou. Both of these developments come in the midst of growing concern among U.S. officials about the problem of ISI (Pakistani intelligence) support for a militant group known as the Haqqani Network, which has bases in Pakistan and conducts operations against American and Indian targets in Afghanistan. For example, the Haqqani Network is widely suspected of being behind the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008, and more recently cell phone trails have established that members of the organization were in contact with

» Dying for a Living - 04-October-2011
Techronati Author: Kenneth Kales Published: October 03, 2011 at 6:28 pm I was in Washington D.C. last week on publishing business. While there, I stopped in to say hello to one of my authors, Rebiya Kadeer. Mrs. Kadeer is known to some of you as a brave (The New York Times describes her as fearless) human rights activist fighting for justice in China. She is president of the World Uyghur Congress. I published her autobiography, “Dragon Fighter”, and have since grown close to her and the Uyghur fight for human rights. The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority in China. There are approximately 20 million Uyghurs worldwide, 18 million of them in China. They had their own homeland, and as has been the case with human nature, they have lost their nation to invading military powers but due to their tenacity over their 4,000 year long history they have survived as a people. In approximately the year 750, they were at their height living in what was then known as the Uyghur Empire. They

» Analysis: China seeks profit, shuns politics, in Afghanistan - 04-October-2011
Reuters By Zhou Xin KABUL | Tue Oct 4, 2011 8:24am EDT (Reuters) - The Chinese passengers boarding the weekly Ariana Flight 332 from the remote western city of Urumqi to Kabul speak volumes about ties between a rising China, the world's number two economy, and its desperately poor and unstable neighbor, Afghanistan. Of at least nine Chinese, six were heading for a China-funded copper mine, two were working for a Chinese telecom equipment maker and one was the boss of a Chinese restaurant, struggling to check in several boxes of illicit supplies, from alcohol to frozen pork. "The situation is not as bad as news reports suggest, and I am hoping to make money," said Li Xiaofeng, the restaurant owner, who is from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang and opened his restaurant in Kabul last year. He is contributing to a tiny but growing trade flow between China and Afghanistan, which many in Kabul hope could be the country's financial salvation as Western troops head home. Bilateral tra

» Tibetan Flag Removal Triggers Protests - 03-October-2011
RFA 2011-10-02 Protests flared in a Tibetan area in China's southwestern Sichuan province at the weekend after a photo of the Dalai Lama and a huge Tibetan flag were removed from a building and thrown in the street, eyewitnesses said. The protests by several hundred people in the Serthar (in Chinese, Seda) county city in the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture also called for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile and demanded freedom for Tibet. Police tried to intervene but withdrew as the crowd swelled, according to Serthar Tsultrim Woeser, a native of Serthar and a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile based in India's Dharamsala hill town. "The detailed identifications of the protesters are not known, but the original protesters were all lay Tibetans," he told RFA, quoting reports from eyewitnesses. The protests on Saturday came amid tensions following the self immolation of two more Tibetan monks—the fourth such burning protest in six months—

» Masked Protesters Mark 62nd Anniversary of the PRC - 03-October-2011
Tibet Custom Sunday, October 02 2011 @ 10:52 am BST Today (1/10/2011) thirty protesters from Chinese, Uighur and Tibetan Solidarity UK gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in London to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Those present wore white masks, representing the millions of people who have died or dissapeared during the 62 years of the PRC, including victims of the invasions of Tibet and East Turkestan, the Cultural Revolution and the June 4th 1989 massacre around Tiananmen Square. Their message was that, after 62 years, there is nothing to celebrate. Shao Jiang, a survivor of the June 4th 1989 massacre said: "it is important that we send a clear message on this day: the PRC has caused the deaths of millions, and while its leaders wil mark the occasion with celebrations, ordinary Chinese, Uighur and Tibetan people will go on suffering." Nizamindin Sametov, a Uighur exile said: "For the people of East Turkestan the PRC has meant s

» State Department cites further action needed in annual human rights report... - 03-October-2011
Spero News By John Flynn Saturday, October 01, 2011 On Sept. 13 the U.S. State Department released its latest International Religious Freedom Report. Even though its title is the 2010 report it only covers the last six months of the year as future editions will shift to a calendar year reporting period. In his presentation of the report Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, said that the same eight states designated as Countries of Particular Concern in previous years were re-named in the latest report. They are: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. There are many other countries, however, where there are serious violation of religious freedom, Posner added. He said they were particularly concerned about the situation of Christians in Syria, where the instability and violence is leading to numerous violations of human rights. Pakistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and Egypt were other countries

» Pakistan flaunts its friendship with China in message to US - 03-October-2011
The National Daniel Bardsley (Foreign Correspondent) Oct 3, 2011 BEIJING // The words the Pakistani prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, used to describe his country's ties with China earlier this week could not have been more gushing. The relationship was, he told the visiting Chinese public security minister Meng Jianzhu in Islamabad, "higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey". Pakistan's show of closeness with China came, not coincidentally, when Islamabad's ties to Washington have grown worse. Admiral Mike Mullen, the soon-to-depart chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency of supporting operatives from the Haqqani network, blamed for a series of attacks in Kabul. In the light of this, Pakistan appeared to be giving the impression that criticism from the United States could send it closer to China, a growing international rival to the US. The closeness between Pakistan an

» Could Pakistan dump the U.S. for 'all-weather friend' China?... - 01-October-2011
Los Angeles Times By Alex Rodriguez and Barbara Demick, October 1, 2011 Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Beijing— With every new trough in U.S.-Pakistan relations, talk among Pakistanis of paring down their dependence on Washington and throwing in with China grows louder. Just days after the U.S. accused Pakistan's premier spy agency of aiding insurgent attacks against U.S. targets in Afghanistan, Chinese Vice Premier Meng Jianzhu appeared this week in Islamabad reassuring Pakistani leaders that China backed Pakistan's efforts to protect its sovereignty. The vice premier's comments apparently referred to Pakistani worries of a future U.S. airstrike or targeted ground operation against Taliban-allied insurgents in the tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani beamed when talking about his country's friendship with China, deeming it "higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey

» Palestine UN bid: Where does China stand? - 29-September-2011
Al Jazeera Nima Khorrami Assl Last Modified: 29 Sep 2011 18:34 In the decades after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's main interaction with the Middle East was its support for and cooperation with Arab "revolutionary groups". Gradually though, public support for the Palestinian liberation movement became the key characteristic of China's policy towards the Arab world, to the extent that George Habash called China Palestine's "best friend". Beijing's support for Palestine during this period was a matter of ideology and identity. Perceiving the Palestinian guerrillas/freedom fighters as fellow victims of imperialism and capitalism, the CCP leadership was keen to be identified with the Palestinians and provide them with both military aid and training. China was in fact the first non-Arab state to give diplomatic recognition to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Respectively, it refused to recognise the State of Israel, and in 1978 supported a

» China warns U.S. over $5.8B Taiwan arms deal - 28-September-2011
CBS News September 28, 2011 8:10 AM (AP) BEIJING - China's military exchanges with the U.S. will suffer after Washington announced a $5.85 billion arms package for Taiwan, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday, confirming expectations that Beijing would retaliate over the sale. High-level exchanges, joint drills, and other large-scale activities will be affected "in light of the serious damage" resulting from the sale, ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a news conference open to Chinese reporters only. That follows the months-long suspension of military contacts last year following the announcement of another arms deal for Taiwan. China views such exchanges as a political bargaining chip, frustrating U.S. officials who say they are important in building confidence and avoiding confrontations as China's military modernizes. It wasn't clear whether additional retaliation would be taken. Chinese vice president and future leader Xi Jinping was expected to make an important visit to Wa

» China's £1.4 million sheep - 28-September-2011
The Telegraph By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai 12:05PM BST 27 Sep 2011 Majid Abdul Reyim has received offers of 14 million yuan (£1.4 million) for the sheep, but had not yet succumbed to a sale Only 1,000 Dolan sheep exist in the world, according to breeders, and their extraordinary features have made them the latest collectors' item for ultra-rich Chinese. "Big bosses come here in their luxury cars and load the sheep into the back seat," said Liu Fenghua, a 48-year-old sheep breeder in the city of Aksu, in the far western region of Xinjiang. "Usually the bosses are Uighur Muslims who have made their money in the sheep industry and want a prize sheep for a pet," he added. The Dolan breed has a distinctive curved nose and twin tails, as well as a long floppy ears. Originally bred from sheep in Kashgar to grow quickly and to yield more meat, the breed has since become ornamental. "The price depends on the pedigree," said Mr Liu. "The darker the fleece, the better. The bigger the

» Showdown in the South China Sea - 28-September-2011
Gulf News By Manik Mehta, Special to Gulf News Published: 00:00 September 28, 2011 While addressing the Asia Society in New York on September 20, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III emphasised that maritime security would be his country's defence priority, particularly in the disputed areas in the South China Sea, which Manila now calls the West Philippine Sea. Aquino wants a credible deterrent against China to protect the Philippines' sovereign rights. The compelling need for a deterrent arises from China's belligerent posturing which is causing nervousness within Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Four member states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — stake claims to the oil and gas-rich Spratly islands. China's so-called "historical claims" to the islands, prompting recent Chinese incursions into the Reed Bank within the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone, are worrying Manila. However, Aquino was categorical about asserting the P

» Demonstrations Planned for National Day of China - 28-September-2011
In an effort to raise awareness of Beijing’s egregious disregard for human rights in the region, the World Uyghur Congress along with Uyghur organizations worldwide are staging mass protests on 1 October 2011, China’s annual celebration of its statehood. For indigenous populations forced to live under Beijing’s oppressive rule for more than six decades, this marks a day of mourning and sadness. Below is a statement released by the World Uyghur Congress: On the occasion of the National Day of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated each year on 1 October 2011, Uyghur organizations worldwide will stage demonstrations to protest the occupation of their homeland East Turkestan, also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUAR), 62 years ago. While the Chinese government celebrates the foundation of the PRC, 1 October [2011] represents a mourning day for the Uyghur people since it symbolizes the loss of freedom and human rights. With the prote

» The Next Page: Looking for Gauhar Kamardinova - 28-September-2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sunday, September 25, 2011 by Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili With the flood of 9/11 stories this month, most of us have been compelled to remember where we were when the news came in. I was in Tashkent, the sleepy Central Asian capital of Uzbekistan, bordering Afghanistan. It was about 6:30 p.m. when the phone rang. Our secretary called out, "There's an American woman trying to reach you." I was surprised to hear my mother's voice calling from Pittsburgh. "It's war," she said. Needless to say, our sleepy outpost began to bustle in the following days. I was working for the U.S Agency for International Development. Our attention quickly turned to getting as much assistance across the border to Afghanistan, before the anticipated U.S. military campaign there was to begin. In the days before 9/11, I would often travel down to the Afghan border and look across the Amu Darya River to Taliban-controlled territory and see complete darkness. The bustle of activity was a w