The “Uighur Genocide” Myth
Policies in Xinjiang are being hysterically condemned by the West’s leaders, but supported by the world’s Muslim countries, whose representatives have actually visited Xinjiang. What’s going on?
The West’s ruling class couldn’t possibly be…lying to us, could they?
The Anti-China Paradigm
First of all, China did not start existing in 2019. Why have we all heard so many more stories about China in the last year? From lies about how China “covered up” COVID to pigs being forced to bungee jump, to the Hong Kong protests (although it’s rarely mentioned that these were paid for by the US,), a increasing proportion of “the news” now bears the message “China is bad”.
So it would be naive to ignore this pattern, which the Uighur stories are part of.
When Tommy Robinson whines about “Asian paedophiles” as one of his 100 racist complaints against Asian people, nobody is stupid enough to believe he cares about the sex crimes, are they? You’d hope not. You’d hope they spot the pattern and realise Tommy Robinson just really hates Asian people.
Building a Sinophobic consensus
Now, you won’t believe this coincidence, but as we hear more negative stories about China, public opinion dramatically shifts:
Back in 2005, only 16% of UK residents had an unfavourable view of China. In 2015, slightly more UK residents (45%) had a postive view of China than a negative one (37%). We’ve witnessed a masterclass in smearing a country. First, you need a boogeyman, who the awfulness can be blamed on. This is Xi Jinping — about whom Pew now ask the bizarre question of how much “confidence” they “have in Xi to do the right thing in world affairs”.
Why Uighurs, why now?
Let’s be honest, how much did your favourite Western journalist care about the Uighur people a year ago? Did they tell you anything about Uighur people when Uighurs were the victims of terrorist attacks in 2014? Or did they only start crying for the Uighur people now, when the Chinese government are being portrayed as the villain?
If it’s the latter, then could this not suggest that they have more interest in demonising China’s government that explaining the Uighur’s situation generally?
The “Uighur genocide” headlines make us believe the real story here is a story of Chinese misgovernment. This leaves out quite an important part of the real story: the West itself, and the growing US imperial aggression towards China.
The actual story:
US aggression towards China has been escalating on for a while, but Western media have been silent about it.
In essence, China’s growing while the US (and its decrepit bootlicker, the UK) are in decline. Here are some facts. I bet £100 you have not been told any of these as often as you have heard the word “Uighur” via corporate media.
· In 2001, China joins the World Trade Organisation, allowing it to trade more with more countries[1]
As a result, this happens:
· In other words: China’s output in 2003 was 4.3% of world output. By 2016 it was 15.1%.
As a result of China being in WTO, developing countries can sell more to it — Thanks to increased demand from China, the value of exports by all developing countries rose by 25 percent, bringing their share in world trade to 31 percent in 2004, the highest since 1950
The US, like all capitalist countries, suffers in 2008 recession. China, contrary to Western predictions, comes out of it quite well.
· 2011 — Obama announces US navy’s “pivot to asia”. US navy moves 400 bases to surround China — 2/3 of the navy.
In 2016 China’s banking assets were 33tn$. The EU’s were 31tn$ and the US’s were 16tn$
· In 2015 for the first time there were more $ billionaires in China than the US.
— China’s GDP is set to overtake the USA’s in 2033
So, in response…
2014 — “the United States, Japan, and South Korea all flew aircraft over Chinese airspace, including nuclear capable B-52 bombers, to test Chinese defenses for a potential imperialist attack on China. The Vietnamese also joined in this imperialist campaign by attacking Chinese claims to the Paracel Islands and even allowing the U.S. Navy to dock in Vietnam.”
· In 2015 the US navy rehearsed a blockade of China’s raw materials!
By 2016, Chinese people view “US power and influence” as the greatest threat to China, with 45% saying it’s a major threat.
In 2018 the indo-pacific strategy was launched, the US attempting to draw in Australia, Japan and India to its work in ‘curbing’ China.
· The US army operates 800 bases in 147 countries around the world.
· Under Obama nuke missile spending rose faster than any president since Reagan
· In 2018 Trump begins a trade war with China, introducing tariffs on Chinese imports, which will benefit the US economy at the expense of China’s
· Dec 19 — US imperialists use claims about the “Uighur genocide” to argue for more sanctions on China
· At least one US Colonel has openly said that the US aim to use the Uighur ethnic minority in their ‘rivalry with’ (or aggression against?) China.
What’s actually happening in Xinjang?
For years there have been Daesh-related violent attacks in West China. The terrorists’ aim is to make Xinjiang (aka. East Turkestan) separate from China. The UK government itself acknowledges there’s more risk of terrorist attacks in Xinjang! This is because there is an extremist movement, with international links, which has recruited from among poor and disaffected people in Xinjiang.
The Chinese government obviously want to discourage Xinjiang’s people from being disaffected and hostile towards China. So there’s massive investment and poverty reduction ongoing in Xinjang, especially targeted towards Southern Xinjiang, a poorer area. There have also been efforts to create jobs particularly in rural areas. The basic principle, in the words of one Egyptian journalist who visited Xinjiang, is that “poverty and ignorance are a hotbed of extreme thoughts, and if people can live good lives, extremism will certainly disappear”.
Schools!
Also, the Chinese govt have opened lots of schools. These are not part of the criminal justice system — people going there have not been convicted of an offence. It’s actually a programme aimed at crime-prevention, (rather than just imprisoning people for the sake of retaliation once it’s too late, as we do under capitalism). The schools enrol people who are at risk of getting drawn down the separatist/terrorist path and teach them more about Chinese culture/laws so the students feel better integrated into China.
Loads of people from outside China have visited them and reported back, it’s even quite easy to see photos of the schools:
Here’s an article by some US journalists who visited Xinjiang. The reporters tried their best to make it sound like hell on earth, by making dramatic claims like the students have been “locked up for months” (when it turns out they go home on weekend and can be seen walking around the campus freely in the article’s own pictures. Despite the journalists’ efforts to catastrophise, you can tell it is just a school.
Here’s another account by some Egyptian journalists who visited Xinjiang. One concluded “It is the efforts of the Chinese government that have enabled the diverse culture in Xinjiang to be passed down” and another said “I could feel that local Muslims fully enjoy religious freedom.” A third said “I found that the training centers are completely unlike the reports of some Western media, which said they mistreated learners”,, and explained how people are trained in skills (e.g. cooking) which have then allowed them to open businesses.
Here’s what the Organisation of Islamic Countries said when they visited several training centres — they found no abuses, just students in “good physical health”, and facilities which were “fairly modern and comfortable”. They spoke to imams and students who told them there was no “forced labour” or “cultural and religious repression”.
International Response
The truth is there has not been international condemnation of Xinjiang policy. The response has been divided very clearly: 50 global South countries, many of them Muslim, have expressed support for policies in Xinjiang. It’s only 22, mostly NATO countries — the USA’s embarrassing bootlickers — who have expressed disapproval.
The EU were invited to visit but, one diplomat openly admitted, they didn’t want to because this “might support the narrative that there was nothing amiss in Xinjiang”! So what if China are innocent? What if all those Muslim visitor are correct in seeing the benefits of the policy? The EU won’t risk investigating in case it turns out they are.
The BBC had a similarly prejudicial attitude. A team flew into Xinjiang and found out absolutely nothing of use because they antagonised, rather than co-operated with, the sovereign state who’s territory they were visiting. They didn’t see inside any training centres, but photographed one from outside and insist, with crystal-clear logic, that it cannot be a school because it’s too big - “This giant facility would of course fit no objective definition of a school.” Behold, everyone, the rigorous critical thinking that an English public school education imparts you with.
So where has the myth come from?
The same liars who gave you Saddam’s WMDs; the same liars who made up the Gulf of Tonkin attack so they could start the Vietnam War. The same ones who got a diplomat’s daughter to weep on camera and dishonestly claim Iraqi soldiers took babies out incubators and threw them on the floor.
US imperialists.
There’s a org called the NED, created in the 80s to replace the CIA cos the actual CIA had too much bad press (because of its killing and deposing of elected leaders). Allen Weinstein, who helped create the NED, said in 1991 “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA”.[1]
The NED is the same org which paid for those much-publicised Hong Kong protests[2] where right-wing, murderous Hong Kongers begged the US[3]to invade China. Generally, if a story sounds like a US imperialist’s dream come true, then it usually is a US imperialist’s dream, which they have paid to come true.
The NED has orchestrated the “Uighur genocide” myth. They’ve funded a report which was presented to the UN, and then was widely reported as being a UN report — two very different things.
The NED have made liberal use of Christian fundamentalist Adrian Zenz, who believes homosexuality is a sin and is awaiting the second coming of Christ, is the main character behind the myths. His wild guesswork and comically poor maths underpins all Western reporting on Uighur.
Sinophobic consensus
As we have seen, at the moment, the US and UK governments, and their misinformed populations, are growing objectively more hostile to China. In these circumstances, there is nothing “brave” about adding to this chorus of condemnations and racist jibes.
To spread Western propaganda about China serves only the interests of US imperialism, and its UK lackey.
[1] Quoted in Blum, Rogue State, 239
[2] https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-08-27/Why-is-the-NED-fueling-the-Hong-Kong-protests--JtMb2yKKWc/index.html
[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/hong-kong-protesters-donald-trump-191201081328129.html
