2023-07-30 07:43:27
Sometimes Rushan Abbas wakes up in the middle of the night at her home in Virginia, thinking about her sister. Because then she gets scared. And because she feels guilty. “Then I wonder where my sister is. Is she asleep right now? How is her health. how to treat them After all, she is ill.” For almost five years, Abbas has not known of her sister’s whereabouts and condition.
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All she knows is that she disappeared in the Chinese province of Xinjiang shortly after Abbas spoke at a public event in Washington about China’s actions against the Uyghurs, against her people. And that she was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“It’s up to me that my sister has to suffer,” says Abbas. That’s what she thinks then, in the middle of the night. But she also thinks something else: “I’m thinking of the millions of Uyghurs in China who are suffering just like my family. And that someone has to raise their voice for these people. We need to talk about her.”
Up to five million people in camps
Rushan Abbas and her husband Abdulhakim Idris have both fled Xinjiang. Today they are perhaps the publicly best-known faces of the tragedy at home in the People’s Republic of China. The Muslim Turkic Uyghurs in north-west China have been marginalized by those in power in Beijing for centuries. But almost simultaneously with the rule of the current head of state and party leader Xi Jinping, measures began that Uyghur activists and some independent experts classify as genocide.
From 2014, Uyghurs were interned en masse in government camps. It is estimated that there are up to five million people, almost half of the eleven million Uyghurs. Beijing said the measures would only affect criminals. But numerous reports indicate that what is really at stake is political and cultural re-education. And about a change in demographics in Xinjiang.
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About two-thirds of all mosques in the province have been destroyed since 2017. According to various reports, people in the camps are being taught compulsory classes to break their Muslim religion. Accordingly, the inmates have to do forced labor, are tortured and live under inhumane conditions.
It is estimated that five to ten percent of inmates die every year. There are reports of mass forced sterilizations and state-mandated abortions. In some of the province’s population centers, fertility rates fell by more than 60 percent between 2015 and 2018, even according to official figures from the Chinese government. Children are taken away from their families and sent to boarding schools for re-education.
“A Final Solution”
“Since the founding of the People’s Republic, Beijing has repeatedly taken action against the Uyghurs,” says Abbas. The unprecedented wave of repression from 2014 has strategic reasons. “Ultimately, the reason is the so-called New Silk Road. This global investment program by Beijing is ultimately a plan for world domination. And unfortunately, geographically, we are at the center of this initiative.”
Virtually all infrastructure links from China to Central Asia, and also to the rest of the Eurasian landmass, pass through Xinjiang and Tibet. “Therefore, at the same time as the New Silk Road, Xi decided on a final solution to what Beijing sees as the Uyghur problem. Xinjiang should become Chinese.”
According to the latest reports, for example in the news magazine Der Spiegel, the repression has passed its peak. Many camps are closed, the military and police are less present in public. But if you listen to Abbas and Idris, it sounds as if Beijing just hides the repression better.
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Apparently Uyghur women are hit particularly hard. In forced marriages with Han Chinese, they are systematically raped, say Abbas and Idris. “China’s government gives Chinese men money, housing and jobs if they marry Uyghur women. If the woman refuses the forced marriage, she and her family are sent to concentration camps because of their ‘radicalized Muslim faith’,” says Abbas.
Even in the closest family circle there is no protection. Chinese state officials are sent to Uyghur families’ homes to stay with them, monitor them and report on them. It is checked whether the residents speak Chinese at home, even small deviations such as the greeting “Salam alaikum” customary among Uyghurs are punishable by law.
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Idris speaks of 1.1 million Han Chinese who invade the privacy of the Uyghurs, monitoring them right down to their bedrooms, over and over again for years. “Imagine this: you suddenly share your home with a stranger – you, your spouse, your children, someone who does not speak the same language, is of a different religion and race. But you must serve him because he has power over you.”
There is little solidarity for the Uyghurs from the Islamic world. “Unfortunately, most Muslim countries have a similar totalitarian regime as communist China,” says Idris. China is an important economic partner for many Arab countries.
Uyghurs seeking protection there even have to fear being extradited to Beijing. One exception: Turkey. In January, Ankara pledged not to extradite Uyghur refugees to China. With around 50,000 people, the country has the largest Uyghur diaspora outside of Central Asia.
“Genocide is a profitable business”
But China’s power is not limited to the Muslim world, say Abbas and Idris, who live in exile in the United States. “China’s influence extends from Wall Street to Hollywood. Anyone who publicly criticizes China risks their career,” says Abbas.
Actors and athletes stopped receiving offers after taking a stand against Beijing. Congress passed the Uygur Human Rights Policy Act back in 2019, but the sanctions regime is being implemented only hesitantly.
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“Genocide is a profitable business for China,” says Abbas. German companies also benefited from subsidies and low wages in Xinjiang. China has been Germany’s most important trading partner for seven years. Last year alone, the trading volume was 298.9 billion euros.
In its new China strategy, the federal government has formulated the goal of reducing dependence on Beijing. However, the 64-page document only mentions “Uyghurs” once and mentions the “Xinjiang” region twice.
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“The Europeans should pass a law similar to the American ‘Uygur Human Rights Policy’,” says Abbas. The EU supply chain law, with which Brussels wants to exclude goods produced under inhumane conditions, is not enough. “Beijing knows exactly where the loopholes are to circumvent the law. But the companies remain silent and continue to make profits,” says Abbas.
She also means Volkswagen. The German car company, which was the market leader in China until this year, operates a large plant in Xinjiang. Again and again there were reports of human rights violations there. Now VW wants to check the continued operation. “These tests are pointless,” says Abbas. “The Uyghur workers cannot speak freely without endangering themselves or their families. The only thing Volkswagen can do to end the forced labor is to close the Xinjiang plant.”
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