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The Right to Internal Self-Determination of the Uyghur Minority

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The Right to Internal Self-Determination of the Uyghur Minority The right to internal self-determination of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 1949 – 2019: Implications for the evolution of Uyghur-Chinese state relations A dissertation presented by Martin Lavička to The Department of Politics and European Studies Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Olomouc 2021 Dissertation Advisor: Prof. PhDr. Jiří Lach, Ph.D., M.A. I declare that this dissertation was composed by myself, that the work contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text. Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto disertační práci vypracoval samostatně na základě uvedených zdrojů. Date: Martin Lavička 2 Content List of figures ................................................................................................................. 5 List of abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 7 Editorial note .................................................................................................................. 8 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 9 1.1. General background ........................................................................................ 9 1.2. The scope of the study ................................................................................... 29 1.3. Aims of the study .......................................................................................... 30 1.4. Research questions ........................................................................................ 31 1.5. Methodology ................................................................................................. 32 1.6. Dissertation outline ....................................................................................... 34 1.7. Literature review ........................................................................................... 36 The right to self-determination: The evolution and establishment of a right in international law ........................................................................................................... 43 2.1. Introduction: The concept of self-determination ........................................... 43 2.2. Evolution of the right in international law .................................................... 44 2.3. Colonial context ............................................................................................ 48 2.4. Self-determination beyond the colonial context ............................................ 55 2.5. Concepts of self-determination ..................................................................... 56 2.6. Exercising the right and its limitations .......................................................... 58 2.7. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 59 Internal self-determination ................................................................................... 62 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 62 3.2. Evolution of the right .................................................................................... 63 3.3. Content of the right ....................................................................................... 67 3.4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 72 Self-determination in the context of PRC law ..................................................... 75 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 75 4.2. Legislative processes ..................................................................................... 76 4.3. The Constitution ............................................................................................ 79 4.3.1. Religion .................................................................................................. 82 4.3.2. Regional Autonomy ............................................................................... 82 4.4. Regional National Autonomy Law (RNAL) ................................................. 83 4.4.1. Content of the Law ................................................................................. 84 4.4.2. Content evaluation ................................................................................. 91 4.5. Religious Affairs Regulations (2004, 2017) ................................................. 92 3 4.5.1. Content evaluation ................................................................................. 97 4.6. Regulations of XUAR on Religious Affairs (1994, 2014) ............................ 98 4.6.1. Content of the law .................................................................................. 99 4.6.2. Content evaluation ............................................................................... 104 4.7. Regulations on de-radicalization of the XUAR and Counter-Terrorism Law of the PRC .................................................................................................................. 105 4.7.1. Content evaluation ............................................................................... 111 4.8. Conclusion – Changing Legal Narratives ................................................... 112 The PRC’s policy discourse towards Xinjiang and the Uyghurs and its impact on the relationship between the Uyghurs and the Chinese state ..................................... 114 5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 114 5.2. Regional autonomy in theory and practice .................................................. 116 5.3. A Soviet model of ethno-regional autonomy with Chinese characteristics 118 5.4. Whitepapers on Xinjiang ............................................................................. 124 5.4.1. History and legitimacy ......................................................................... 128 5.4.2. Modernization ...................................................................................... 132 5.4.3. Cultural protection ............................................................................... 137 5.4.4. Religion ................................................................................................ 144 5.4.5. Ethnic unity and dangers to territorial integrity ................................... 152 5.4.6. Human rights ........................................................................................ 161 5.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 164 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 169 Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 175 7.1. Primary Sources .......................................................................................... 175 7.1.1. Archival Sources .................................................................................. 175 7.1.2. Other Sources ....................................................................................... 175 7.2. Secondary Sources ...................................................................................... 182 Abstract .............................................................................................................. 209 Abstrakt .............................................................................................................. 210 4 List of figures Figure 1 Manifestations of self-determination (SD) according to Ronen .................... 58 Figure 2 Legislative bodies and their powers .............................................................. 77 Figure 3 Ethnicities of current chairpersons and party secretaries of the autonomous regions (as of December 2019) .................................................................................... 88 Figure 4 Gate of a mosque compound with a sign stating “No entry for minors or students” ..................................................................................................................... 102 Figure 5 Poster on a wall in Ürümchi, headlined: “‘Abnormal clothing’ prohibited, strive to be the most beautiful person in Ürümchi!” .................................................. 103 Figure 6 Autonomous prefectures in the XUAR ....................................................... 122 Figure 7 Party Secretaries and Chairpersons of the Regional Government ............... 123 Figure 8 The number of whitepapers published during the tenure of each GS of the CPC, 1991 – 2019 ................................................................................................................ 126 Figure 9 The number of Tibet and Xinjiang whitepapers published, 1991 – 2019 ... 127 Figure 10 Old-town Kashgar after the so-called renovation ...................................... 141 Figure 11 Propaganda poster from 1955 by Ge Wei. The Chinese text states that “All nationalities of our nation have already united into
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