THE VOICE OF EAST TURKISTAN

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EAST TURKISTAN GOVERNMENT-IN-EXILE

VOLUME 1. ISSUE 7 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2020

Uyghurs commemorate East Turkistan’s Independence Day in front of the U.S. Capitol on 12 November 2020. See page 2 to learn more…

SPECIAL

2 Commemorating East Turkistan’s Independence Day and Calling for International Recognition

3 Condemning the 71st Anniversary of China’s Formal Occupation of East Turkistan

FOCUS 6 US Removes “East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)” from Terror List THE VOICE OF EAST TURKISTAN 7 Uyghur ICC Genocide Complaint backed by 63 Parliamentarians in 16 Countries The Voice of East Turkistan is the offcial bi- monthly journal of the East Turkistan 8 ICC complaint alleging Uighur genocide cites China Government-in-Exile. Cables as evidence Contributions are welcome and may be 11 ICC asks for more evidence on Uighur genocide claims addressed to the editor of The Voice of East Turkistan. The publisher regrets that only 12 UPDATE: ICC Offce of The Prosecutor Awaits more contributions that ft standards set by the Evidence for Uyghur Genocide case editor will be selected for publication.

FEATURE The Voice of East Turkistan Journal is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, 15 East Turkistan Genocide Press Conference Highlights please email the journal editor or see the Immediate Need for Global Awareness and back cover. Cooperation Editor 17 Methods of Chinese Expansion Tursun Shemseddin

19 Australia is the “Moral Conscience of the Quad” Assistant Editor Alimjan Memet 21 Salih Hudayar on China’s Uyghur Genocide The Voice of East Turkistan is published by: NEWS HIGHLIGHTS Ministry of Communications & Media, 25 Prime minister condemns Muslims’ lack of support for East Turkistan Government-in-Exile imprisoned Uyghurs 1325 G Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC USA 20005 26 Protestors gather outside U.S. Capitol on East Turkistan’s independence day Tel: +1 202 599-2244 (Ext: 1)

28 U.S. bans cotton imports from China’s XPCC citing East Turkistan ‘slave labor’ Volume 1. Issue 7

30 Shake up in East Turkistan: Major Companies are November - December 2020 Lobbying Against the China Forced Labor Bill in Congress

33 Pompeo Weighs Genocide Designation for China

36 D.C.’s Uyghurs condemn Beijing’s extradition treaty with Turkey SPECIAL

Commemorating East Turkistan’s On November 12, 1944, the Second East Independence Day and Calling for Turkistan Republic was established. Five years International Recognition later, the Chinese invaded, once again and overthrew the East Turkistan Republic on December 22, 1949.

The Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tatar, and other peoples of East Turkistan have spent the last 71 years fghting to restore their independence.

For the last six years, millions of East Turkistanis, mostly of Muslim faith, have been held in concentration camps, prisons, and slave labor camps. According to survivors’ accounts, East Turkistan Independence Day Rally 12 they’re being tortured, killed for their organs, November 2020 – US Capitol | Photo credit: ETGE raped, sterilized, and executed.

WASHINGTON | 12 November 2020 “Our towns, our religious places of worship, and even our cemeteries have been destroyed as The below is attributed to the Executive Council of China seeks to leave no evidence that we the East Turkistan Government in Exile existed,” Prime Minister Hudayar said on Thursday. “For us, there is only one solution, The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE), and that is the restoration of our country; East led by Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, rallied in Turkistan’s independence. For without front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, to independence, we will have no human rights.” commemorate East Turkistan’s Independence Day and the 87th Anniversary of the First East The ETGE is advocating for offcial recognition Turkistan Republic (1933-1934) and the 76th from the world’s governments and parliaments. Anniversary of the Second East Turkistan U.S. senators have introduced a bipartisan Republic (1944-1949). resolution that would declare the human rights abuses as a genocide. The ETGE held similar demonstrations and events in Japan, Turkey, France, and Canada. In June, President Donald Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into law. The Canadian Parliament’s House of Commons The Canadian Parliament has recognized the also commemorated East Turkistan’s National atrocities as a genocide. Independence Day. Prime Minister Hudayar thanked the Canadian Parliament and called on “We face and continue to face numerous the Canada’s Government to “formally recognize obstacles and malicious efforts by China and East Turkistan as an Occupied Country.” its agents to coerce, infltrate, infuence, and undermine the East Turkistan Government in In 1876, the Manchu Qing Dynasty invaded East Exile and East Turkistan’s struggle to regain our Turkistan and renamed to “Xinjiang (New independence,” Hudayar said. Territory)” in 1884. On November 12, 1933, East Turkistan’s people overthrew Chinese “However, we have full faith that with the occupation, only to be overthrown six months support of our people and our foreign friends, later on April 16, 1934. we will able to overcome these obstacles and malicious efforts. Nothing can stop us from

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 2 SPECIAL pursuing our right to exist as a free and Condemning the 71st Anniversary of China’s independent country.” Formal Occupation of East Turkistan

Prime Minister stated that he thanks the people of Bangladesh and all the other supporters worldwide for commemorating East Turkistan’s Independence Day and for protesting against China’s genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan.

ETGE’s calls to action

• We call on our people and various organizations across the diaspora to play a more active role in further strengthening our East Turkistan fag at half mast | ETGE developing democracy and to continue working with us to restore our country’s WASHINGTON | 22 December 2020 independence as soon as possible. The below statement is attributed to the ETGE’s • We call on our friends and supporters Prime Minister worldwide to do more as their capabilities permit us to support East Turkistan and its Today is a special day of national mourning for people. East Turkistan and its people. Following the assassinations of 30 top leaders of the East • We urge the international community, world Turkistan Republic, the Chinese People’s leaders, organizations, and individuals to put Liberation Army invaded East Turkistan and themselves in our place, even if for a overthrew the independent East Turkistan moment, and hear our plea for help. Republic on December 22, 1949.

• We call on governments worldwide to take Seeing the existence of Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, action against the Holocaust of the 21st Uzbek, Tatar, and other peoples of East Century, taking place in Occupied East Turkistan as a threat to itself, 71 years ago Turkistan. today, our enemy — China — began its campaign of colonization, genocide, and • We call on governments to recognize China’s occupation in East Turkistan. atrocities for what it is, a genocide. Since that day, the Chinese invaders have • We call on governments to recognize East fabricated all sorts of lies to justify their brutal Turkistan as an Occupied Country and help campaign of colonization, occupation, and us through all means possible to regain our genocide. independence and put an end to China’s prolonged campaign of colonization, They killed our intellectuals, religious scholars, genocide, and occupation, which it has patriotic men and women, and people of all been undertaking for the past 71 years. walks of life by labeling them as “Pan-Turkists,” “right-wing nationalists,” “capitalists,” “Pan- Islamist extremists,” “foreign agents,” and following 9/11 as “terrorists.”

China conducted 46 deliberate nuclear tests in East Turkistan that killed over 750,000 people

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 3 SPECIAL and left millions deformed and disabled due to Over half a million Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and nuclear radiation. other Turkic children have been forcibly separated from their families and sent to state- Under the guise of “family planning,” China run boarding schools and orphanages forcibly aborted over 3.7 million innocent babies indoctrinated, assimilated, and raised as loyal in East Turkistan. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens. Uyghur and other Turkic women were forcibly sterilized. Tens of thousands of East Turkistani Today, we condemn the collaborators and women are being coerced into marrying Chinese traitors who were complicit and those who men to eradicate our people’s future. continue to be complicit in China’s campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation in East China has taken away even our fundamental Turkistan. human rights and has stripped us of our language, culture, and identity as part of its Today, we condemn the countries, organizations, efforts to assimilate and eradicate our people. and individuals who willingly turn a blind eye to and support China’s genocide and other crimes East Turkistan’s natural and mineral resources against humanity in East Turkistan. have been repeatedly exploited by the Chinese invaders and their colonial settlers. Today, we condemn the treacherous organizations and individuals who have By giving lucrative incentives to Chinese deliberately portrayed China’s campaign of colonists, China has fooded East Turkistan with colonization, genocide, and occupation in East millions of illegal Chinese colonists and altered Turkistan as being an issue of simple “human East Turkistan’s demographics. rights violations” and a matter of “China’s internal affairs.” In 1949 at the time of China’s occupation of East Turkistan, the Chinese invaders accounted for Today, we condemn the treacherous less than 5% of East Turkistan’s population. organizations and individuals who falsely claim Today, they make up around 45% of East to represent East Turkistan and its people. Turkistan’s population. These organizations and individuals within our community have worked to undermine East Under the guise of “re-education” and Turkistan and its people’s desire to restore our “vocational training,” the Chinese government independence by towing the Chinese narrative has sent millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and falsely stating that “the people of East Uzbeks, Tatars, and others to concentration Turkistan don’t want independence.” camps. Where the people of East Turkistan are tortured, forcibly indoctrinated, starved, raped, Today, we honor and commemorate the and killed. countless patriotic men and women who served our nation, sacrifced their possessions, and put their life on the life struggling to restore the East Millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkistan Republic. people in East Turkistan are being sent to factories and farms where they are used as slave We pray that God rewards them and bless them. labor. We express respect and great thanks to our martyrs and our veterans, and we send our Those who resisted were killed, raped, and their warmest regard to their families. organs have been harvested and sold to Muslim countries as “halal organs.” Their bodies are Today, we pray for the swift liberation of our being cremated in crematoriums to hide country East Turkistan and the freedom of our evidence. people locked up in concentration camps,

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 4 SPECIAL prisons, slave labor camps, and the tens of millions living in captivity under Chinese occupation.

Today, we thank the US Government, the State Department, the Trump Administration, Security Pompeo, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Ted Yoho, Congressman Chris Smith, Congressman Jim McGovern, the whole of the US Congress, the International Parliamentary Alliance on China, the Canadian Parliament, the European Parliament, the UK Parliament, the Japanese Parliament, and all the friends of East Turkistan and its people across the world for standing with us in solidarity and working to help free our country and its people from Chinese occupation and genocide.

Inside East Turkistan, the people of East Turkistan see unforeseen atrocities since the Holocaust. Every day that we are silent, every day that we fail to take strong, meaningful actions, more and more people are being killed in East Turkistan at the hands of China and its Communist Party.

We again call on the US Congress, the United States Government, and the whole of the international community to recognize China’s atrocities as genocide and to take more vital meaningful actions to put an end to China’s prolonged campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation in East Turkistan.

We again call on the US Congress, the United States Government, and the international community to recognize East Turkistan as an Independent Country Occupied by China.

We urge everyone to support our efforts to regain our country and independence to ensure our people’s survival.

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US Removes “East Turkistan Islamic “terrorist organization” and bars group members Movement (ETIM)” from Terror List and supporters of the group from entering the US. WASHINGTON | 7 November 2020 However, the group was never hit with the The United States said it would no longer harsher Foreign Terrorist Organization designate a shadowy group called the “East designation. Turkistan Islamic Movement” as a “terrorist organization” on Friday, sparking sharp On 11 September 2020, the East Turkistan condemnation from Beijing. Government in Exile (ETGE) held a press conference at its headquarters in Washington, The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) DC and urged the US Government and others to was removed from Washington’s terror list, US remove the ETIM from its terror lists citing a Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in a lack of evidence that the group even exists. notice posted in the Federal Register. The ETGE stated that East Turkistan and its “ETIM was removed from the list because, for people were the biggest victims of terrorism in more than a decade, there has been no credible the 21st century. evidence that ETIM continues to exist,” a State Department spokesperson said, news agency The East Turkistan Government in Exile AFP reported. welcomed the delisting of the ETIM and urged other countries, including the UN Security China regularly blames unrest in East Turkistan Council to follow the U.S. Government’s lead. on ETIM and also uses the group to justify its crackdown on the people of East Turkistan. Prime Minister Hudayar stated, “the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) was Experts say that Beijing has provided little fabricated by China following the September 11 evidence that ETIM is an organized group or that Terror Attacks in order to portray Uyghurs and it is behind attacks in the remote region, which others striving for East Turkistan’s separatists refer to as East Turkestan. independence as terrorists.”

The ETIM group was frst mentioned on He further stated that, “the world must not allow November 11, 2001 when China issued a China to point to the non-existent ETIM to justify statement at the UN Security Council claiming it its brutal campaign of colonization, genocide, was a victim of “East Turkistani terrorists.” and occupation in East Turkistan. What China is doing in East Turkistan is genocide and state The group had never been heard of prior to terrorism.” China’s assetions, many Uyghurs including the East Turkistan Government in Exile view the The US removal of the ETIM from its terror list “ETIM” as a Chinese government fabrication to has upset China with Beijing vowing to continue portray Uyghurs and others striving for its “crackdown on East Turkistan forces.” independence in East Turkistan as “terrorists.”

The group was frst added to the US terror list in 2002, when former US President George W. Bush sought to gain China as an ally in the US-led “war on terror.”

ETIM had been listed on the US Terrorist Exclusion List — which designated it as a

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Uyghur ICC Genocide Complaint backed by the ICC to support our case and recognize 63 Parliamentarians in 16 Countries China’s atrocities as genocide against Uyghur

The IPAC has received broad cross-party support in several countries, including the former UK Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the Australian Labour senator Kimberley Kitching and Margarete Bause of the German Green party.

The letter states: “The ICC has a unique ability to adjudicate on alleged genocide and crimes against humanity internationally. We call on the ICC to play its part in ensuring that the perpetrators of the most egregious human rights abuses are held accountable and prevented from acting with impunity.”

The Labour peer Lady Helena Kennedy QC, the IPAC co-chair and director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, said: “Mounting evidence points to the most horrifc abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region. The international criminal court must fully examine the allegations brought IPAC Letter signed by 63 Parliamentarians from before it and, if warranted, make every effort to 16 countries | IPAC ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.” Rodney Dixon, the barrister, leading on the WASHINGTON | 9 November 2020 detailed legalities of the claim, said: “The support for our complaint shown by the IPAC The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China parliamentarians is very signifcant. The (IPAC) has urged the international criminal prosecutor should feel encouraged that so many court’s chief prosecutor to accept the complaint parliamentarians from other ICC member states by the East Turkistan Government in Exile and believe she should open an investigation into the East Turkistan National Awakening the Chinese government offcials for the Movement alleging genocide by China. atrocities being committed against the Uighur and other Turkic people. The complaint, backed by more than 60 parliamentarians from 16 countries, says the “For too long, nothing of substance has been Chinese government may be committing done to bring justice to those who are suffering genocide and other crimes against humanity on a daily basis at the hands of the Chinese against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in government. This is a breakthrough and East Turkistan. momentous opportunity which we urge the ICC prosecutor to pursue without delay. This chance “We thank IPAC for signing the letter urging the should not be squandered.” ICC to accept our complaint against China,” said Salih Hudayar, Prime Minister for the East In July, a team of London-based lawyers Turkistan Government in Exile. “We also call on representing the East Turkistan Government in countries outside of IPAC and member states of Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening

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Movement fled the ICC complaint against The East Turkistan National Awakening Beijing for pursuing the repatriation of Movement (ETNAM) and East Turkistan thousands of Uyghurs through unlawful arrests Government in Exile (ETGE) groups submitted in or deportation from Cambodia and Tajikistan. evidence to the international criminal court, The lawyers’ 80-page fling includes a list of more calling for an investigation into senior Chinese than 30 Chinese offcials they said were offcials for genocide and crimes against responsible for the campaign, including Xi humanity. Jinping, the Communist Party leader. The classifed Chinese government documents Over recent years, Mr. Xi’s policies have put at the core of the China Cables Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East investigation were included as evidence Turkistan under a pervasive net of surveillance, submitted to the International Criminal Court in detention, social re-engineering, organ a complaint alleging genocide against the harvesting, and forced sterilization. Uighurs by China’s top leaders, the lawyer leading the case said. Over three million ethnic Uyghurs and Turkic peoples have been held in internment camps in The leaked fles published by the International the region, drawing growing global Consortium of Investigative Journalists last year condemnation. In May of 2018, Randall documented China’s crackdown on Muslim Schriver of the United States Department of minorities in Xinjiang, using extra-judicial Defense repeatedly said, “likely closer to three detention, forced indoctrination and a million citizens” were imprisoned in these pervasive mass-surveillance system. camps. Lawyers representing two Uighur activist groups fled the complaint with the ICC in July and are ICC complaint alleging Uighur genocide cites now waiting to meet with chief prosecutor Fatou China Cables as evidence Bensouda to discuss the evidence, which includes “countless” eye-witness accounts and reports by researchers and journalists of alleged forced sterilization, torture and forced labor.

“This is a classic crime against humanity of the highest order,” Rodney Dixon, an international human rights lawyer and the lead counsel, told ICIJ.

The China Cables “will be very important documents that come from the alleged perpetrators directly,” he said, adding that they Salih Hudayar, founder of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, leads a rally will have to be verifed independently in future outside the White House | Photo credit: Chip trial proceedings. Somodevilla/Getty Images “For now, those documents are all taken into account to establish that there’s a reasonable THE HAGUE | 24 November 2020 basis to believe crimes were committed and to be able to get the investigation open,” Dixon The below article was written by Scilla Alecci and said. published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists He represents the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening

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Movement, two groups that take their name “call on the ICC to play its part in ensuring that from the region known to China as Xinjiang. the perpetrators of the most egregious human rights abuses are held accountable and “We want real justice where the Chinese prevented from acting with impunity.” government and its offcials are held accountable and punished just like the Nazis at Dixon called the lawmakers’ move a “very the Nuremberg trials and the various criminals important frst step” to show the prosecutor at the Yugoslavian tribunal,” ETGE’s leader Salih that “if she takes on a case like this, which is Hudayar said. “Ultimately, we want this to be a diffcult, massive, and politically very sensitive, one of the frst steps towards regaining our [she] will be supported around the world,” he nation’s independence and freedom.” told ICIJ from London.

China doesn’t recognize the ICC mandate, but It is not clear when the prosecutor will respond the complainants have circumvented that by to their request, and whether she will choose to claiming that the crimes were committed in pursue it. If she does, she will examine whether Tajikistan and Cambodia, which are signatories there’s a reasonable basis to believe the crimes of the court. are being committed, Dixon explained.

Both countries are responsible for “unlawfully” For Hudayar, the politicians’ support was “a big deporting Uighur refugees back to China where slap in the face to China,” and he hopes “they have been subjected to human rights governments across the globe will continue to abuses and serious crimes,” ETGE said in recognize China’s violations against the Uighurs a statement. and other Turkic peoples.

It’s the same strategy that was used “The world must uphold its promise of ‘never to investigate crimes against the Rohingya again’ and take real action, including minority allegedly perpetrated by Myanmar ー humanitarian intervention if necessary,” he said. Hudayar, a 27-year-old Uighur-American, told which is not a ICC member state ー by examining ICIJ he moved to the U.S. with his family after his potential abuses in its neighboring country, uncle was arrested “for reading a political book,” Bangladesh. in 1997, and Chinese security forces raided his home and “pointed their AK-47s to our heads Chinese offcials have repeatedly dismissed the threatening to kill us if my uncle didn’t confess claims as slanderous and recently said the to his crime.” government has lifted more than 1 billion people out of poverty by “pursuing a people-centered “At the time I only knew we were different and vision on human rights.” the Chinese were bad,” he said. In 2018, the United Nations estimated that China In a press conference earlier this month, foreign held in mass-detention camps more than 1 ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “The million Uighurs and members of other Turkic Chinese people’s rights to speech and religious minorities. freedom, as well as the ethnic minorities’ right to participate in the governance of state affairs, But evidence suggests that many more Uighurs are protected according to law.” have since been arbitrarily detained, forced to work in factories, put under strict government “A very important frst step” surveillance and have seen hundreds of their mosques destroyed, according to reports Earlier this month, a group of more than 60 by international news organizations and parliamentarians from 14 countries joined the research centers. The detainees were subjected appeal and sent a letter to the prosecutor to to ideological indoctrination, forced to renounce

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 9 FOCUS their religion and language, and physically investigate whether China’s persecution of abused, the accounts say. Uighurs should be considered genocide.

“The government would use positive words and A Chinese top offcial said Rae was “crafting a say they were sending [Uighurs] to re-education publicity stunt.” Standing up to China may come centers,” former detainee Zumrat Dawut told with an economic cost, Darren Byler, an expert ICIJ last year. “But these aren’t re-education on Xinjiang at the University of Colorado centers, in actuality these are really prisons,” Boulder, said. she said during an interview in Virginia, where she relocated after feeing China. That’s why, besides the U.S., “it’s really important for other nations to take a leadership One year since China Cables role in pushing back against [China’s treatment of Uighurs],” he said. As more and more former detainees and Uighur families residing overseas spoke up over the An investigation by a powerful entity such as the past year, a small number of countries began to International Criminal Court would be put pressure on China over alleged human rights “important strategically and will provide a body abuses. of evidence,” Byler added. It would also trigger “knock-down effects that will build more In June, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized solidarity and resolve” around the issue, sanctions against China over the mass detention including making it unlikely for China to host the of Uighurs. The U.S. later sanctioned four top 2022 Winter Olympics ー a role opposed by Chinese offcialsconsidered the architects of the many human rights groups. country’s mass internment camps. Among them was Zhu Hailun, who formerly led the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Recent reports have suggested that ー contrary Party in the Xinjiang region. Zhu’s signature was to the Chinese government’s claims ー the on fve of the six leaked government fles crackdown is far from over, and that powerful obtained by ICIJ. corporations are complicit.

The U.S. has also imposed trade restrictions on Just this month, a new report on surveillance dozens of Chinese companies that are believed tactics in Xinjiang documented how a Chinese to have a role in the crackdown against the tech company developed software targeting the Muslim minorities, including forced labor and Uighurs. high-technology surveillance. Other countries are now considering stronger measures too. Zhejiang Dahua Technology, a surveillance frm that has won more than $1 billion worth of In October, 39 countries including Japan, government contracts in Xinjiang according to European Union member states, New Zealand the news site IPVM, wrote a code that appeared and others urged China to respect Uighurs’ to discriminate against the minority. Dahua is on human rights and allow “unfettered access” to the U.S. blacklist. Xinjiang for independent observers. Separately, a group of British lawmakers urged their The central role of technology in China’s government to sanction Chinese offcials repression of Muslim minorities was also a key responsible for human rights violations. revelation of China Cables. One bulletin issued by Xinjiang’s Communist Party Committee, for Last week, Canada’s ambassador to the U.N. Bob instance, instructed offcials to use data stored Rae said in an TV interview with CBC that the by the police to investigate Uighurs “one by organization’s Human Rights Council should

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 10 FOCUS one,” as thoroughly as possible, to fnd what it will keep the fle open for such further evidence describes as terrorism suspects. to be submitted.

Human Rights Watch has also documented the With Beijing not a signatory to the ICC, those use of sophisticated technological platforms to bringing the claim of genocide have pointed to collect personal information, report on activities the alleged forcing of Uighur people from deemed “suspicious,” and prompt investigations Tajikistan and Cambodia into China as evidence. of people fagged by the system, in a Both countries are signatories to the Rome report called “China’s Algorithms of statute setting up the ICC. Repression.” The expected ICC decision, already relayed to This and other fndings, including footage of lawyers, is that there is still insuffcient evidence shackled and blindfolded prisoners in Xinjiang, to warrant opening a full-scale investigation. reports of forced birth control and accounts by Those bringing the claim say extra evidence is investigators currently on the ground in China, already being submitted to the ICC in The Hague, make an inquiry by the ICC an urgent matter, and some of the initial evidence gathering had Dixon said. “This is going on as we speak,” he been delayed by the inability to travel to collect said. documentation because of the coronavirus pandemic.China has built 380 internment camps in Xinjiang, study fndsRead more

ICC asks for more evidence on Uighur The ICC is expected to make its ruling known in genocide claims the next few days ahead of the assembly of state parties taking place in The Hague from 14-16 December. The complaint was submitted in July on behalf of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.

The further evidence needs to address additional instances of the rounding up of Uighurs abroad by the Chinese government, and of it forcing them back into China, specifcally from Tajikistan and Cambodia, as well as cases of deportation from China into Uighur women wave East Turkestan fags during a Tajikistan. protest against China in Istanbul in October | Photo credit: Murad Sezer/Reuters The legal team said it had this week submitted a further communication to the prosecutor outlining this evidence. The ICC, already under LONDON | 11 December 2020 attack from the US, will have to weigh the politics of opening a complaint against the The below article was written Patrick Wintour and world’s other superpower. by published by the Guardian The complaint is the frst of its kind, and the The international criminal court (ICC) has asked only way that Chinese offcials could be for more evidence before it will be willing to criminally investigated and prosecuted at the open an investigation into claims of genocide international level for the alleged abuses carried against Uighur people by China, but has said it out against Uighur people.

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Although China is not a signatory to the Rome At a press conference earlier this month, the statute, the decisions of ICC pre-trial chambers Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang in two previous cases in 2018 and 2019 Wenbin, said: “The Chinese people’s rights to concerning crimes against Rohingya people in speech and religious freedom, as well as the Bangladesh and Myanmar decided that the court ethnic minorities’ right to participate in the may exercise jurisdiction over international governance of state affairs, are protected crimes when part of the criminal conduct takes according to law.” place on the territory of a state that is a signatory to the ICC. Although Myanmar is not a The bar for proving genocide is high owing to signatory to the ICC, crimes against the the need for a court to be satisfed there is proof Rohingya were committed in Bangladesh, a of intent. party to the ICC. Separately, the UK foreign affairs select The latest complaint makes clear that the committee has written to the Foreign Offce to alleged crimes committed against the Uighur ask if it will refer the case to the ICC or people in north-west China have been alternatively give its own opinion of whether widespread and systematic, including people genocide has been committed. being subjected to imprisonment and torture as well as forced birth control, sterilisations and It claims in a letter to the UK foreign secretary, marriages. Dominic Raab, there is evidence of forced sterilisation and large-scale separation of Uighur The lawyers claim the torture has taken place on and other minority ethnic children from their a mass scale and all examples should be parents. The letter adds: “It is diffcult to investigated in order to ascertain whether the conceive of a situation in which these alleged perpetrators can be charged and tried. occurrences would not be intentional, or how these actions would not demonstrate the Rodney Dixon QC, the lead barrister, said: “This intended destruction of a group.” is a very important moment. The millions of Uighur victims who are suffering terrible The chair of the select committee, Tom atrocities at the hand of the Chinese government Tugendhat, said he was “confdent that a court offcials need justice and we are hopeful that the ruling would be a powerful step towards ICC will take up this investigation. We will be galvanising the international community to bring providing highly relevant evidence that will an end to these atrocities”. permit this to happen in the coming months. We are engaging with the offce of the prosecutor as these proceedings go on with the aim of opening a full investigation.” UPDATE: ICC Offce of The Prosecutor Awaits more Evidence for Uyghur Genocide case Chinese offcials have repeatedly dismissed the claims as slanderous and recently said the The following is attributed to the East Turkistan government had lifted more than 1 billion people Government in Exile out of poverty by “pursuing a people-centred vision on human rights”. On July 6th 2020 an Article 15 Complaint was submitted on behalf of the Government of East The submission includes the names of senior Turkistan in Exile and the East Turkistan Chinese offcials, including the president, Xi National Awakening Movement to the ICC Jinping, who it says should be charged for Prosecutor asking for an investigation to be planning and directing the campaign. opened into genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples by Chinese offcials.

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Although China is not a party to the ICC, the outlining the evidence to be fled for the Complaint was submitted on that basis the Prosecutor’s consideration in accordance with Prosecutor has jurisdiction over the situation as Article 15(6) of the Statute and Rule 49 (2) of the parts of the crimes were committed in ICC States Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Parties, namely Tajikistan and Cambodia. These provisions permit the Prosecutor to The Prosecutor announced her preliminary consider new evidence fled in order to decide decision in regard to this Complaint on whether to open an investigation. The matter is December 14th. proceeding so that this evidence is considered by the Prosecutor for this purpose. The Prosecutor has said there is not enough jurisdictional evidence at this stage to open an JURISDICTION investigation, however, this could change when more evidence is received and considered by This is the frst complaint of its kind, and the the Prosecutor. only way that Chinese offcials could be criminally investigated and prosecuted at the The further evidence needs to address international level for the abuses carried out additional instances of the rounding up of against Uyghur people. Uyghurs abroad by the Chinese Government, and forcing them back into China, specifcally Although China is not a signatory to the Rome from Tajikistan and Cambodia, as well as of Statute, the decisions of ICC Pre-Trial Chambers deportation from China into Tajikistan. I and III of 6 September 2018 and 14 November 2019 respectively (decisions related to The legal team last week submitted a further Bangladesh and Myanmar in reference to communication to the Prosecutor outlining this Rohingya people), confrmed that the Court may very evidence being assembled for the exercise jurisdiction over international crimes Prosecutor’s consideration in accordance with under Article 12(2)(a) of the Statute when part Article 15(6) of the Statute and Rule 49 (2) of the of the criminal conduct takes place on the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. territory of a State Party to the Rome Statute. In this case, Tajikistan and Cambodia. OVERVIEW The Prosecutor will be receiving further The Offce of the Prosecutor at the ICC has evidence of the rounding up of Uyghurs abroad published her annual report on Preliminary by the Chinese Government, and forcing them examination activities. In the report she address back into occupied East Turkistan (Xinjiang), the complaint fled by the legal representatives specifcally from Tajikistan and Cambodia, as of the Government of East Turkistan in Exile well as evidence of deportation from China into (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Tajikistan and elsewhere. Awakening Movement (ETNAM). The Complaint makes clear that the crimes In line with her correspondence with the legal committed against the Uyghur people have been representatives, she has clarifed that there is a widespread and systematic. They have taken need for further jurisdictional evidence to be place on a mass scale and should therefore all submitted in order to open an investigation into be investigated in order to ascertain whether the genocide and crimes against humanity alleged perpetrators can be charged and tried. committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples by Chinese offcials. As the Court held in the Rohingya case, continuing crimes that take place in part on the The lawyers for the ETGE and ETNAM submitted territory of an ICC State Party come within the a further communication to the Prosecutor

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 13 FOCUS jurisdiction of the Court and can be investigated.

The lead lawyer, Rodney Dixon QC stated that:

“The OTP has in effect asked for more evidence if it is to be able to open an investigation. The OTP says there is insuffcient evidence now, but further evidence can be provided which can lead to an investigation being opened. The fact is that the fle is not closed as we have submitted under Article 15(6) as acknowledged by the OTP, the purpose of which is to get an investigation opened which the Prosecutor will consider. We are submitting further evidence to get an investigation opened. This process before the ICC is ongoing and we are hopeful that an investigation will be commenced.

This is a very important moment. The millions of Uyghur victims who are suffering terrible atrocities at the hand of the Chinese Government offcials need justice and we are hopeful that the ICC will take up this investigation. We will be providing highly relevant evidence that will permit this to happen in the coming months. We are engaging with the Offce of the Prosecutor as these proceedings go on with the aim of opening a full investigation.”

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letter urging the International Criminal Court to accept the July 2020 complaint by the East East Turkistan Genocide Press Conference Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.

The complaint, backed by more than 60 parliamentarians from 16 countries, says the Chinese Government may be committing Genocide and other crimes against humanity against the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan.

“We thank IPAC for signing the letter urging the ICC to accept our complaint against China,” said Prime Minister Salih Hudayar delivers a Mr. Hudayar. “We urge all governments, statement | ETGE especially member states of the ICC, to support our case against China and also to recognize Highlights Immediate Need for Global China’s atrocities against Uyghur, Kazakh, Awareness and Cooperation Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and other Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan as a genocide.” WASHINGTON | 10 November 2020 Mr. Hudayar also spoke about The Canadian The East Turkistan Government in Exile conducted Parliament’s Subcommittee on International a press conference on November 10 from 10 AM – Human Rights and International Development, 11 AM at its headquarters in Washington DC and which in October designated the Chinese live streaming on social media. Government’s atrocities against Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as The conference began with a statement by Prime “genocide” as defned under the U.N. Genocide Minister Salih Hudayar of the East Turkistan Convention. Government in Exile, followed by Uyghur internment camp survivor Zumret Dawut, and “We thank the Canadian Parliament and urge the announcements on upcoming events. Mr. Canadian Government to follow through with the Hudayar accepted questions from the audience. subcommittee’s recommendations,” Mr. Hudayar said. Zumret Dawut, a mother of three, said she was detained at an internment camp for two months A week later, U.S. Senators John Cornyn, Robert in 2018. She was forced to recite Chinese Menendez, James Risch, Marco Rubio. Ben propaganda, beaten for providing food to an Cardin and Jeff Merkley introduced a resolution ailing fellow prisoner injected with unknown in the U.S. Senate to recognize China’s Genocide drugs almost daily, and then forcefully sterilized. against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples.

“We express our thanks to the U.S. Senate and Lying in a dark prison cell, with shackles on her urge the U.S. House to introduce a similar wrists and ankles and four cameras watching her resolution,” Mr. Hudayar said. every move, Dawut said she was caged alongside hundreds of thousands of others in China’s horrifc re-education camps. More recently, the U.S. Government has removed from its terrorist watch list the so-called “East Mr. Hudayar spoke about the importance of The Turkistan Islamic Movement,” which was a non- Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China’s (IPAC) existent group that China had fabricated

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 15 FEATURE following September 11 to label East Turkistan The Muslim world needs to break their silence and its people as “terrorists.” and come to the aid of the most oppressed Muslims in the world, the Muslims of East “We thank the U.S. Government, especially Turkistan,” Mr. Hudayar said. Secretary Pompeo, for highlighting the plight of East Turkistan and its people,” Mr. Hudayar said. On November 12, Uyghurs and other East Turkistanis across the globe will be Aside from locking up millions of people in commemorating East Turkistan’s independence concentration camps, prisons and using them as day. Twice in the 20th century, the people of slave labor or killing them for their organs, we East Turkistan rose against the Chinese suspect China might be engaging in or planning occupation of our country and declared to engage in biological warfare against Uyghurs independence as the East Turkistan Republic, and other Turkic peoples. the frst time in 1933 and once more in 1944.

In 2017, the PLA’s Biowarfare Strategy textbook The East Turkistan Government in Exile will be hinted at using “ethnic-specifc genetic attacks” holding a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol on against China’s enemies. In 2018, Chinese state Thursday, November 12, from 11 AM-1 PM to call media Xinhua reported that between 2016-2017 on the U.S. Congress and Government to some 36 million people between the ages of 12 recognize the Genocide and to recognize East and 65 had their DNA, voiceprints, and retina Turkistan as an Occupied Country. scans collected across East Turkistan. In light of this, China and its agents have been We believe that China is downplaying the actual seeking to undermine the efforts of the East population of East Turkistan and its people. In Turkistan Government in Exile, which has never 1947, the Government of East Turkistan Republic stopped since the establishment of the had submitted documents to the U.S. State Government in Exile back in September of 2004. Department, which estimated the population of East Turkistan’s Turkic people at being 7 million We urge everyone to be cautious against at the time. individuals who might claim to represent the East Turkistan Government in Exile in an effort Today, China claims Uyghurs and other Turkic to undermine our mission and standing. Our peoples number only 13.5 million, with some 12 representatives can be found on our offcial million Uyghurs. Based on historical data and website: East-Turkistan.Net. population growth rate calculations, we estimate the population of Uyghur and other Turkic China and its Communist Party have also been peoples in East Turkistan number from 35 to 40 using its intelligence networks like the Ministry million. of State Security, Ministry of Public Security, and the United Front Work Department to coerce, “We call on governments and organizations to do infltrate, infuence, and undermine the efforts of further research to fgure the actual population the East Turkistan Government in Exile and of East Turkistan and its people,” Mr. Hudayar other organizations, and diaspora communities. said. We urge law enforcement and western “We also thank the western various countries intelligence agencies to push back against and parliaments across the world for speaking China’s intelligence operations against our up on our issue. We condemn the Muslim organizations and diaspora communities world’s silence, especially Muslim leaders worldwide. like Pakistan’s Imran Khan and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Methods of Chinese expansion coordination of the external invasion of Chinese kingdoms. During peaceful times, they took on spying roles clandestinely.

Appearing as refugees or migrants, starving and without clothing, escaping from disasters, is the most common expansion method of Chinese as a way of eliciting the sympathy of anyone who is kind-hearted. They would usually be provided with essentials and even spare rooms, unbeknown to the hosts, their guests’ hearts were flled with malevolent spirits—the ambition of occupation. The Manchus, who ruled the area that is modern day China, Korea, and Mongolia, NEW DELHI | 27 November 2020 lost their nation due to an infux of such refugees into their territory. Chinese are now expanding The below article was written by Ghulam Osman into the vast lands of Russia in the Far East, Yaghma, President of the East Turkistan resulting in massive demographic changes. Government in Exile, and published by News Vibes of India The second method of Chinese expansionism is military invasion, pursued when considered Uyghurs utilize an analogy to illustrate the true they are strong enough to overpower the nature of Chinese: “Chinese are soft worms that country they want to take over. However, this eat hard wood.” This is not a joke, rather it method is still based on soft forces, measures, depicts the bitter lessons Uyghurs have learned and behaviours. They break local resistance historically in their interactions with Chinese. through implementation of people-centric For ages, Chinese have adopted two main policies until their army has already occupied methods of expansionism as their main political strategic points and locations. For example, in means to attain their strategic goals, both of his reign of power in East Turkistan, Yaqub Beg which have been based on softness. The frst is prepared for a long-term war to push back the to disguise themselves as miserable, abused Chinese as he was worried about imminent refugees or migrants, seeking humanitarian aid. Chinese colonialism.

This is coupled with arranging marriages for According to historical sources, he suffciently Chinese girls with princesses of other nations, stored enough grain to last for thirty years, into whose territories China intends to expand. causing some social discontentment among locals. The army of Zuo Zongtang, who led the In ancient times, Chinese offered their invasion of East Turkistan, deliberately opened princesses as gifts to our ancestors, the ancient granaries in occupied places to the public. This Turkish kingdoms living outside the Great Wall, psychologically swayed the mindset of the when they felt they could not win a war against public in not-yet-occupied places. The “kind” them. The purpose of this offer was to create Chinese who distributed the grain stored by mixed-blood princes who would infuence the Yaqub Beg caused internal disunites from within direction of their future foreign policies. his own army. After invading the far-away Accompanying the princesses were spies, villages in Hotan, the invaders carried out pretending to be relatives, servants, and genocide and forcefully took the grain back from assistants, hundreds of them, with the purpose the public in cruel ways. of infltrating our ancient Turkish kingdoms. They got married to locals after their settlement, After being sent on a mission to occupy East playing an important role in facilitating internal Turkistan under leadership of Wang Zhen, the

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 17 FEATURE

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces spent them, not acknowledging the motives beneath months in Lanzhou attending courses on how to the surface. We also know that to take notice of behave once they were stationed in East hidden truths behind appearances needs Turkistan. calculated action. Kind-hearted people do not question what is happening around and behind They were also taught the diaries of Zuo their back in detail, telling us convincingly how Zongtang, whose colonial experiences were full the colonization of East Turkistan happened. of nationalistic chauvinism, being instructed that the local peoples in East Turkistan are not The former Soviet Union sent Uyghur friends but potential enemies. Wang Zhen communists as part of Comintern on a mission ordered soldiers to shoot fve male local to infuence the attitudes of locals to align with civilians without mercy for every PLA soldier itself. By doing so, it intended to bring East killed in an attack in any neighbourhood, village, Turkistan into the orbit of the Union. The spies or town being occupied. of Comintern conducted a series of covert espionage activities in East Turkistan for more Congruently, soldiers carried buckets full of cow than 20 years, including surveys conducted on manure collected on the streets, and once it is local leading fgures who preferred Chinese flled up fully, they threw them into farm lands as positively perceived as being soft, in comparison fertilizer, while helping elders with farm work to the toughness of the Russians. While some and bringing water to them, with an aim of Uyghur leaders started to regret their choices in gaining the trust of the locals by pretending to the 1950s, it was too late to turn the tide. be helpers. They launched a series of propaganda campaigns that they did not come After the invasion of East Turkistan, Chinese to what they call “Xinjiang” for occupation but polices were unilaterally pursued in a non- for assistance, and they would help establish comprising and strict manner with an socialism there in 3-5 years. For this feigned understanding that leniency in one area would goal, they repeatedly stressed they would lead to leniency in another. Therefore, the eliminate resistance forces, establishing Chinese considered being non-compromising socialism and puppets of imperialism, leaving and strict as the key to dampening the dream of after this is accomplished successfully. freedom that the locals had. The extreme aspects of Chinese policies may have sometimes Under the cloak of misleading campaigns, been halted but were never turned back. It is military moves happened at night without impossible to have human rights, autonomy, and stirring public attention. All great deeds to win cultural rights under strict Chinese rule. These the hearts and minds of locals were conducted, rights and freedoms are only possible once until Chinese soldiers occupied crucial strategic Chinese rule completely ends. locations and set up necessary military equipment and logistical facilities in preparation The indoctrination of locals to not oppose for a long-term war. While making these crucial Chinese colonialism was planned, and it was preparations, they eliminated those who would perfected and systematically carried out under be local leaders through assassinations and the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. purges. Consequently, locals were led to believe it is impossible to overturn Chinese rule and any Assassinations of famous local fgures were attempt at doing so is futile, this sense of blamed on local forces, groups, or individuals, hopelessness was gradually and deeply who they intended to destroy through creating implanted in their minds. bogus criminal fles. This enabled them to conveniently carry out many atrocities and It must be mentioned that there is a difference political purges. People have a collective crowd between Chinese migrants and other non- psyche, tending to trust what is presented to Chinese migrants—Chinese migrants always

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 18 FEATURE have a political agenda and they never accept Australia is the “Moral Conscience of the the values of the democratic country they Quad” migrated to. For example, many of the so-called Chinese democrats in the West never accept that East Turkistan was occupied by their ancestors. Even Chinese-born nationals in the West repeat the same old political lie that East Turkistan has been an inseparable part of China since antiquity. Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo once famously stated, “China must be a colony of the West for three hundred years to understand democracy.” This is neither a joke nor sarcasm but the apt description of Chinese reality. WASHINGTON | 2 December 2020 It is not too diffcult to notice the malevolent interior motives of Chinese migrants as any of The below article was written by the ETGE’s Prime them has the potential for spying for their Minister Salih Hudayar motherland, which is now a known fact being Australia is a strong and ardent defender of accepted by an increasing number of people human rights, so China is doing everything it around the world. Apart from this, I remember I can to attack Australia with propaganda and read an article on a Chinese website, entitled tariffs. “Canada will be ours in future.” This should not be taken lightly, for the article offered some China’s impulsive tariffs on Australian wine last arguments for how this goal will become a week has been followed up with a tweet by the reality as follows—increasing number of Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Canadians, in particular white Canadians who showing a gruesome doctored propaganda are the majority, do not want to have children image of an Australian soldier on Monday, but every Chinese migrant family has at least further deteriorating the already strained four children. Which plays a role in the fact that relations between Australia and China. So far, Chinese people make up most of the minority Beijing refused to apologize for the propaganda population in Canada. tweet described as a “repugnant tweet” by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Thus, this increasing population can lead to the Chinese being the majority in Canada, Beijing’s attacks on Australia aim to defect surpassing even white Canadians. Considering attention away from the brutal genocide and this potential demographic change, Canada may other crimes against humanity that it has been become a Chinese nation in future in the committing in Occupied East Turkistan, offcially strictest sense of the word. By virtue of these referred to as the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous factors, we can understand the nature and Region” by China. methods of Chines the expansionism. In recent years, over 3 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, (East Turkistan is a country under the occupation Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples have been of China and comprises Uyghur Muslims who are locked up in concentration camps, many of fghting for liberation from Chinese rule.) which were uncovered by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The ASPI also revealed China’s destruction of the Uyghurs’ cemeteries, mosques, and historical and cultural sites. Earlier this year, the ASPI published a

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 19 FEATURE detailed report titled ‘Uyghurs for Sale’, infuence to all parts of the world, including highlighting China’s modern-day slavery of Australia. Uyghurs through forced and slave labor. Australia should counter China’s aggression and The ASPI’s crucial data shed light on China’s atrocities by boycotting the Beijing 2022 atrocities and has served as evidence in the East Olympics, not for political reasons but in Turkistan Government in Exile and the East protesting China’s Nazi-like crimes against Turkistan National Awakening’s formal humanity while urging other countries to do the complaint against China’s offcials for genocide same.The world shouldn’t repeat the same to the International Criminal Court. mistake it made in 1936 by attending the Olympics in a country where a 21st century Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur and other Holocaust-like genocide is taking place. Turkic women have been forcibly sterilized, with countless numbers raped by Chinese military The ASPI has already confrmed China is using and security forces. China forcibly aborted some Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples as slave/ 3.7 million babies in East Turkistan along from forced labor. Like the Uyghur Forced Labor 1979-2009. Numerous massacres of Uyghurs and Prevention Act, Australia should pass a bill with other Turkic peoples have taken place over the a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods made past 71 years of Chinese occupation of East with cotton or cashmere from China are made Turkistan. with forced/slave labor. Approximately 84% of China’s cotton production and over one-third of More recent evidence of these massacres China’s cashmere production comes from includes the Yarkent Massacre of 2014, where Occupied East Turkistan. Chinese security forces killed thousands of Uyghurs. Several untold massacres were As a signatory state of the Rome Statute of the revealed by PLA veterans who shared their International Criminal Court, Australia should horrifc memories of “serving China” and how support East Turkistan’s complaint to the they partook in the killings of unarmed Uyghur International Criminal Court and urge other villagers, including children, in an interview member states to do the same. with Bitter Winter earlier this year. In addition to all of this, China built crematoriums near the Also,Australia should pass a Lui Xiaobo Human concentration camps as the number of Uyghurs Rights Accountability Act to sanction Chinese and others dying in concentration camps offcials responsible for the human rights increase, bringing back dark memories of the violations and atrocities against Uyghurs, Nazi’s death camps during the Holocaust. Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Mongols, Falun Gong practitioners, and countless dissidents and Australia is a strong and ardent defender of human rights activists like Mr.Lui Xiabo. human rights. It has played a crucial role, primarily through its NGOs and media, in Lastly, Australia should formally recognize unveiling China’s genocide of Uyghurs and other China’s atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan, and that is why Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as genocide and Uyghurs view Australia as the “Moral provide asylum to those feeing persecution. Conscience of the Quad.” Australia must stand frm in the face of Chinese That is why China is doing everything it can to threats and continue to be the quad’s moral attack Australia through propaganda and tariffs. conscience. China’s aggressive behavior towards Australia lies in its attempts to defect attention away from its genocide in East Turkistan and its ever- increasing desire to expand its dominance and

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 20 FEATURE

Salih Hudayar on China’s Uyghur Genocide Islamic extremist group called the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Chinese government PHILADELPHIA | 20 December 2020 atrocities were justifed as a fght against terrorism. The below article was written by Marilyn Stern and published by the Middle East Forum Although Chinese offcials have pointed to the fact that thousands of Uyghurs traveled to Syria Salih Hudayar, prime minister of the East to fght alongside jihadist groups as evidence of Turkistan Government-in-Exile, spoke to Islamic extremism, Hudayar argued that Turkey participants in a November 13 Middle East lured “naïve and disgruntled” young men to fght Forum webinar (video) about the history of the in Syria with false promises of being trained to Uyghur people and their persecution by the “fght against China,” and played on the Uyghur government of China. sympathies of a shared common ancestry with the Turkish people. He said that their departure The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group native to was “part of a Chinese intelligence operation to East Turkestan, which was conquered in 1759 by deliberately label and portray Uyghurs as China’s Qing Dynasty. The Chinese renamed this terrorists” and would not have been possible northwest corner of their empire “Xinjiang” without the Chinese regime’s connivance: (literally “New Frontier”) in 1884. The Chinese government had taken away With the decline of the Qing Dynasty in the early everyone’s passports. There are checkpoints 1900s, many Uyghurs who had traveled to every 500 meters. There is no way you can go Europe returned with nationalist ideas. They 500 meters without hitting a checkpoint. You declared an independent East Turkistan can’t even leave your own hometown without Republic in November 1933 with British support. getting special permission from your local public The Soviets, fearing the British presence, security bureau. So, how is it possible that intervened and crushed the republic, but later 20,000 people were just able to walk out of East supported the establishment of a second East Turkistan … without Chinese intelligence or Turkistan Republic in 1944 in hopes of accessing security forces being aware? its mineral resources. East Turkistan remained independent for fve years before falling back In 2014, the Chinese government tightened its under Chinese control. control over East Turkistan. The Chinese government “rounded up approximately 200,000 The Chinese government has been waging a men between the ages of 15 and 45 and put them colonization campaign since then. Although the into so-called re-education camps, concentration ethnic Han Chinese population in East Turkistan camps, and prisons on the basis that they were was less than fve percent in 1949, today it is prone to becoming radicalized.” When there was approaching forty percent. no international outcry, China escalated its campaign. By 2016, Beijing began detaining Agitation for independence by the people of East millions of non-Chinese people – Uyghurs, Turkistan began to grow following the fall of the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tatars – of all religions. Soviet Union in 1989, leading to more heavy- handed repression by the Chinese government. Detainees listen to speeches in a Chinese re- Those suspected of being Uyghur nationalists education camp in East Turkistan (Xinjiang), were jailed. April 2017.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, the Chinese Although the Western media has tended to government sought to portray the East portray this issue as an attack on Uyghur Turkistan independence movement as Muslims, it’s actually “an attack on Turkic dominated by a largely non-existent violent

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 21 FEATURE identity” designed “to prevent the … other Turkic peoples” who inhabit it, but independence of East Turkistan.” expressed fear that the Biden administration will return to the Obama administration’s policy of In contrast to the Obama administration, which silence. “did not even speak out once against what China was doing to Uyghurs and the Turkic peoples in East Turkistan,” the Trump administration has been quite vocal. In June 2020, President Trump ‘Chinese are not considered murderers for signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into killing Uyghurs’ law. The following month, his administration imposed sanctions on senior Chinese offcials NEW DELHI | 21 December 2020 involved in abuses against Uyghurs and on the Xinjiang Production Construction Corps, a The below article was written by Ghulam paramilitary force that runs many of re- Osman Yaghma, President of the East Turkistan education camps and is involved in resettling Government in Exile, and published on News ethnic Chinese in the area. In October 2020, the Vibes of India Trump administration removed the so-called East Turkistan Islamic Movement from its terror It has never been a crime for Chinese to kill list on the grounds that there is “no credible Uyghurs in East Turkistan. This could be the evidence” that this group still exists. same in other colonized countries. In those countries, murder could arise from a “No Muslim government has spoken out against hierarchical difference—one being a master and these atrocities.” the other being a slave, and, partially, it could happen among individuals. However, the reason Because of China’s economic infuence, however, for murder in East Turkestan is totally different “no Muslim government has spoken out against —the total annihilation of the Uyghur population these atrocities,” said Hudayar. Uyghurs have of East Turkistan was planned and is actually been deported from some Muslim unfortunately continuing successfully. This countries to China and jailed; Pakistan’s prime originated from the following goal— “We want minister has lied about having knowledge of the land, not its people”—along with hierarchical Uyghur’s dire situation, and Saudi Arabia has differences. praised China’s “counterterrorism” and “modernization” efforts in East Turkistan. This fact is demonstrated in historical correspondence between the Chinese army on a Hudayar argued that the U.S. and the E.U. should mission to subjugate East Turkestan and direct offcially recognize the Chinese government’s orders given from their central military atrocities against the Uyghurs as genocide and headquarters. Orders sent by military treat the Uyghur issue “on par with the Tibetan headquarters to the army on the frontier issue.” Outsiders should “refer to our country as enforced this very goal vigorously and at all East Turkistan,” not “the Chinese colonial term costs. This concept came from Chinese Xinjiang,” said Hudayar. “Nobody refers to Tibet ancestors and passed on from generation to as Xizang, which is the colonial name that China generation as foundations of Chinese racism and imposed on Tibet.” Since Tibet is recognized as national policy, irrespective of changes in an occupied country, East Turkistan should also governments and ideologies. Even in during be recognized as “occupied.” different eras, governments, and ideologies, this concept has remained intact. Hudayar welcomed actions taken by the Trump administration to combat China’s “colonization The unchanged policy of “we want land, not its and occupation in East Turkistan” and “brutal people” has been planted into the minds of the campaign of genocide against the Uyghurs and Chinese people. So, even if the Chinese keep

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 22 FEATURE killing innocent Uyghurs, they will never be he did damage to state property, at least. This considered murderers. The Chinese even naïve Uyghur worker was indoctrinated with the passionately indulged themselves in a race of communist ideology and acted as a defender of hunting Uyghurs in the streets and bazaars for state property, for which he must be praised. marksmanship and for fun. Uyghurs would get Against his intentions, this Chinese communist their hat blown off with a bullet or would be soldier, who was regarded as a PLA soldier who shot dead right on the street. The Chinese would not take anything from the people, was hunters, without any consideration of their indifferent to his demand. Instead, he pushed on victim, were busy turning to the next target with the chest of this Uyghur worker away from the great ease and comfort to maximize their running board, but the Uyghur worker refused to “enjoyment” of the killing game. get off.

This happened during the Kuomintang (KMT) Without being successful, the Chinese soldier era. However, the killing game has continuously then aimed his AK-47 at the Uyghur worker’s happened under the CCP’s rule. It must be throat, threatening him to back off. This “naive” stated, the CCP’s propaganda, was more Uyghur was taught to frmly believe in a political beautiful and positive, giving people a sense of myth that the PLA would not shoot the people. safety but its implementation was totally At this critical moment, the Chinese soldier different. That is, Uyghurs were deprived of pressed the trigger and unloaded the 29 bullets rights that humans were never deprived of even that remained after shooting the yak. All the in the most primitive societies. During the CCP rocks and sand around the area was covered in era, we bore witness to a variety of cases before the Uyghur worker’s blood and pieces of his our eyes in our neighborhoods, towns, and head. Then, instead of showing any PTSD like a cities, where a Uyghur was murdered by a normal person would have shown after Chinese, but the murder was justifed by the committing murder, the Chinese soldier pushed court and the murderer was not punished. If a away the headless body and drove off calmly Uyghur killed another Uyghur, even like nothing happened. It is highly likely that the unintentionally, this was considered a frst- soldier had never experienced murder. If so, how degree murder case and the perpetrator was put could not he suffer any PTSD in front of this on death row immediately. horrifc crime scene? Because he did not think of the Uyghur worker as a human being because he Two specifc examples below are enough to had been indoctrinated to think of Uyghurs are highlight the hypocrisy of the CCP when it less than human by the chauvinistic Chinese comes to murder cases. The frst example took education system. place on Karakoram-Tibet Highway in Kargilik Town in East Turkestan in 1980. One of the When the soldier was summoned to attend a Chinese PLA soldiers, who worked for the military court in the Southern Military vehicle feet shuttling to and from Tibet and East Headquarters in Yengishahar County, Kashgar, a Turkistan, killed a Uyghur. This soldier hunted a group of armed people broke into the court and yak of a state-owned animal farm, grazing nearby successfully rescued him unharmed. Afterwards, on a mountain, and loaded the dead yak onto his Chinese migrants in Yengishahar Township took truck. Strictly speaking, this hunting act itself to the streets to protest that the Chinese soldier could have constituted a crime as an act of should not be punished. These protesters stealing or doing damage to state property. A mobilized all resources necessary, including a Uyghur road worker saw this event, and with an telegraph machine stationed on a truck, to help intention of protecting state property, rushed any Chinese protester who wants to send a plea onto the running board of the truck, holding for pardon for the murderer to the central tightly to the steering wheel, without allowing government in Beijing free of charge. One of the the truck driver to drive continuously, chants they were shouting was quite disturbing: demanding he leave the dead yak on the farm as “Since our ultimate goal is to keep the land, not

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 23 FEATURE its people, what’s wrong with taking one of their According to the soldier interviewed by the lives sooner?” Furthermore, despite the history Radio Free Asia (RFA), after heavy fre from of the CCP forcefully stopping protests, outside, Chinese soldiers kicked down doors of considering all protests to be anti-governmental each house as if they were attacking an enemy in nature, this protest was neither stopped nor barricade while vehemently shooting bullets and restricted until the protesters themselves then checked if anybody was left alive. When he stopped. entered a house, a toddler came towards him, terrifed by the death of his parents, grabbing Eventually, this case was concluded with a his foot as a savior. Upon leaving the house after report in a Chinese newspaper, Xinjiang Gazette, having separated the child from his foot, he run titled “The mother of the deceased pleaded: ‘Do across his boss. His boss scolded him not punish the murderer, I would like to adopt vehemently for not killing the child: “Do you him in the place of my son.’” As a result, the remember the order? Where is your concept of soldier was found not guilty. enemy and proletariat consciousness?” He pulled out his gun and shot the toddler dead. The second example is an incident in Barin village where one of the biggest resistance This soldier expressed his feeling to RFA as movements of Uyghurs against Chinese rule took follows: “Before in our consciousness, only place in 1990. This incident is also about how imperialists, revisionists and enemies of people this resistance was suppressed. On 30 October could be that cruel; we saw the indiscriminate, 2002, Radio Free Asia interviewed a former inhumane killings of men, women, children and Chinese military offcer who applied for asylum even animals only in the movies depicting the in the US with his lawyer. He stated during the Sino-Japanese war. We thought this to be only in interview that “a village with a population of the nature of Japanese invaders. Today it is 10,000 was surrounded by 25000 Chinese mind-blowing to link those cruelties in those military forces supported by tanks and movies with the PLA.” The cruelties in the helicopters. Prior to launching an attack on the movies were fction but this massacre was real. village, the military commander delivered a The movies were dramatized by the short speech to the soldiers in a way that it communists, but the Barin village massacre was pertains perfectly to the historical mindset of real. Han Chinese: ‘The village before us is full of enemies. You do not need to hesitate if there is a In the years since, all the policies made by the good person among them. They are all enemies. CCP regarding the Uyghurs has proven that they You are not accountable for the bullets that you do not consider Uyghurs as humans. Even are going to shoot and the lives that you are Uyghurs who have betrayed their fellow Uyghurs going to kill. We have given you the bullets to to suck up to the Chinese are no exceptions to shoot. So, shoot as much as you can and leave this rule. For example, when the Yarkant Elishku no one alive’” massacre took place, two Uyghur traitors who were working for the Chinese tried to escape the The village houses left over from the middle village when the soldiers were spraying ages under Chinese rule that was cited as thousands of bullets their way. However, despite “heaven of socialism” could not withstand the trying to plead with the soldiers and showing forceful penetration of countless bullets them their IDs, the two Uyghur traitors were still barbarically shot, broken down, burnt or full of not spared.This is one of the many Chinese holes like the hives of honeybees. Tree branches national policies that has never changed fell and tree trunks sustained black bullet holes. throughout history. This point was later confrmed by the medical staff who went to the village that the density of bullet holes on walls and trees was abnormal and beyond belief.

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 24 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

‘UN actively passing names of Uighur Reilly further maintained that “the UN makes an dissidents to Chinese regime:’ whistleblower exception for China and only for China.”

Both Reilly and UN Watch asserted that China then uses the information that the UN provides them, to harass human rights activists and their families – often accusing them of terrorism and worse. Nawaz was visibly struggling to absorb the enormity of what his interviewee revealed. “The United Nations is handing over the names of genocided Uighur dissidents… to the government of China that is genociding them?” he asked incredulously.

The presenter asked Reilly how she knew this, to Supporters of Uyghurs protest China in Istanbul, which she replied: “because my boss was the Turkey | Photo credit: Ozan Kose/AFP person doing it.” While Reilly’s boss has been promoted, she has been frozen out of the UN – where she still works – and it transpires that LONDON | 2 November 2020 nobody can take the matter to a court because the United Nations has diplomatic immunity. The below article was published by I24 News

A human rights lawyer working for the United Nations (UN) in Geneva has accused the Prime minister condemns Muslims’ lack of body’s Human Rights Council of actively passing support for imprisoned Uyghurs names of Uighur dissidents to the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaking to Maajid Nawaz on LBC radio, Emma Reilly said that prior to each UNHRC session, the Chinese government would ask the UN “whether or not certain people were planning to come.” She added, “it is completely against the rules to hand over that information to any government.”

Astonishingly, this has apparently been the case for some time. In a recently-released letter, UN ETGE Prime Minister issuing a statement | Photo Watch, an NGO that highlights UN malpractice credit: Rebecca Burnett/WDVM and bias, revealed that as long ago as February 2017 – although the practice has allegedly gone on since 2013 – “Chinese authorities, and others, WASHINGTON | 10 November 2020 regularly ask the UN Human Rights Offce whether particular NGO delegates are attending The below article was written by Rebecca Burnett future sessions.” and published by the Local DVM

More alarmingly still, the Secretariat press The East Turkestan Government in Exile is release acknowledges that the Offce of the High making headway in its efforts to rescue millions Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of people imprisoned in Chinese concentration “confrms this information.” camps.

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 25 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Salih Hudayar paying a price,” she said, “but our people are shared some of the progress: in October, Senate paying a price every day.” lawmakers introduced a resolution to designate the human rights abuses as a genocide, and the The prime minister supports President Donald Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) has Trump’s tough stance on China and is wary of urged the international criminal court’s chief how president-elect Joe Biden’s administration prosecutor to do so as well. The complaint is might affect his organization’s efforts. The backed by 63 parliamentarians from 14 Chinese government has yet to congratulate countries. Biden.

Hudayar is calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to introduce similar legislation, Protestors gather outside U.S. Capitol on East and on Tuesday he condemned Muslims for Turkistan’s independence day their lack of support. “The Muslim world needs to break their silence and come to the aid of the most oppressed Muslims in the world and that is the Muslims of East Turkestan,” he said.

China has established hundreds of concentration camps across the country. Activists believe it’s to stop the Uyghurs’ fght for independence. “Aside from locking up millions of people in concentration camps, prisons, and using them as slave labor or killing them for their organs, we suspect China might be engaging in or planning to engage in biological warfare against Uyghurs and other Uyghurs led by the ETGE commemorate East Turkic peoples,” Hudayar said. Turkistan’s Independence Day outside the U.S. Capitol | Photo credit: ETGE “When I was living in East Turkestan the Chinese government forcibly sterilized me and WASHINGTON | 12 November 2020 thousands of other Uyghur Turkic women,” said internment camp survivor Zumret Dawut. “My The below article was written by Rebecca Burnett entire neighborhood and its surroundings have and published by Local WDVM been destroyed as part of China’s efforts to ‘modernize’ East Turkestan.” East Turkistan has a complicated history. On November 12, 1933, its people overthrew Dawut spoke of rape, torture, execution, and Chinese occupation, only to be overthrown six forced medication. Women are being forced into months later. On November 12, 1944, the Second marriage. They’re committing suicide. Outside East Turkistan Republic was established. Five the camps, she says families are being surveilled years later, the Chinese invaded once again. by so-called “relatives” who live, eat, and sleep with them to monitor their actions. Children are The Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tatar and being sent to boarding schools where they’re other peoples of East Turkistan have spent the being taught to hate the Uyghur culture and last 71 years fghting for independence. On become “loyal Chinese citizens.” Thursday, the East Turkistan Government in Exile, led by Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, After Dawut shared her story at the United commemorated the anniversary outside of the Nations, her father was arrested and murdered U.S. Capitol. Hudayar was elected one year ago in China. “Even right now as I speak I might be Thursday.

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For the last six years, millions of Uyghur, From Tokyo to New York, East Turkistan Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tatar people, mostly Govt-in-Exile demonstrates against Chinese of Muslim faith, have been held in concentration oppression on Uyghurs camps, prisons, and slave labor camps. According to survivors’ accounts, they’re being NEW DELHI | 13 November 2020 tortured, killed for their organs, raped, sterilized, and executed. The below article was published by India Blooms

Those outside of the camps are being surveilled The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile on by so-called “family members.” Over 500,000 Thursday demonstrated against Chinese children are being schooled in state-run aggressions in different parts of the world to orphanages. “Our towns, our religious places of mark East Turkistan’s Independence Day. worship, and even our cemeteries have been destroyed as China seeks to leave no evidence The demonstrators highlighted China’s human that we existed,” rights violation against the minorities in the region. Demonstrations were held in nations like Prime Minister Hudayar said on Thursday. “For the US, Japan, Turkey, France and Canada. us, there is only one solution and that is the Demonstration was also held outside the United restoration of our country; East Turkistan’s Nations Building in New York. independence. For without independence we will have no human rights.” The Canadian Parliament’s House of Commons also commemorated East Turkistan’s National The organization is advocating for offcial Independence Day. Prime Minister Salih Hudayar recognition from the world’s governments and of the government-in-exile thanked the Canadian parliaments. U.S. senators have introduced a Parliament and called on Canada’s Government bipartisan resolution that would declare the to ‘formally recognize East Turkistan as an human rights abuses as a genocide. In June, Occupied Country’, ANI reported. President Donald Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into law. The Canadian “Our towns, our religious places of worship, and Parliament has recognized the abuses as a even our cemeteries have been destroyed as genocide. China seeks to leave no evidence that we existed,” Prime Minister Hudayar was quoted as “We face and continue to face numerous saying by ANI on Thursday. “For us, there is only obstacles and malicious efforts by China and its one solution, and that is the restoration of our agents to coerce, infltrate, infuence, and country; East Turkistan’s independence. For undermine the East Turkistan Government in without independence, we will have no human Exile and East Turkistan’s struggle to regain our rights.” independence,” Hudayar said. Appreciating the Canadian Parliament’s House of “However, we have full faith that with the Commons, the government-in-exile tweeted: “We support of our people and our foreign friends, thank the Canadian Parliament @OurCommons we will able to overcome these obstacles and @SenateCA for commemorating #EastTurkistan’s malicious efforts. Nothing can stop us from National Independence Day. We urge #Canada’s pursuing our right to exist as a free and Government @CanadaFP to formally recognize independent country.” #EastTurkestan as an Occupied Country. #IndependenceForEastTurkistan”

Protests against Chinese government’s alleged atrocities on Uyghur Muslim people were also held in nations like Bangladesh and Nepal.

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 27 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

U.S. bans cotton imports from China’s XPCC Cuccinelli said a region-wide Xinjiang cotton citing East Turkistan ‘slave labor’ import ban was still being studied.

China’s Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua WASHINGTON/BEIJING - 2 December 2020 Chunying responded by saying that U.S. politicians “concoct false news about forced The below article was published by Reuters labor so as to suppress Chinese frms and China.” The Trump administration expanded economic pressure on China’s western region of Xinjiang, “All workers in Xinjiang choose their banning cotton imports from a powerful Chinese occupations based on their own volition and quasi-military organization that it says uses the sign labor contracts with frms based on the forced labor of detained Uighur Muslims.China’s principle of equality and free will,” she told a largest cotton producers news conference on Thursday, adding that the ban contravenes international trade rules and The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency would hurt consumers everywhere. said on Wednesday its “Withhold Release Order” would ban cotton and cotton products from the The United Nations cites what it says are Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps credible reports that 1 million Muslims held in (XPCC), one of China’s largest producers. camps have been put to work. China denies mistreating Uighurs and says the camps are The move, which China said was based on a vocational training centers needed to fght fabrication, is the latest by the Trump extremism. administration in its fnal weeks to harden the U.S. position against Beijing, making it more BROAD IMPACT diffcult for President-elect Joe Biden to ease U.S.-China tensions. While the Treasury sanctions target XPCC’s fnancial structure, Wednesday’s action will force The ban against XPCC, which apparel frms and other companies shipping produced here 30% of China’s cotton in 2015 cotton products to the United States to eliminate could have a sweeping effect on companies XPCC-produced cotton fber from many stages of globally involved in selling textiles and apparel their supply chains, said Brenda Smith, CBP’s to the United States. executive assistant commissioner for trade.

It follows a Treasury Department ban in July on “That pretty much blocks all Chinese cotton all dollar transactions with the sprawling textile imports,” said a China-based cotton business-and-paramilitary entity, founded in trader, who asked not to be identifed because of 1954 to settle China’s far west. the sensitivity of the issue.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Identifying cotton from a specifc supplier will Kenneth Cuccinelli, who oversees the border sharply raise manufacturing costs, and only the agency, called “Made in China” a “warning label.” few large companies with fully integrated operations across the complex textile supply “The cheap cotton goods you may be buying for chain could guarantee that no XPCC product has family and friends during this season of giving – been used, the trader said. “It really depends on if coming from China – may have been made by how much proof they want. If they want real slave labor in some of the most egregious human proof that this cotton has not been used, that’s rights violations existing today in the modern going to be extremely diffcult,” he added. world,” he told a news conference.

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Major clothing brands including Gap Inc, India Today had frst reported about the Patagonia Inc and Zara owner Inditex have told deployment of China’s ffth-generation J-20 the Thomson Reuters Foundation that did not stealth fghters at Hotan airbase in July and source from factories in Xinjiang – but that they August 2020, albeit for a short period. could not confrm that their supply chains were free of cotton picked from the region. Located 250km north-east of Karakoram Pass, the Hotan airbase can pose a serious threat to The XPCC could not immediately be reached for Indian forces, especially around Pangong Tso in comment. The China National Textile and eastern Ladakh. Apparel Council declined to comment. The China Cotton Textile Association could not India Today’s OSINT team investigates air immediately be reached. activity at this important PLAAF airbase through the high-resolution satellite images. In September, CBP considered a much broader import ban on all cotton and tomato products To prepare the Hotan airbase for any eventuality, from Xinjiang, but after dissent from within the the PLAAF has started underground Trump administration, it announced narrower constructions. bans on products from specifc entities, including two smaller cotton and apparel The high-resolution satellite images of October producers. 26, 2020, clearly show that the additional constructions for more troops are probably of the PLAAF or PLA Rocket Force (PLARF). There are three underground constructions Chinese air force underground command noticed which are likely to be deeply buried and control centre at Hotan airbase caught complexes. in satellite imagery The size of 15m x 6m with other signatures suggests that these three underground deeply NEW DELHI | 9 December 2020 buried structures are going to be possible headquarters and operations rooms of the The below article was written by Col Vinayak Bhat PLAAF and PLARF. and published by India Today. The constructions observed in October this year China is constantly upgrading its military strongly indicate that this could be a command preparedness since the standoff with India control and intelligence center (C2I) likely to be began in eastern Ladakh in May. The latest connected soon with the C4I grid of the PLAAF changes are being observed through satellite and PLARF. imagery at Hotan in occupied East Turkestan, now Xinjiang, which is one of the People’s The underground construction of these modules Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) major strengthened with semicircular steel rebars fghter airbases. indicates they will be diffcult to destroy unless special earth penetrating bombs are used. Latest satellite images show the construction of an underground automated command and The latest satellite images covering Hotan control centre at Hotan, China’s nearest base to clearly show that the grading work for two new eastern Ladakh. For the frst time, a Y-20 airstrips and taxiway which began in June 2020 strategic transport aircraft has been observed at is progressing at a very slow pace. the airbase, indicating a probable deployment of additional troops.

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East Turkistan Government in Exile protests Shake up in East Turkistan: Major Companies outside Capitol on International Human are Lobbying Against the Uyghur Forced Rights Day Labor Bill in Congress

WASHINGTON | 10 December 2020

The below article was written by Rebecca Burnett and published by the WDVM

Millions of people are still being imprisoned in Chinese concentration camps. Many are ethnic Uyghurs of East Turkistan, which has been fghting for independence from China for decades.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile and the Uyghurs led by the East Turkistan Government in East Turkistan National Awakening Movement Exile protest against China in front of the U.S. recognized the United Nations’ International State Department | Photo credit: Breitbart Human Rights Day outside of the U.S. Capitol building on Thursday with a series of demands. WASHINGTON | 10 December 2020 Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, whose family members have been imprisoned, is calling on The below article was published by The Westside the U.S. to recognize the human rights abuses Gazette committed against the Uyghurs as a genocide. “I would like to announce 2021 as the year of A brewing struggle has reached a tipping point solidarity with the victims of China and its as of this year, 2020 with East Turkistan and communist party, especially those in East China. And it all stems from big companies in the Turkistan who are facing genocide,” he said. US and illegal slave trading. “Let’s make 2021 the end of the CCP and the end of the evil PRC empire.” Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola have been accused of racketeering with Chinese businesses for their The East Turkistan Government in Exile also products, that are being made under illegal slave wants the U.S. — including President Donald labor by Uyghur men and women. Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — to designate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) This comes as a new congress bill is being as a Transnational Criminal Organization. passed. This bill—the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act—would ban goods made in the It’s also calling on Congress to pass the Uyghur form of forced labor in Xinjiang, China, and Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would crack down on human rights violations to the prohibit imports that were manufactured in Uyghurs. labor camps. U.S. companies that are using forced labor include Amazon, Burberry, The bill has Bipartisan support and has the Burlington, Costco, Foot Locker, Guess, Zara, potential to be passed before this year is over. Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, TJ Maxx, Walmart, and This bill is being heavily pushed by Prime Walt Disney. Minister of East Turkistan Government-in-Exile, Salih Hudayar.

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 30 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

He explains that the Australian Strategic Policy Hudayar runs down what changes will take place Institute (ASPI) revealed a report of work abuse. if the bill passes. The companies would have to In 2006, as part of the 11th fve-year-plan in prove that their goods are not being made with China, there would be a transfer of over 400,000 forced labor through auditing. A lot of Uyghurs Uyghur women from 16 to 25-year-old to work as have been used as unpaid, abused workers, who access labor in China. They would produce were bought from concentration camps. Now the products for companies such as Apple, Coca- burden will be on the big companies to prove Cola, and Nike to name a few. that they are not in connection to slave trades with Chinese companies. Mr. Hudayar states that this is part of China’s systematic plan to wipe out the Uyghur future Major repercussions would be put into place, generations through false promises of and many share-holders would possibly be out development. Instead, it’s restrictions to the of their positions of power. This would also be a residents of the land with none for the Chinese, major blow for China, as they would have to hire purposefully planted disease to kill of the actual people and pay them, rather than use majority, nuclear testing, and mistreatment of a them as slaves. The Xinjiang Production & marginalized group for the sake of control. Construction Corp (XPCC) who control major investments around the world, will be hit the “It’s all a ploy to make China the strongest hardest upon this bill’s passing. nation over all others.” Says Hudayar. “It will shake major supply chains like Apple and “They set up colonies that end up taking over Nike.” Hudayar explained. the strategic points of those lands and purge anyone that resist them. It has happened in “They would be forced to seek other other places of the world. China has taken alternatives outside China, which will hurt over East Turkistan since 1949 but Uyghurs the Chinese infrastructure, as they will no have resisted for a long time.” longer be able to spend as many resources as possible to oppress the Uyghur people. The How this ties in to the slave labor is through only way to truly end the abuse of the Uyghur China’s concentration camps set up in Xinjiang. people is for them (Uyghur) to regain their They drill military concepts and obedience into independence.” their workers, before selling them off to factories for un-paid labor. These factories then make We will see more results from the bill later on mass product to overseas companies: aka Coca- this month. Salih Hudayar is confdent that he Cola, Nike, Apple, etc. will continue to fght for the lives of his people in the coming New year; stating, “This is our fnal Despite word of these companies fghting the stand. We must make it count.” bill, Apple released a statement in support of the Uyghur Force Labor Prevention Act, followed by Hudayar's plan is to have the United States other companies being in support as well. recognize Eastern Turkistan as an occupied country. “Clearly, they’re protecting their profts.” Hudayar explained. “They’re making excuses to weaken the bill and allow themselves to get away with it. They tell the media that they’re not doing this, but there is evidence that they are using China as their suppliers with forced labor. In the end, the companies don’t care about the average people. They only care about their profts.”

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China avoids ICC prosecution over East territorial jurisdiction did not appear to be met Turkistan (“Xinjiang”) for now, but pressure with respect to the majority of the crimes is growing alleged” since they appear “to have been committed solely by nationals of China within the territory of China, a State which is not a party to the Statute.”

Bensouda’s offce has left the fle open, meaning the ICC could still pursue a case provided more evidence was presented. Speaking to the Guardian, Rodney Dixon, the lead barrister in the attempted ICC case against China, said his team “will be providing highly relevant evidence … in the coming months.”

Supporters of Uyghurs hold placards as they “We are engaging with the offce of the gather at the Beyazit Square on October 1, 2020 prosecutor as these proceedings go on with the during a demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo credit: Ozan Lose | AFP aim of opening a full investigation,” Dixon added.The message is clear: while Bensouda’s decision may seem like a win of sorts for China, HONG KONG | 14 December 2020 it highlights the growing pressure over Xinjiang and the determination of Uyghur groups and * The term “Xinjiang” is a Chinese colonial other activists to hold Beijing to account. term, meaning “New Territory,” used by China to refer to East Turkistan. Although Uyghurs Ahead of the US election last month, some are a minority in China, they are still the activists had expressed concerns Joe Biden majority in East Turkistan. would take a softer approach. But in a statement on Xinjiang, the now President-elect The below article was published by CNN, Photo denounced the “unspeakable oppression” credit Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, which he said amounted to “genocide.” China will not face a case at the International Criminal Court over its treatment of ethnic Responding to those comments, Elijan Anayit, a groups in [East Turkistan] Xinjiang — for spokesman for the Xinjiang government, said now. Beijing is accused of numerous crimes last month that claims of genocide were “a against Uyghurs and other ethnic ethnic completely false proposition and a vicious groups in the far western region, including a attack on Xinjiang by overseas anti-China mass detention system, forced labor, and claims forces.” of genocide and human rights abuses. Anayit pointed to the historic genocide of As China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, Indigenous Americans to argue the United States which established the ICC, prosecution at the had no standing in this matter, and accused court has always been a long shot. But activists Washington of committing “a serious violation, had hoped to bring a case based on actions sacrilege and manipulation” of the United taken against Uyghurs living in Tajikistan and Nations convention against genocide by Cambodia, both of which are ICC members. targeting Beijing in this manner.

In a report released Monday, however, the offce “We devoted a substantial part of our of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the discussions to the issues of the rule of law in “precondition for the exercise of the court’s Hong Kong and the protection of minorities in

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Xinjiang.” The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on In September, Chinese President Xi China — a grouping of hundreds of lawmakers Jinping defended his policies in Xinjiang as across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia- “completely correct.” And as the ICC decision Pacifc — has also lobbied for international this week shows, holding countries to account is action over Xinjiang, supporting the case at the often easier said than done. ICC and calling for a UN investigation into the matter.

The pressure comes with China’s global Pompeo Weighs Genocide Designation for reputation plummeting in the wake of the China coronavirus pandemic. A Pew survey in October found that unfavorable views of China had reached historic highs in many countries, with a majority in all 14 countries polled expressing negative opinions of Beijing.

The most immediate effect of all this lobbying could be on international businesses that source materials and labor from Xinjiang. According to a new report from Adrian Zenz, a leading scholar on the oppression of Uyghurs, Chinese government documents and media reports show that “hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority laborers in Xinjiang are being forced to pick Supporters and members of the East Turkistan cotton by hand through a coercive state- National Awakening Movement rally outside the mandated labor transfer and ‘poverty White House to urge the United States to take alleviation’ scheme.” action to stop the oppression of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples August 14, 2020 in Earlier this month, the US blocked cotton Washington, DC. The ETNAM and East Turkistan imports from Xinjiang over forced labor Government in Exile (ETGE) groups submitted concerns — allegations China has consistently evidence to the international criminal court, denied. In his report, Zenz argued there was calling for an investigation into senior Chinese “evidence for coercive labor related to all cotton offcials, for genocide and crimes against humanity. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty produced in Xinjiang,” and said “companies Images) should be required to thoroughly investigate the role of Chinese cotton in their supply chains, even if any related production takes place WASHINGTON | 23 December 2020 outside China.” The below article was published by Foreign Policy Numerous major clothing retailers use cotton sourced from Xinjiang, and have already come The outgoing U.S. secretary of state orders a under pressure for this practice. The latest review to determine if China’s repression of fndings could spark some to reevaluate their Uighurs constitutes genocide. supply chains, or prompt other governments to take action and force companies’ hands. The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has ordered likelihood of growing international criticism a review to determine whether China’s having an effect on Beijing is far smaller, repression of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang amounts however. to genocide, several offcials and people familiar with the matter said, raising expectations that America’s top diplomat may charge China with

EAST-TURKISTAN.NET 33 NEWS HIGHLIGHTS committing genocide before he leaves offce next During the George W. Bush administration, then- month. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that the Sudanese government had committed genocide Pompeo has instructed Morse Tan, the U.S. against ethnic minority groups in Darfur, a ambassador-at-large for the Offce of Global decision that was followed by a U.N. Security Criminal Justice, to oversee the internal review. Council resolution triggering an investigation The review would involve an assessment by the into mass atrocities by the International State Department’s acting legal advisor, Marik Criminal Court, which later charged the String, and the head of the State Department’s country’s then-president, Omar al-Bashir, with internal intelligence shop, as well as the genocide. President Bill Clinton’s secretary of department’s human rights and regional state, Warren Christopher, also cited the mass bureaus, according to current and former atrocities in Bosnia and Rwanda as genocide. offcials. In recent years, China has undertaken a The review could trigger a fnal determination sweeping campaign of repression against what from the United States, following years of are estimated to be millions of Uighurs and pressure from U.S. lawmakers and human rights other ethnic minorities in its western Xinjiang organizations, and would be a signifcant province under the guise of security and symbolic and diplomatic message by itself. But counterterrorism programs. Human rights what the outgoing Trump and incoming Biden groups have reported that Uighurs are being administrations decide to do if and when the rounded up in mass internment camps and face determination is made matters as much, if not human rights abuses such as forced labor, more, human rights experts said—as it could brainwashing, arbitrary detentions, include imposing sanctions or other economic mistreatment, torture, and even forced penalties. abortions and sterilization.

Offcials said the timing of when the The Trump administration levied sanctions determination will be made is unclear. If it is against Chinese offcials involved in running the made in the fnal weeks of the Trump detention camps and designated companies that administration, it could signifcantly raise allegedly used forced labor from the camps. But tensions between Washington and Beijing just as top Trump offcials have so far shied away from President-elect Joe Biden enters offce—though labeling the crackdown in Xinjiang as a Biden’s campaign already used the word genocide. In August, Politico reported that the “genocide” to describe the crackdowns in Trump administration was considering the Xinjiang as early as August. move, but until this point hasn’t kickstarted the formal determination process. The United States rarely makes a formal declaration of genocide, considered one of the Legislation spearheaded by Republican Sen. most serious crimes against humanity in Marco Rubio to prompt the secretary of state to international law. If confrmed, this would be the make a determination on whether China’s frst genocide determination by the State crackdown in Xinjiang constitutes genocide was Department since March 2016, when U.S. included as part of broader appropriations Secretary of State John Kerry determined that package passed on Monday. Rubio, acting the Islamic State terrorist organization was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee “responsible for genocide” against the region’s and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Yazidi, Christian, and Shiite Muslim minorities. Committee, is a vocal critic of China. In August 2017, President Donald Trump’s frst Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also concluded “Regardless of motivation, it is the right thing for that the Islamic State was “certainly responsible the Trump administration to do,” said Francisco for genocide.” Bencosme, a senior policy advisor with the Open

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Society Foundations. After that, he said, the Uighur Diaspora Hails Removal of ETIM From question is how the determination will be made US Terror List meaningful—such as by getting like-minded countries to join the United States in a genocide WASHINGTON | 23 December 2020 determination or by prompting international organizations to carry out an investigation. The below article was published by VOA

Biden’s campaign used the term “genocide” to Uighur activists and experts alike welcomed the describe Beijing’s policies beginning in August, removal of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement laying down its marker on human rights issues (ETIM) from the U.S. terrorist list, saying the in China and setting the stage for a tense move by Washington last month helps the relationship between the two rival global powers religious minority fght more effectively for its once he takes offce in late January. But rights, while making it harder for China to formalizing that decision as president could portray its crackdown in Xinjiang as a prove tricky. counterterrorism measure.

Traditionally, the State Department based its U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a brief decision on a rather narrow interpretation of October 20 directive that was published genocide in the Genocide Convention, which November 5, revoked the terror designation. The requires the perpetrator to intend to physically decision, according to a State Department destroy a people in whole or in part, a standard spokesperson quoted by Agence France-Presse, that may not have been met in Xinjiang. came because “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM Given the symbolic and diplomatic weight of continues to exist.” such a determination, there is still no clear-cut blueprint or formula for the department to James Millward, a professor of Chinese history follow; each case is handled differently at Georgetown University, told VOA the U.S. depending on the circumstances, current and listing of ETIM originally used language from a former offcials said. The requirement that PRC white paper but mistakenly attributed a perpetrators intend to “destroy” a people is long list of violent acts from the white paper to a literal elimination, not just erasing their cultural single group, ETIM. identity, said Todd Buchwald, who served as special coordinator in the State Department’s “The ETIM designation has been used by Beijing Offce of Global Criminal Justice and who co- ever since 2002 as a blanket term deployed authored a major study on the history of the against any and all violence and opposition to department’s genocide determinations for the the state in Xinjiang in order to delegitimize Holocaust Memorial Museum. Uighur grievances and justify increased repression,” Clarke said. “The popular defnition of genocide is different from the legal defnition of genocide. The “The overwhelming majority of the violence in hardest thing for the State Department in the Uighur region of China since 2001 cannot be coming to view on this is how do you prove, and characterized as terrorism,” said Sean Roberts, a how do you show, suffcient evidence to infer professor at George Washington University. intent,” said Anna Cave, who served as principal deputy in the Offce of Global Criminal Justice. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, in a news conference November 6, said “In most cases perpetrators don’t say expressly his country “deplores and frmly opposes” the ‘it is my intent to destroy this group in whole or removal of ETIM from the U.S. terror list. in substantial part.’”

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Exiled Uighur activists, contrary to China’s party Over the weekend, Beijing ratifed an extradition line, say the U.S. decision is an important step to treaty with Turkey. Chinese state media recognize the plight of Uighurs who have been reportedly said it would be used for counter- deprived of basic cultural and political rights terrorism purposes. The Turkish government under the PRC. has yet to ratify it, and members of the East Turkistan Government in Exile are strongly Salih Hudayar, founder and director of the against the treaty. Washington-based East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, said the State The government in exile’s prime minister, Salih Department decision is equally important for Hudayar, says the treaty targets its diaspora in Uighur Americans who have been afraid of using Turkey of upwards of hundreds of thousands of their preferred term “East Turkistan” instead of people. “There are rumors that China has now Xinjiang lest they be associated with this ETIM prevented the shipment of coronavirus vaccines group. to Turkey until they ratify this,” said Hudayar.

“Many Uighurs defaulted to calling it ‘Xinjiang,’ “For us, that means Turkey would be which means ‘new territory’ in Chinese, even deporting or extraditing Uyghurs for small though most Uighurs consider it to be an alleged political crimes, which in China offensive, colonialist term designed to erase our means resisting China in terms of speaking identity, culture and history,” Hudayar told VOA. out, protesting against China on behalf of their families, and other things like that.”

D.C.’s Uyghurs condemn Beijing’s extradition The East Turkistan Government in Exile has treaty with Turkey reached out to members of the Turkish government and has not received a response.

“Turkey has close historical, cultural, and linguistic ties with East Turkistan and Turkey has much more responsibility than any other country in the world to speak out against China’s atrocities,” Hudayar said.

According to leaked documents, frsthand accounts from escapees, and prisoners’ family members, Uyghurs are being tortured and Uyghurs protest the China-Turkey extradition starved. treaty in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC | ETNAM They’re dying of the disease. Women are being sterilized. Organs are being harvested and purchased outside of the country. Children are WASHINGTON | 30 December 2020 being sent to orphanages and boarding schools. They’re also manufacturing parts of Apple’s The below article was written by Rebecca Burnett iPhones and materials in Nike apparel. and published by WDVM

Family members of some of the millions of Uyghurs imprisoned in Chinese concentration camps protested outside the Turkish embassy Wednesday afternoon, condemning a treaty that may endanger many more people.

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The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) is the democratically elected body which represents the interests of East Turkistan and its people. Therefore, it is the voice of East Turkistan and its people.

The Voice of East Turkistan is the offcial bi-monthly journal of the East Turkistan Government-in- Exile, which seeks to inform governments across the globe world along with organizations, think tanks, researchers, and the public masses about the truth regarding the situation in East Turkistan. The Voice of East Turkistan seeks to provide the best information regarding East Turkistan, the activities of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile, and the East Turkistani diaspora.

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