The file of the Uighur minority, who are subjected to ethnic and religious persecution in China, was absent from the discussions of the Chinese-Gulf and Arab-Chinese summits, which were attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and leaders of Arab and Gulf countries in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, which raised questions regarding the reasons and motives for this disregard.
In the past few years, international interest in the Xinjiang region has increased, as the United States says that China is carrying out a policy of “extermination” once morest the Uighurs and other Muslims who speak a branch of the Turkish language, according to “Agence France Presse”.
Xinjiang is located in western China, and is home to ten million Uighur Muslims, and rights groups and Western governments have long accused Beijing of “violating the rights of the ethnic Muslim-majority minority with measures such as forced labor in concentration camps.”
Human rights organizations accuse China of forcibly hiring Uighurs in factories linked to international supply chains in various sectors ranging from clothing to cars.
Some 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang, or 65 percent of their total number, have been destroyed or damaged as a result of government policies since 2017, according to a report by the organization.Human Rights Watch“.
willful omission?
Muhammad Amin, a researcher in political science and Arab-Chinese relations, attributes the main reason for the absence of the Uighur file from the discussions with Beijing to “the inability of Arab countries to manage just issues, and the inability to balance efficiently between the Arab side and its Chinese counterpart.”
In his interview with Al-Hurra, he believes that there are Arab countries that aspire to benefit from the “Silk Road” trade project, in which China has included more than 60 countries on its side, which pushes it to ignore the “Uighur issue.”
The Uighur considered that not addressing the issue during the 2022 Arab-Chinese summit is a “human shame.”
In a related context, the Uyghur activist residing in the Netherlands, Anwar Erdem, believes that the Saudi authorities “deliberately” ignore talking regarding the Uighur issue in discussions with China due to “economic and political” factors.
In statements to Al-Hurra website, he talked regarding “huge” economic and political relations between Riyadh and Beijing, considering that “the Saudi authorities fear that they will disturb China by talking regarding this Uighur.”
He points out that “Saudi neglect hurts the Uighurs,” saying: “Our brothers of one religion sold us to China.”
He talked regarding several incidents of “the deportation of Uighur activists by the Saudi authorities from their lands,” saying, “Early in 2018, Saudi Arabia deported many Uighur Muslims who came to worship in Mecca to China.”
For his part, the Saudi writer and political analyst, Mubarak Al Aati, denies this proposition, stressing that “the Saudi-Chinese rapprochement will represent a protection and guarantee for the rights of Muslim minorities in China,” given that the Kingdom is concerned with the rights of Muslims everywhere.
Al Aati told Al-Hurra regarding “Saudi support for Muslims in China, in coordination and understanding with the Beijing authorities, to facilitate the arrival of pilgrims to the Holy Land,” noting that “the Kingdom is concerned with communicating with the Chinese authorities regarding the rights of the Uyghur minority.”
Saudi Arabia will be “keen to communicate the voice of the Uyghurs during summits, meetings and contacts with China, with an emphasis on non-interference in Beijing’s internal affairs,” according to Al Aati’s statement.
And while the United Nations says that “human rights violations have affected the Uyghur minority and other Muslims,” Saudi Arabia has supported China’s policies in Xinjiang, according to Archyde.com.
On a visit to China in February 2019, the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, appeared to support the Chinese government’s policies under Beijing’s arguments to “combat terrorism and extremism”.
Mohammed bin Salman said at the time, “We respect and support China’s rights to take measures to combat terrorism and extremism to protect national security,” according to the official Chinese News Agency.Xinhua“.
Saudi Arabia supported joint letters to the United Nations to support China’s policies in Xinjiang in 2019, and once more in 2020, according to a previous report by the website.The Diplomat“.
On this, Al Aati says, “Saudi Arabia appreciates the Chinese sovereign decision and does not interfere in Beijing’s internal affairs,” stressing that “Muslims, like other minorities in China, will automatically obtain their rights.”
Al Aati believes that “the understandings and political communication between Saudi Arabia and China would bring regarding a rapprochement and understandings to defend the rights of Muslims in China, which will happen successively.”
Western condemnations and “Arab” silence
In remarks on Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he was determined to speak with China regarding the findings of a report issued by the former commissioner stating that China’s treatment of Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang “may constitute crimes once morest humanity,” according to ” Archyde.com”.
In his first public remarks on the matter since taking office, Türk told reporters at a briefing in Geneva: “The report issued on August 31 is very important and illustrates very serious human rights concerns.”
And he added, “I will personally continue to communicate with the authorities. I am determined to do so,” adding that “hope still exists.”
At the end of August, a long-awaited report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights into what China refers to as the “Uyghur region of Xinjiang” concluded that “gross human rights violations” had been committed once morest the Muslim-majority Uighurs, according to the “Uyghur”.United nations”.
The report spoke of the possibility of crimes once morest humanity being committed once morest minorities in Xinjiang, primarily once morest the Uighurs, citing “credible evidence” of torture and sexual violence.
And in October, China managed to avoid discussing the report at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, when the majority of the 47 member states refused to hold a debate demanded by the United States and regarding a dozen other countries, according to “Agence France Presse”.
In early November, 50 countries before a UN General Assembly committee denounced “serious and systematic” human rights violations in Xinjiang, calling on China to release “all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” in the region.
“We are deeply concerned regarding the human rights situation in China, especially the violations of the rights of the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang,” these countries said in a text read by Canada during a session of the General Assembly’s Third Committee on Human Rights.
The 50 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Australia, Israel, Turkey, Guatemala and also Somalia, said that “such serious and systematic human rights violations cannot be justified on the basis of combating terrorism.”
These countries called on Beijing to “implement the recommendations” of the High Commissioner, which include “taking immediate measures to release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Xinjiang and promptly clarifying the fate” of the missing persons.
They added that given the “seriousness” of the report, “we are concerned that China has so far refused to discuss its findings,” according to “Agence France Presse.”
Why the silence?
Anwar Erdem talks regarding the neglect of several Arab and Islamic countries to “condemn the violations of the Chinese authorities once morest the Uyghurs,” referring to “the strength of China’s economy.”
Erdem believes that some governments of Arab countries agree with China in being a “dictatorship” and ignoring human rights and basic freedoms, he said.
And the Uighur believes that “some Arab countries only think of bringing China’s investments in this region,” adding that “the economic interests unite both sides.”
However, Al Aati stresses that “the Saudi leadership has taken it upon itself to convey the voice of Muslims in China in general, not a specific minority.”
According to Al Aati, there is “a process of polarization by organizations hostile to the kingdom, and they are trying to harm relations between Riyadh and Beijing and distort and demonize the image of Saudi Arabia.”
