Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3073-1003379342-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Wed, 17 Oct 2001 21:30:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 26280 invoked by uid 510); 18 Oct 2001 04:28:41 -0000 Received: from n6.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.56) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 18 Oct 2001 04:28:41 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3073-1003379342-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.55] by n6.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 18 Oct 2001 04:29:02 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 18 Oct 2001 04:29:01 -0000 Received: (qmail 64517 invoked from network); 18 Oct 2001 04:29:01 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by l9.egroups.com with QMQP; 18 Oct 2001 04:29:01 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 18 Oct 2001 04:29:00 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id VAA06970 for iwar@onelist.com; Wed, 17 Oct 2001 21:29:00 -0700 Message-Id: <200110180429.VAA06970@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 21:29:00 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:China/APEC.Summit:.Crackdown.in.Xinjiang] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit China/APEC Summit: Crackdown in Xinjiang (New York, October 18, 2001) Claiming the presence of "extremist religious forces," the government of China is suppressing peaceful political and religious activity in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Human Rights Watch said in a backgrounder released today. Xinjiang, a vast, oil-rich province in China's northwest, is home to 18 million people, some 40 percent of whom are ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group, many of whom advocate independence from Beijing. The alleged links of Uighur separatists to the al-Qaeda terrorist network is likely to be a topic of discussion at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai this weekend, where President Bush has put anti-terrorism efforts high on the agenda. The Chinese government has thus far not made public any credible evidence of links between separatist organizations in Xinjiang and the al-Qaeda network. "Some individual Uighurs have made their way to Afghanistan, but that hardly justifies the broad crackdown now underway," said Sidney Jones, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch. "APEC leaders should make it clear that the global effort against terrorism does not give China a blank check to suppress the basic rights of the Uighur community." The backgrounder outlines the different separatist organizations that have emerged in Xinjiang, some of them violent, and recognizes China's legitimate security concerns. It notes, however, that these are overwhelming nationalist, not Islamist, in nature, and there is no indication of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang reaching out to other ethnic groups of the same faith. Moreover, in its campaigns to "rectify social order" in Xinjiang, Chinese authorities have arbitrarily arrested many Uighurs not involved in separatist movements; closed mosques, schools, and Uighur-owned enterprises; and sentenced thousands of people to harsh prison terms after summary judicial procedures. Imams are required be members of the "patriotic clergy" and to "stand on the side of the government" or face retaliation in different forms. Muslim students in all state-controlled institutions are not allowed to pray, keep the fast during Ramadan, or otherwise obey the precepts of Islam. Suppression of social organizations has been so harsh that the number of such organizations in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, declined by 50 percent between 1996 and 1999, according to official government figures. The backgrounder notes that the Chinese government has provided diametrically opposed assessments of the security situation to different audiences. As part of its campaign to encourage foreign investment in western China, including Xinjiang, Chinese authorities insist that the situation is stable and secure, and only a handful of people are engaged in separatism. When the government wants international support for its campaign to eradicate opposition to Chinese rule in Xinjiang, however, it raises the spectre of Islamic terrorism. "Leaders meeting with Jiang Zemin at the APEC summit should underscore the need to distinguish between violent criminal acts and peaceful political and religious expression," said Jones. "They should not let China escape its international obligations to respect human rights as a reward for coalition membership." A copy of the backgrounder is available at <a href="http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/china-bck1017.htm">http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/china-bck1017.htm>. For more information on China and Xinjiang, please see: Xinjiang, China's Restive Northwest (HRW Backgrounder, November 2000) at <a href="http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/11/xinjiang1113-bck.htm">http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/11/xinjiang1113-bck.htm> China: Human Rights Deteriorate (HRW Focus Page) at <a href="http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china-99/china-june99.htm">http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/china-99/china-june99.htm>. For more information on human rights in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States, please see September 11 Attacks: Crimes Against Humanity (HRW Focus Page) at <a href="http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/">http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/september11/> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE VeriSign guide to security solutions for your web site: encrypting transactions, securing intranets, and more! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UnN2wB/m5_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:55 PST