Sep 15, 2009

Uyghur Leader Urges New Pressure on China


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Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer on Friday [11 September] called for more international pressure to save China's ethnic minorities as she joined the Dalai Lama in decrying a lack of democracy in their native land.

 

 

Below is an article published by AFP :

 

 

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer on Friday [11 September] called for more international pressure to save China's ethnic minorities as she joined the Dalai Lama in decrying a lack of democracy in their native land.

Speaking at a conference in Prague focused on democracy and human rights in Asia, Kadeer said that the government in Beijing was trying to crush the rights and culture of ethnic minorities in the world's most populous nation.

But Kadeer, accused by China of fomenting deadly unrest in the Western Xinjian province in July, said the international community could use its leverage to force a policy rethink in Beijing.

"China cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world, so the pressure of the international community and democratic countries is very important," Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, told delegates.

"I urge the international community and democratic countries... to accelerate their pressure to save the unique culture and unique identity of ethnic minorities in China," she added.

Chinese authorities have accused Kadeer of being behind July's unrest in Xinjiang, a mainly Muslim province and the heartland of the Uighur community, which left nearly 200 people dead.

The 62-year-old, who adamantly denies the charges, said the Chinese authorities were trying "to assimilate, to destroy the minorities' culture as soon as possible."

"But I hope at end of the day China... and also other dictatorships will be forced to accept the appeal of the international community to respect minorities' rights," she added.

Kadeer, a former retail magnate and philanthropist, used to be held up by the Communist Party as proof of the success of its ethnic minorities and was even named a delegate to parliament.

But Beijing quickly turned on her after she dared to question China's policies toward its eight million Uighurs.

Jailed for six years in 1999, she was then sent into exile from where she has earned the enmity of Beijing that has drawn parallel with the attacks on the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader who has lived in India since escaping a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Speaking at the same conference, which has been organised by the former Czech president Vaclav Havel, the Dalai Lama also bemoaned the lack of democracy in China but said the solution ultimately lay in the hands of the Chinese people rather than foreign governments.

Democracy in China "must be brought by the people themselves, not by an outside force," he said.

"Our real hope is the people, not governments," he said, adding the ordinary Chinese needed to be properly informed about the situation in their homeland.

The saffron-robed Buddhist monk is reviled by the Chinese government, which has branded him a "monster" and accused him of trying to split the nation -- a charge he denies.

"Chinese people have the right to know what the reality is. The government leads them the wrong way," said the 74-year-old Nobel laureate.

Kadeer however was adamant that pressure from the outside was necessary as "China does not allow any dissent, any political organised group, any political movement to carry out any activities."

"If the efforts from inside, from the people for democracy and outside pressure come together, then democracy will prevail in China," she added.

Kadeer also asked Chinese authorities to try and "understand our good intentions," and invited the government to the table for talks.

"It is time for the Chinese government to sit and talk with me, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all those non-Han Chinese communities who have been vilified, imprisoned and slandered just because we happened to disagree with the One-China official policy," added Kadeer.