If Rebiya Kadeer, the leader of the World Uygur Congress, thought about her own past, she would count herself among the numerous Uyghurs who had benefited from China's policies to promote ethnic harmony.
The tale of Kadeer, who spent 40 years in Xinjiang and was listed as the richest woman in Xinjiang and the eighth richest on the mainland by Forbes in 1995, is a rags-to-riches story.
But AFP on Monday quoted Kadeer as saying the deeper cause of Sunday's riot in China's far northwest Xinjiang, which left at least 156 dead, was "six decades of Chinese rule, during which the Uyghurs have endured a litany of human rights abuses such as arbitrary detention, torture, discrimination, religious repression, forced abortion and removing Uighur language teaching from schools."
"Abuse" is hardly an appropriate word to describe the lives of Uyghurs in Xinjiang -- least of all in her own life, which started off in poverty, but later flourished on Chinese soil.
She built her business empire and became "The Millionairess" in Xinjiang within 10 years. But, if her allegations of "discrimination" against the Chinese government were true, only Han Chinese would have been allowed such opportunities.
Her identity as a Uygur also allowed her to have six children while most of her Han counterparts were limited to one.
Human rights abuse accusations by Kadeer, including religious repression and removing Uygur-language teaching from schools, fall flat as achievements made by both local people and the government are a matter of record.
Kadeer's accusation of "discrimination" in her interview with AFP does not hold water as can be seen by the number of minorities holding sought-after government posts.
In Xinjiang, minority people hold more than half of government posts, which are usually hotly contested in China's competitive job market. About 360,000 government employees in Xinjiang are ethnic minorities.
Official statistics show the number of middle school bilingual classes (in both Mandarin and Uygur) was 4,500 in 2007, with total enrollment of 145,000 students, compared with only 27 in 1999, when the figures were first compiled. The bilingual classes were first introduced in the early 1990s.
Jume Tahir, 69, imam at the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest in Kashgar with a history of almost 600 years, said the government had invested 1.5 million yuan (219,500 US dollars) to renovate the mosque in 1999.
Tahir says, "Our lawful religious beliefs are fully protected."
China has respected and recognized its minorities' freedom to religious faith since it adopted its first Constitution in 1954. More importantly, enshrined in the Constitution is the aim to "promote common prosperity for all ethnic groups."
That explains why the government cherishes a hard-won stable and peaceful environment and has called for restraint by both Han and Uyghurs.
Kadeer denies government accusations that she and her followers instigated the protests that later started the riot and said Wednesday the death toll from the unrest was far higher than the figure of 156 given by Chinese authorities, according to an AFP report.
Admittedly, the development of Xinjiang is far from perfect. Both Uygurs and Han face problems such as poverty and disease, and challenges brought about by globalization.
These are the elements that stand in the way of Xinjiang's development and require ethnic unity to overcome.
People in Xinjiang need to address those problems in peaceful ethnic co-existence.
And yet, all this would be impossible without a stable Xinjiang from which Kadeer sprang and benefited.
August 14, 2009
Rebiya Kadeer fakes photos of Xinjiang riot
A pictures pubished on Nanfang Weekly’s website on June 26 of an incident in Hubei Province in central China.
Rebiya Kadeer, head of the World Uyghur Congress holds a photo of the Xinjiang riots in an interview with the Qatar Al Jazeera.Rebiya Kadeer, the well-known Uyghur dissident now living in exile in the US who is believed to be behind the Xinjiang riots on July 5, used an old news photo of a different incident in China when talking about the Xinjiang riots to clarify that she and her organization were not responsible for the incident in Xinjiang.
In a video clip on Youtube, Kadeer was interviewed by the Qatar Al Jazeera. She held a blown-up photo of Chinese policemen standing in lines on the streets to illustrate how the Chinese army dealt with “the peaceful protesters in Urumqi”. “My people are surrounded by the Chinese army. how could they start an attack?” asked Kadeer.
However, the photo she used was found to be another photograph capturing a mass incident that happened in Shishou, Hubei Province in central China, which is thousands of kilometers away from Xinjiang. The photo was first published in Nanfang Weekly’s website on June 26 in a news story titled, Fight over the bodies in Shishou. In the video, when the Al Jazeera showed a clip of a Han Chinese girl being attacked on a street in Urumqi and asked how Kadeer felt about it, she said, “My people are protesting peacefully. Their actions are peaceful actions.”
The news of the fake photo spreads over China’s Internet quickly, and stirred indignation. A web user commented that Kadeer is “crazily ridiculous in faking the photos”, and the deed is “not only a joke to her ‘peaceful’ mask, but also a humiliation on the IQs of the international community”.
In a video clip on Youtube, Kadeer was interviewed by the Qatar Al Jazeera. She held a blown-up photo of Chinese policemen standing in lines on the streets to illustrate how the Chinese army dealt with “the peaceful protesters in Urumqi”. “My people are surrounded by the Chinese army. how could they start an attack?” asked Kadeer.
However, the photo she used was found to be another photograph capturing a mass incident that happened in Shishou, Hubei Province in central China, which is thousands of kilometers away from Xinjiang. The photo was first published in Nanfang Weekly’s website on June 26 in a news story titled, Fight over the bodies in Shishou. In the video, when the Al Jazeera showed a clip of a Han Chinese girl being attacked on a street in Urumqi and asked how Kadeer felt about it, she said, “My people are protesting peacefully. Their actions are peaceful actions.”
The news of the fake photo spreads over China’s Internet quickly, and stirred indignation. A web user commented that Kadeer is “crazily ridiculous in faking the photos”, and the deed is “not only a joke to her ‘peaceful’ mask, but also a humiliation on the IQs of the international community”.
Evidence shows Rebiya Kadeer behind Xinjiang riot: Chinese gov't
The separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer was behind the deadly July 5 Xinjiang riot, in which at least 156 people died and more than 1000 were injured, sources with the government said.
Evidence showed the riot was organized. It was instigated and masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress led by Kadeer, the sources said.
The Congress used the June 26 factory brawl between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in Guangdong Province, in which two Uygurs died, to create chaos.
On July 1, the Congress held a special meeting, plotting to instigate unrest by sending messages via the Internet, telephones and mobile phones.
On July 4, some people inside the country began to send out a flood of online posts encouraging people to go to the Renmin Square in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to protest on July 5 to support separatists abroad.
At 1:06 a.m. July 5, police in Urumqi were tipped off that some people were putting out illegal information calling for an illegal gathering at Renmin Square at 7 p.m. July 5.
According to recordings of calls, at 11 a.m. July 5, Kadeer said, as she called her younger brother in Urumqi, "A lot of things have happened, and we all know something might happen in Urumqi tomorrow night."
On July 6, Kadeer held an emergency meeting with some senior members of the Congress to make plans to further stir up both domestic and overseas demonstrations and to call for intervention from foreign governments and human rights institutions.
Their schemes were immediately materialized in the attack on China's consulate in Munich, Germany, on Monday morning and the violence done by over 150 separatists in front of China's embassy in the Netherlands that afternoon.
All these facts pointed to Kadeer, whose personal experience bore further evidence of her splitist connection.
Kadeer was elected in 2006 to be the chairwoman of the Congress, which was founded in Munich in 2004.
The Congress, an organization alleging to represent the ultimate interests of East Turkestan people, is wholly dedicated to masterminding secessionist activities in the name of human rights and democracy, the government said.
Born in Xinjiang in 1951, Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, made a fortune illegally from the 1980s on through tax evasion and fraud.
She was sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment in 2000 on charges of illegally disclosing state secrets, and was released on bail in 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.
She immediately got involved with overseas terrorists, separatists and extremists forces there, according to Wang Lequan, Communist Party chief of Xinjiang.
Kadeer once claimed the Congress would plot to sabotage activities marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China this year.
Touted as the "mother of Uygur people" by East Turkestan terrorists, Kadeer constantly visited Germany and other countries in northern Europe to build support.
"Kadeer's credentials got the recognition of overseas East Turkestan forces, and her experience is also an advantage to be capitalized on by Western anti-Chinese forces," said Ma Dazheng, director of the Xinjiang development research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Pan Guang, an expert in international affairs and director of the Shanghai International Studies Center, said, "The East Turkestan terrorist forces portray Kadeer as a figure comparable to the Dalai Lama to promote her international influence."
"Actually, they just want to follow the road of the Dalai Lama to put the so-called Xinjiang issue into the international spotlight," he said.
Evidence showed the riot was organized. It was instigated and masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress led by Kadeer, the sources said.
The Congress used the June 26 factory brawl between Uygur and Han ethnic workers in Guangdong Province, in which two Uygurs died, to create chaos.
On July 1, the Congress held a special meeting, plotting to instigate unrest by sending messages via the Internet, telephones and mobile phones.
On July 4, some people inside the country began to send out a flood of online posts encouraging people to go to the Renmin Square in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to protest on July 5 to support separatists abroad.
At 1:06 a.m. July 5, police in Urumqi were tipped off that some people were putting out illegal information calling for an illegal gathering at Renmin Square at 7 p.m. July 5.
According to recordings of calls, at 11 a.m. July 5, Kadeer said, as she called her younger brother in Urumqi, "A lot of things have happened, and we all know something might happen in Urumqi tomorrow night."
On July 6, Kadeer held an emergency meeting with some senior members of the Congress to make plans to further stir up both domestic and overseas demonstrations and to call for intervention from foreign governments and human rights institutions.
Their schemes were immediately materialized in the attack on China's consulate in Munich, Germany, on Monday morning and the violence done by over 150 separatists in front of China's embassy in the Netherlands that afternoon.
All these facts pointed to Kadeer, whose personal experience bore further evidence of her splitist connection.
Kadeer was elected in 2006 to be the chairwoman of the Congress, which was founded in Munich in 2004.
The Congress, an organization alleging to represent the ultimate interests of East Turkestan people, is wholly dedicated to masterminding secessionist activities in the name of human rights and democracy, the government said.
Born in Xinjiang in 1951, Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, made a fortune illegally from the 1980s on through tax evasion and fraud.
She was sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment in 2000 on charges of illegally disclosing state secrets, and was released on bail in 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.
She immediately got involved with overseas terrorists, separatists and extremists forces there, according to Wang Lequan, Communist Party chief of Xinjiang.
Kadeer once claimed the Congress would plot to sabotage activities marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China this year.
Touted as the "mother of Uygur people" by East Turkestan terrorists, Kadeer constantly visited Germany and other countries in northern Europe to build support.
"Kadeer's credentials got the recognition of overseas East Turkestan forces, and her experience is also an advantage to be capitalized on by Western anti-Chinese forces," said Ma Dazheng, director of the Xinjiang development research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Pan Guang, an expert in international affairs and director of the Shanghai International Studies Center, said, "The East Turkestan terrorist forces portray Kadeer as a figure comparable to the Dalai Lama to promote her international influence."
"Actually, they just want to follow the road of the Dalai Lama to put the so-called Xinjiang issue into the international spotlight," he said.
"Unintentional scream" triggered Xinjiang riot
The teenager at the center of allegations of sexual assault that sparked the deadly violence in western China's Xinjiang region Wednesday said the incident was nothing more than an "unintentional scream."
A brawl between Han and Uygur workers at a toy factory in the southern Guangdong Province on June 26 is said to have sparked Sunday's riot that left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured thousands of kilometers away in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.
But the people at the center of the conflict believed it was just a row between young men.
The brawl in Shaoguan City was said to have flared up over allegations of a "sexual assault on a Han girl by a Uygur worker" that left two people dead and more than 100 injured.
The "Han girl," a 19-year-old trainee who had worked at the factory less than two months, said she only found out hours later that she was the cause of the violence.
"I was lost and entered the wrong dormitory and screamed when I saw those Uygur young men in the room," said Huang Cuilian, originally from rural Guangdong.
Huang said she had no idea why exactly she was scared. "I just felt they were unfriendly so I turned and ran."
She remembered one of them stood up and stamped his feet as if he would chase her. "I later realized that he was just making fun of me."
She spent the night with a school teacher who accompanied her and her schoolmates to the job, not knowing her screams had stirred a fight between Han and Uygur workers.
Other ethnic Uygurs working at the factory say they will continue to work in Guangdong.
Atigul, 21, says she takes a manual, "900 Phrases of Commercial Chinese," wherever she goes and the bloodshed has not put her off working there.
"I'm ready to stay here for at least a year. After all, my folks back home need to work hard for a whole year to earn what I make in a month," Atigul said through an interpreter. Her monthly wage averages 1,400 yuan, almost equal the annual income she earned in her hometown.
Her co-worker, Yossef, 19, felt more comfortable because he spoke fluent Mandarin, but could not write. "I learned Mandarin at primary school."
Guangdong Province had hired about 800 workers from Xinjiang from May to fill its labor shortages, said Li Xiuying, an official in charge of ethnic and religious affairs in Guangdong.
"Most of them are Uygurs aged from 18 to 29 and are eager to learn. But their distinct lifestyles, culture and poor Mandarin isolate them to some extent from their Han colleagues," she said.
China's booming coastal region is attracting an increasing number of ethnic minorities from the the poor west. Guangdong alone is host to 1.5 million workers of ethnic minorities.
"The fight in the toy factory was just an isolated incident, but unfortunately, the separatists have made use of it to create chaos," said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government.
The rioting in Urumqi forced Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short his European trip and returned to Beijing Wednesday, skipping a G8 meeting with leaders from other developing countries that is expected to cover the economic crisis and climate change among other global issues.
A statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website said Hu's trip was cut short "in light of the current situation in Xinjiang".
This change of schedule was the first overt public response by the central leadership to the deadliest riot in six decades in the far western region that covers a sixth of China's territory and has a population of 21 million.
Xinjiang police said they had evidence that the separatist World Uygur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the riot.
"Those rioters by no means represented the Uygur people. They were incited by separatists from abroad and deviated from the spirit of the Koran," said Abdul Rehep, vice president of Xinjiang Islam Association.
About 60 percent of Xinjiang residents are "ethnic minorities," meaning Chinese nationals other than the most populous Han group. They represent 47 ethnic groups including the Uygur, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Kirgiz, Tajik, Ozbek, Manchu, Tatar and Russian.
The central government has been implementing a policy that offers many privileges to minorities. These include easier access to colleges and certain jobs and at least two children per family instead of one for Han families in urban areas.
A brawl between Han and Uygur workers at a toy factory in the southern Guangdong Province on June 26 is said to have sparked Sunday's riot that left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured thousands of kilometers away in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.
But the people at the center of the conflict believed it was just a row between young men.
The brawl in Shaoguan City was said to have flared up over allegations of a "sexual assault on a Han girl by a Uygur worker" that left two people dead and more than 100 injured.
The "Han girl," a 19-year-old trainee who had worked at the factory less than two months, said she only found out hours later that she was the cause of the violence.
"I was lost and entered the wrong dormitory and screamed when I saw those Uygur young men in the room," said Huang Cuilian, originally from rural Guangdong.
Huang said she had no idea why exactly she was scared. "I just felt they were unfriendly so I turned and ran."
She remembered one of them stood up and stamped his feet as if he would chase her. "I later realized that he was just making fun of me."
She spent the night with a school teacher who accompanied her and her schoolmates to the job, not knowing her screams had stirred a fight between Han and Uygur workers.
Other ethnic Uygurs working at the factory say they will continue to work in Guangdong.
Atigul, 21, says she takes a manual, "900 Phrases of Commercial Chinese," wherever she goes and the bloodshed has not put her off working there.
"I'm ready to stay here for at least a year. After all, my folks back home need to work hard for a whole year to earn what I make in a month," Atigul said through an interpreter. Her monthly wage averages 1,400 yuan, almost equal the annual income she earned in her hometown.
Her co-worker, Yossef, 19, felt more comfortable because he spoke fluent Mandarin, but could not write. "I learned Mandarin at primary school."
Guangdong Province had hired about 800 workers from Xinjiang from May to fill its labor shortages, said Li Xiuying, an official in charge of ethnic and religious affairs in Guangdong.
"Most of them are Uygurs aged from 18 to 29 and are eager to learn. But their distinct lifestyles, culture and poor Mandarin isolate them to some extent from their Han colleagues," she said.
China's booming coastal region is attracting an increasing number of ethnic minorities from the the poor west. Guangdong alone is host to 1.5 million workers of ethnic minorities.
"The fight in the toy factory was just an isolated incident, but unfortunately, the separatists have made use of it to create chaos," said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government.
The rioting in Urumqi forced Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short his European trip and returned to Beijing Wednesday, skipping a G8 meeting with leaders from other developing countries that is expected to cover the economic crisis and climate change among other global issues.
A statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website said Hu's trip was cut short "in light of the current situation in Xinjiang".
This change of schedule was the first overt public response by the central leadership to the deadliest riot in six decades in the far western region that covers a sixth of China's territory and has a population of 21 million.
Xinjiang police said they had evidence that the separatist World Uygur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the riot.
"Those rioters by no means represented the Uygur people. They were incited by separatists from abroad and deviated from the spirit of the Koran," said Abdul Rehep, vice president of Xinjiang Islam Association.
About 60 percent of Xinjiang residents are "ethnic minorities," meaning Chinese nationals other than the most populous Han group. They represent 47 ethnic groups including the Uygur, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Kirgiz, Tajik, Ozbek, Manchu, Tatar and Russian.
The central government has been implementing a policy that offers many privileges to minorities. These include easier access to colleges and certain jobs and at least two children per family instead of one for Han families in urban areas.
Anti-terror expert: World Uyghur Congress behind Xinjiang violence
Evidence showed that World Uyghur Congress had masterminded Sunday's deadly violence in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a Chinese counter-terrorism expert told Xinhua Tuesday.
"Judging from what Rebiya Kadeer,leader of the World Uyghur Congress, had said and done, it is fair to say the organization masterminded the incident," said Li Wei, director of the Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
"After the March 14 unrest in Tibet last year, Kadeer said in public that something similar should happen in Xinjiang. The riot in Urumqi bore some similarities with the March 14 incident."
Kadeer had been in close relations to the Dalai Lama, Li said, noting that the Xinjiang riot was regarded by experts as an "intentional imitation" of what happened in Lhasa.
"The riot was by no means incidental and spontaneous," he noted. "It was well organized as riots, targeting civilians, occurred at several locations at the same time."
Xinjiang police said Monday they had evidence that Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the Sunday riot, and had obtained recordings of calls between overseas Eastern Turkestan groups and their accomplices inside the country.
In the recorded calls, Kadeer said, "Something will happen in Urumqi." She also called her younger brother in Urumqi, saying, "We know a lot of things have happened," referring to the June 26 brawl involving workers from Xinjiang in a toy factory in Guangdong Province.
"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China," Li said. "The World Uyghur Congress has chosen this specific time to do damage."
"Judging from what Rebiya Kadeer,leader of the World Uyghur Congress, had said and done, it is fair to say the organization masterminded the incident," said Li Wei, director of the Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
"After the March 14 unrest in Tibet last year, Kadeer said in public that something similar should happen in Xinjiang. The riot in Urumqi bore some similarities with the March 14 incident."
Kadeer had been in close relations to the Dalai Lama, Li said, noting that the Xinjiang riot was regarded by experts as an "intentional imitation" of what happened in Lhasa.
"The riot was by no means incidental and spontaneous," he noted. "It was well organized as riots, targeting civilians, occurred at several locations at the same time."
Xinjiang police said Monday they had evidence that Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the Sunday riot, and had obtained recordings of calls between overseas Eastern Turkestan groups and their accomplices inside the country.
In the recorded calls, Kadeer said, "Something will happen in Urumqi." She also called her younger brother in Urumqi, saying, "We know a lot of things have happened," referring to the June 26 brawl involving workers from Xinjiang in a toy factory in Guangdong Province.
"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China," Li said. "The World Uyghur Congress has chosen this specific time to do damage."
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