Xinjiang: Joint letter at UN signed by 22 countries, but not U.S.
Reuters reports that “Nearly two dozen countries have called on China to halt its mass detention of ethnic Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, the first such joint move on the issue at the U.N. Human Rights Council”:
The unprecedented letter to the president of the forum, dated July 8, was signed by the ambassadors of 22 countries. Australia, Canada and Japan were among them, along with European countries including Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland, but not the United States which quit the forum a year ago.
It fell short of a formal statement being read out at the Council or a resolution submitted for a vote, as sought by activists. This was due to governments’ fears of a potential political and economic backlash from China, diplomats said.
Other Xinjiang-related reports today:
- Good and Bad Muslims in Xinjiang / Made in China Journal
Scholar David Brophy writes, and warns, “For those outside of China, a robust critique of China’s approach, and one that provides a blueprint for an effective response, must extend to the philosophical underpinningsthat its policies continue to share with the domestic War on Terror in the West. Failure to do so carries considerable risk.” - How China is crushing the Uighurs / The Economist via Youtube
An 8-minute report by The Economist. - A “Struggle of Life or Death”: Han and Uyghur Insecurities on China’s North-West Frontier / The China Quarterly
An academic paper by David Tobin which analyses “ethnocentric insecurity cycles” at play in government policy in Xinjiang since the Urumqi riots in 2009.
Image: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters
