13 Islamic parties' championing of the Uighurs of Xinjiang

Islamic parties' championing of the Uighurs of Xinjiang could make them =
"meat in the sandwich" between China and the Islamic bloc.

This development puts to rest Samuel Huntington's envisaged alliance bet=
wen China and Islam in his book The Clash of Civilizations.

(1) China demands Turkish PM retract his accusation of genocide against =
Uighurs
(2) Moslem insurgents threaten reprisals against Chinese engineers in Af=
rica for Uighur repression
(3) Uighur workers forcibly moved to coastal factories
(4) Beijing professor held for Urumqi blog: watchdog
(5) Chinese economist missing, apparently detained
(6) Chinese intellectuals call for release of Uighur

(1) China demands Turkish PM retract his accusation of genocide against =
Uighurs

From: =09Tata Soria <freeinformation.clearinghouse@gmail.com>  Date: =09=
15.07.2009 12:32 PM

China demands Turkish retraction

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8149379.stm

Page last updated at 14:45 GMT, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:45 UK

China has demanded that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan retr=
act his accusation that Beijing practised genocide against ethnic Uighur=
s.

Mr Erdogan made the comments after riots in the Muslim Uighur heartland =
of Xinjiang in which 184 people died. ...

China's rejection of Mr Erdogan's remarks came in an editorial headlined=
 "Don't twist facts" in the English-language newspaper China Daily.

It said the fact that 137 of the 184 victims of the 5 July unrest were H=
an Chinese "speaks volumes for the nature of the event".

The newspaper urged Mr Erdogan to "take back his remarks... which consti=
tute interference in China's internal affairs", describing his comments =
as "irresponsible and groundless".

Mr Erdogan made the controversial comments last Friday, telling NTV tele=
vision: "The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no =
point in interpreting this otherwise."

He called on Chinese authorities to intervene to prevent more deaths.

Turkey is secular but the population is predominantly Muslim and it shar=
es linguistic and religious links with the Uighurs.

(2) Moslem insurgents threaten reprisals against Chinese engineers in Af=
rica for Uighur repression

Al Qaeda vows revenge on China after riots

Jane Macartney in Beijing

July 14, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article6704812.ec=
e

Osama bin Laden=E2=80=99s Al-Qaeda network has taken up the cause of Chi=
na=E2=80=99s Muslim Uighur minority with a pledge to attack Chinese work=
ers in northwestern Africa in retaliation for mistreatment by Beijing of=
 its largest Muslim minority.=20

Al-Qaeda's Algerian-based offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQI=
M), has issued the call for vengeance, according to the South China Morn=
ing Post which quoted an intelligence report from London-based risk anal=
ysis firm Stirling Assynt.  ...

The report said: =E2=80=9CThe general situation of China's Muslims has r=
esonated amongst the global jihadist community. There is an increasing a=
mount of chatter ... among jihadists who claim they want to see action a=
gainst China. Some of these individuals have been actively seeking infor=
mation on China's interests in the Muslim world, which they could use fo=
r targeting purposes."=20

The report is based on information from people who have seen the instruc=
tion from AQIM, the agency said.=20

The assessment comes amid rising fears among Western counter-terrorism o=
fficials that AQIM turned a deadly new corner in recent weeks, with a st=
ring of fatal attacks on foreigners. Its numbers appeared to have been b=
uoyed by the return of its fighters from Iraqi battlefields, US official=
s have said.=20

Three weeks ago, AQIM attacked an Algerian security convoy protecting Ch=
inese engineers on a motorway project, killing 24 paramilitary police. W=
hile the Chinese were not injured and were not targeted, the assessment =
notes: "Future attacks of this kind are likely to target security forces=
 and Chinese engineers alike." ... =3D=3D

Al-Qaeda vows revenge on China over Uighur deaths

Al-Qaeda's North African wing has threatened to target Chinese workers i=
n Africa in revenge for the deaths of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, accord=
ing to a risk analysis company.
=20
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 5:35AM BST 14 Jul 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5822791/Al-Qaeda-vo=
ws-revenge-on-China-over-Uighur-deaths.html

The threat came in the wake of race riots in far West China which claime=
d the lives of at least 136 Han Chinese and 46 Uighurs.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it would target the 50,000 C=
hinese who are working in Algeria and launch attacks against other Chine=
se projects in Northern Africa, said Stirling Assynt, which is based in =
London.

"This threat should be taken seriously," it said, adding that three week=
s ago the group had ambushed a convoy of Algerian security forces who we=
re protecting Chinese engineers, killing 24 Algerians. "Future attacks o=
f this kind are likely to target security forces and Chinese engineers a=
like."

China has repeatedly linked Uighur separatist groups to Al-Qaeda, but th=
is is the first time that the terrorist network has made a direct threat=
 against China or its overseas projects.

Violence in Urumqi flared up again on Monday as Chinese police shot and =
killed two Uighur men armed with knives and sticks who were attacking an=
other Uighur man, according to an official statement.

Uighur activists have claimed the true number of Uighur casualties has b=
een understated by the Chinese government.

Stirling Assynt said that although AQIM was the first arm to target Chin=
a, "others are likely to follow". It said that it had monitored an incre=
ase in internet "chatter" among possible jihadists about the need to "av=
enge the perceived injustices in Xinjiang."

"Some of these individuals have been actively seeking information on Chi=
na's interests in the Muslim world which they could use for targeting pu=
rposes," Stirling Assynt said, adding that locations included North Afri=
ca, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen.

Two extremist web sites affiliated with Al-Qaeda noted that large number=
s of Chinese work in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. "Chop off their h=
eads at their workplaces or in their homes to tell them that the time of=
 enslaving Muslims has gone," read one posting.

However, the assessment does not link Uighur groups to Al-Qaeda and sugg=
ests it is unlikely that the Al-Qaeda leadership would stage attacks ins=
ide China.

Stirling Assynt was founded by Karl Barclay, the former head of global s=
ecurity for HSBC.=20

(3) Uighur workers forcibly moved to coastal factories

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/14/AR200907=
1403321.html

China Unrest Tied To Labor Program
Uighurs Sent to Work in Other Regions

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

URUMQI, China -- When the local government began recruiting young Muslim=
 Uighurs in this far western region for jobs at the Xuri Toy Factory in =
the country's booming coastal region, the response was mixed.

Some, lured by the eye-popping salaries and benefits, eagerly signed up.

But others, like Safyden's 21-year-old sister, were wary. She was uneasy=
, relatives said, about being so far from her family and living in a Han=
 Chinese-dominated environment so culturally, religiously and physically=
 different from what she was accustomed to. It wasn't until a local offi=
cial threatened to fine her family 2,000 yuan, or about $300, if she did=
n't go that she reluctantly packed her bags this spring for a job at the=
 factory in Shaoguan, 2,000 miles away in the heart of China's southern =
manufacturing belt.

The origins of last week's ethnically charged riots in Urumqi, the capit=
al of China's Xinjiang region, can be traced to a labor export program t=
hat led to the sudden integration of the Xuri Toy Factory and other comp=
anies in cities throughout China.

Uighur protesters who marched into Urumqi's main bazaar on July 5 were d=
emanding a full investigation into a brawl at the toy factory between Ha=
n and Uighur workers that left two Uighurs dead. The protest, for reason=
s that still aren't clear, spun out of control. Through the night, Uighu=
r demonstrators clashed with police and Han Chinese bystanders, leaving =
184 people dead and more than 1,680 injured in one of the bloodiest clas=
hes in the country's modern history. Two Uighurs were shot dead by polic=
e Monday, and tensions remain palpable.

"I really worry about her very much," Safyden, 29, said of his sister, w=
hom he did not want named because he fears for her safety. "The governme=
nt should send them back. What if new conflicts happen between Uighurs a=
nd Han=3F The Uighurs will be beaten to death."

Both Han Chinese, who make up more than 90 percent of the country's popu=
lation and dominate China's politics and economy, and Uighurs, a Turkic-=
speaking minority living primarily in China's far west, say anger has be=
en simmering for decades.

By moving Uighur workers to factories outside Xinjiang and placing Han-r=
un factories in Xinjiang, Chinese officials say, authorities are trying =
to elevate the economic status of Uighurs whose wages have lagged behind=
 the nationwide average. But some Han Chinese have come to resent these =
policies, which they call favoritism, and some Uighurs complain that the=
 assimilation efforts go too far. Uighurs say that their language is bei=
ng phased out of schools, that in some circumstances they cannot sport b=
eards, wear head scarves or fast as dictated by Islamic tradition, and t=
hat they are discriminated against for private and government jobs.

Xinjiang's labor export program, which began in 2002 and has since sent =
tens of thousands of Uighurs from poor villages to wealthier cities, was=
 supposed to bring the two groups together so they could better interact=
 with and understand each other. The Uighur workers are lured with salar=
ies two or three times what they could earn in their home towns picking =
cotton, as well as benefits such as training on manufacturing equipment,=
 Mandarin language classes and free medical checkups.

Several Uighur workers said that they have prospered under the program a=
nd that they were treated well by their Han bosses and co-workers. Other=
s, however, alleged that the program had become coercive.

In the villages around the city of Kashgar, where many of the workers fr=
om the Xuri factory originated, residents said each family was forced to=
 send at least one child to the program -- or pay a hefty fine.

"Since people are poor in my home town, they cannot afford such big mone=
y. So they have to send their children out," said Merzada, a 20-year-old=
 who just graduated from high school, and who, like all the Uighurs inte=
rviewed, spoke on the condition that a surname not be used.

(4) Beijing professor held for Urumqi blog: watchdog

July 10, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jS1MF3UjWasnDWeCkublC=
ndlFSFg

BEIJING (AFP) =E2=80=94 Chinese authorities arrested a university econom=
ics professor in Beijing after he posted reports about the riots in Xinj=
iang on his website, an international media watchdog said.

Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uighur, was arrested after Xinjiang authorities n=
amed his blog "Uighur Online" on national television, calling it an outl=
et used to organise Sunday's protests in Urumqi, Reporters Without Borde=
rs said.

"The crackdown is not limited to Xinjiang," the media rights group said =
in a statement. "The authorities have arrested an independent writer who=
 was just posting reports on his blog."

The Public Security Bureau would not confirm the arrest when contacted b=
y AFP. Officials at Minzu University of China in Beijing, where he teach=
es, were not immediately available for comment.

Authorities had previously pressured Tohti to stop posting blogs in Marc=
h and June, the statement said.

The Public Security Bureau warned him last month his postings exploring =
relations between ethnic Han Chinese and Uighurs, the ethnic majority in=
 the Xinjiang region, violated the law, the statement said.

"Under the laws in force in China, certain subjects of conversation cann=
ot be tolerated," the statement said, quoting a notice Tohti received.

Tohti's Chinese-language website, www.uighurbiz.net, was inaccessible in=
 China on Thursday afternoon, joining Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a r=
ange of sites that were blocked after providing independent updates on t=
he riots.

Chinese authorities say at least 156 people were killed in riots followi=
ng a protest in Urumqi Sunday. Sporadic violence continued in the city t=
hrough Wednesday.

Copyright =C2=A9 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

(5) Chinese economist missing, apparently detained
By ALEXA OLESEN=20

July 10, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFBUw2BkdzlVzXSbSY26HG=
ChVcegD99AT7U80

BEIJING (AP) =E2=80=94 An outspoken economist who championed rights for =
fellow Uighurs in his native Xinjiang has disappeared, presumably detain=
ed by police who questioned him after deadly ethnic violence in China's =
restive far west.

A friend said Thursday that Ilham Tohti called him early Wednesday and t=
old him he received formal notice that he would be detained. The friend,=
 Huang Zhangjin, said efforts to reach Tohti since have failed.

Tohti's disappearance comes just days after Xinjiang's Beijing-installed=
 governor accused a Web site founded by the 39-year-old professor of sti=
rring up hostilities that led to the bloody riot Sunday in Urumqi, Xinji=
ang's capital. At least 156 people were killed and more than 1,000 injur=
ed.

The economics department at Central Nationalities University in Beijing,=
 where Tohti worked, could not confirm his whereabouts. Beijing police d=
id not immediately respond to a faxed request for confirmation, and a Ch=
inese Foreign Ministry spokesman said he was not familiar with the case.

The Associated Press reached Tohti by telephone Monday and Tuesday, but =
he declined comment because he was being questioned by officials, he sai=
d.

"I've got the formal notice, and this is probably the last time you will=
 hear my voice on the telephone,'" Huang quoted his friend as saying jus=
t after midnight Wednesday. He added that the allegations against him we=
re false, Huang said.

"I didn't incite violence," Tohti told Huang. "Violence is not good for =
any ethnic group."

In a televised speech Monday, Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri said an exiled=
 Uighur activist in the United States had called people in China to stir=
 up the violence that erupted Sunday and that Uighurbiz and another popu=
lar Web site, Diyarim.com, "were used to orchestrate the incitement and =
spread propaganda." All have denied the allegation.

Widely considered a moderate voice, Tohti had praised China's policies f=
or Xinjiang. His Web site, http://www.uighurbiz.net, became a lively for=
um for many controversial issues about Chinese rule in Xinjiang.

Dru Gladney, an expert on Uighurs at the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomo=
na College in California, said he never met Tohti, but based on his onli=
ne essays and press interviews he appears to be "very well educated, ver=
y articulate, very thoughtful, certainly not inspired by radical Islam."

He's "someone who really just wanted greater autonomy and social justice=
 for his people," Gladney said.

In recent months, Tohti had became more outspoken about the problems Uig=
hurs were facing and what he called the region's failure to implement ce=
ntral government policies effectively.

While on an academic visit to France in February, Tohti told a French ra=
dio station that Uighur detainees about to be freed from the Guantanamo =
Bay detention center in Cuba should not return to China because they wou=
ld likely face harsh punishment despite being cleared of wrongdoing by U=
.S. officials.

He told U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia in May that "Xinjiang's situation is=
 the worst of the worst =E2=80=94 compared with other regions of China."

During a separate interview with Radio Free Asia in March, Tohti said Be=
kri, the Xinjiang governor, was not qualified for his post and added: "H=
e doesn't care about Uighurs."

Hailaite Niyaze, a journalist based in Urumqi and regular contributor to=
 Uighurbiz, said that he believes Tohti "crossed the line" with his comm=
ents on Bekri.

"When he voiced this opinion ... I told him to stop and not to talk abou=
t it anymore," Niyaze said. "But he wouldn't listen."

Copyright =C2=A9 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.=20

(6) Chinese intellectuals call for release of Uighur

July 14, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFBUw2BkdzlVzXSbSY26HG=
ChVcegD99E0UFO0

BEIJING (AP) =E2=80=94 More than 100 Chinese writers and intellectuals h=
ave signed a letter calling for the release of Ilham Tohti, an outspoken=
 Uighur economist who disappeared from his Beijing home last week and ha=
s apparently been detained.

Tohti had in recent months sharpened his critique of problems in China's=
 far west region of Xinjiang, where ethnic violence in the capital Urumq=
i earlier this month left 184 dead and 1,680 wounded.

"Professor Ilham Tohti is a Uighur intellectual who devoted himself to f=
riendship between ethnic groups and eradicating conflicts between them. =
He should not be taken as a criminal," said the letter, which demanded i=
nformation about his case and was posted online Monday.

"If they've started legal proceedings toward Ilham Tohti, they must gain=
 trust from the people through transparency, and especially gain trust f=
rom the Uighur people," the letter said.

The letter said the Web site that Tohti founded, Uighurbiz.cn, a Chinese=
-language Web site that became a lively forum about Uighur life and view=
s, was an important site for dialogue between Han Chinese and Uighurs.

The letter was signed by Chinese authors, including Wang Lixiong, a Chin=
ese democracy activist, and posted on the international version of the b=
logging Web portal Bullog, at bullogger.com.

"The signing is continuing and it is gathering more signatures," said Wo=
eser, a Beijing-based Tibetan writer and blogger who signed the letter.

It urged the Chinese government to reflect on its whether its own mistak=
es caused the unrest in Xinjiang and the anti-government riots last year=
 Lhasa and other Tibetan communities.

Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri in a televised speech July 6 accused Tohti's=
 Web site and another popular one of helping "to orchestrate the incitem=
ent and spread propaganda," a day after Sunday's peaceful protest by Uig=
hurs dissolved into a riot.

Tohti, 39, disappeared from his Beijing home last week, but called a fri=
end just after midnight Wednesday to say he would be detained.

A spokesman for the Beijing Public Security Bureau said he did not have =
any information on the case.

Tohti's academic work had begun to focus on how Chinese policies that en=
courage Han Chinese to move into=20

Copyright =C2=A9 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.=20