If the Taiwan authorities grant a visa to Kadeer, they are likely to infuriate Beijing, which says she is a “criminal” who masterminded ethnic violence in her home region of Xinjiang in northwest China in July.

“Kadeer expressed her thanks for the invitation and said she will certainly visit Taiwan,” said Marie Lin of the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps following a telephone discussion with Kadeer on Tuesday.

“She is a very warm and gentle woman. We hope the Taiwanese people can see for themselves how Beijing attacks its dissidents with lies,” she told AFP.

Guts United Taiwan, another pro-independence group which joined the corps in inviting Kadeer, said Wednesday its leader, Freddy Lin, was now in Washington.

Lin, also the lead vocalist of Taiwanese black metal band “Chthonic,” was expected to meet the Uighur leader there later Wednesday local time to finalise the trip, according to Guts United Taiwan.

“Rebiya Kadeer hopes to be able to carry out face-to-face exchanges with various groups in Taiwan at an appropriate time,” said Dilxat Raxit, a Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, which Kadeer heads.

When asked if now was an appropriate time, he said this depended on Taiwan’s ability to carry out “flexible and active diplomacy”.

The invitation puts Taiwan’s government — voted to power last year on a promise to improve ties with China — in a no-win situation, according to analysts.

China will be infuriated if Kadeer is granted a visa, while pro-independence groups at home and rights groups abroad will be angered if she is not.

“This is a decision-making dilemma for the government as whatever it does there will be criticism,” said George Tsai, a political scientist at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

“If Taipei again steps on Beijing’s red line by granting Kadeer a visa, Beijing is likely to use its stick now rather than carrots.”

He said China could punish Taiwan by not signing a trade pact or financial cooperation agreement or by vetoing a Taiwanese plan to join specialised United Nations agencies.

Premier Wu Den-yih would not say Tuesday if the government would permit the visit, but said a decision would be announced by the end of the week.

China is already simmering over the screening this week in Taiwan’s second-largest city Kaohsiung of a biopic about Kadeer, triggering a wave of cancelled hotel reservations by Chinese tour groups.

“The Kaohsiung city government insists on screening the film to defend the freedom of speech,” said Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

“This is not a reckless political move but a demonstration of social values in Taiwan,” she said in a statement.

Screening of the film was moved from a film library to a cinema on Wednesday due to the large crowd hoping to see it.

Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin was quoted by the state-run Central News Agency as saying he would support and welcome the screening of Kadeer’s film in the capital city.

Kadeer, who has lived in exile in the Washington area since being freed from a Chinese prison in 2005, denies orchestrating the July violence. About 200 people died when Uighurs and Han Chinese clashed.

The Kadeer film and a recent visit by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama to Taiwan have strained cross-strait ties, which have otherwise improved markedly since President Ma Ying-jeou came to power here in 2008.

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In recent days renewed violence has flared again in the regional capital Urumchi.

MEPs in the outgoing Parliament debated the rioting in July and Monday’s hearing was a follow up meeting.

Ms Kadeer denounced the Chinese version of events of the riots in and around Urumchi in July. She said that Beijing’s line that it was Uyghur “plotters” who went on an orgy of plunder was, “as is so often the case with Chinese reporting” – simply untrue.

“Demonization of Uyghurs protestors”

The Uyghur leader – who has twice been nominated for the Nobel peace prize – told MEPs: “The Chinese government, through its proxies in the official media, is obscuring the truth in order to conceal a mass killing of Uyghurs by Chinese security forces. Furthermore, through its demonization of Uyghurs protestors in the official media, it is attempting to justify the impending mass executions of Uyghurs as promised by Chinese officials.”

Ms Kadeer condemned the use of violence of both sides. “I feel pained by the loss of so many lives, Han Chinese and Uyghur, and condemn the violence which took place in Urumchi.”

She went on to explain: “The real context for the unrest is six decades of repressive policies by a Chinese Communist administration which has long sought to dilute Uyghur (Turkic ethnic Muslim minority) identity”.

Parallels with Tibet

Drawing parallels between the plight of the Uyghurs (what she termed “cultural genocide policy”) and Tibetans, the 62-year-old Uyghur leader and businesswoman said: “It is time for the Chinese government to sit and talk with me, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all those leaders of non-Han Chinese communities who have been vilified, imprisoned and slandered just because we happen to disagree with a bankrupt official policy”.

Concluding, Ms Kadeer demanded the EU put pressure on the Chinese authorities in order to allow an independent and true investigation that will state the correct figures regarding the number of arrested, detained and killed persons.

She stressed the need for a peaceful path, hoping that the Chinese government would under pressure from international, European and Islamic world respect the rights of her people.

Ms Kadeer’s call for an independent inquiry of the July events was supported by committee members, including Chairwoman Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland), who believed “there’s a case for an independent international investigation”. Speaking later at a press conference with the Uyghur leader, Hautala confirmed that China and human rights will be an issue that remains high on the EP agenda.

www.europarl.europa.eu

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Presuming this is widespread and despite recent media attention, it probably still deserves to be briefly reiterated that, after struggles for independence and two short-lived attempts at forming small republics within the region in the first half of last century, Xinjiang was brought under the control of the CCP when the PLA entered in 1949, an event that many consider to be an invasion and was anything but peaceful or without bloodshed. The exploitation of the region’s resources, which include significant oil and natural gas reserves, began soon after annexation. It was in 1955 that Xinjiang became a so-called Autonomous Region; however, as with all such regions in China—including Inner Mongolia, which was established after a land grab in the mid 19th century—despite the conditions of autonomy being written into law, it has received less than what it legally deserves, with serious consequences.

It is now more widely known that the people of Xinjiang have suffered many parallel hardships to those of the Tibetans as a direct result of the contempt demonstrated by the Chinese regime’s policies and the negative views that it persistently perpetuates, all of which serve only to exacerbate tensions. Moreover, if you were to go to the eastern areas of China, you would find migrants from Xinjiang trying to survive in harsh conditions, gaining a reputation as untrustworthy, petty criminals in the process, and suffering callous discrimination by many of the Han majority who show little interest in understanding the stereotypes being employed and the causes of the Xinjiang people’s predicament.

Unfortunately for Xinjiang, Tibet has several advantages in its favor. As far as religions are concerned, for an international audience, Tibetan Buddhism has many attractive, colorful and exotic elements that can be readily found appealing, such as the story of the search for the Dalai Lama and the beliefs surrounding his status, which provides a compelling narrative, even without sharing Buddhist beliefs; whereas, the Uyghurs have the misfortune of being Islamic, with all that historically and currently entails. Although Rebiya Kadeer has stated an interest in becoming something like the Dalai Lama, due to the significant cultural and religious differences between the two autonomous regions, it will be an uphill battle for her to elevate the issues of Xinjiang to anywhere near the same level of international recognition as those of Tibet.

Furthermore, given China’s record, we shouldn’t delude ourselves about what can be achieved inside China by political campaigning and attempting to increase issue awareness internationally; the Chinese authorities have just about proven since 1949 that they will do what they want regardless of the opinion of the wider international community. Indeed, the way the CCP treats its political targets can be likened to a prisoner wearing a straight jacket: if they don’t like wearing it, and they struggle, it’ll just be pulled tighter. If Rebiya Kadeer does end up following the path of the Dalai Lama, perhaps we’re in for little more than a series of international promotional tours and cycles of media attention that span decades with very little to no real progress being made inside China’s boarders, unless, of course, substantive change somehow occurs in Beijing.

Robert Burns is an Australian based commentator with an interest in international issues.

www.theepochtimes.com

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HONG KONG and WASHINGTON—The family home of prominent Uyghur exile leader Rebiya Kadeer in northwestern China has been slated for demolition and her family has been served with an eviction notice, according to residents.

Two businessmen, members of China’s mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, said officials in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) plan to raze the Akida Trade Center, the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center, and a third smaller building.

The three buildings, located in the regional capital Urumqi, were formerly fully owned by the Kadeer family and are now managed by government authorities. The exiled Rebiya Kadeer currently lives in Washington.

One Uyghur businessman from Gulja (in Chinese, Yining), capital of the Ili Kazakh Prefecture, traveling in Kazakhstan said Urumqi authorities also gave notice of eviction to Uyghur merchants who owned stores in the building.

“Now, Uyghur merchants are forced to rent stores in other buildings owned by Han Chinese. The new buildings offered by the government are more expensive then Rebiya’s buildings, and the buildings are located in an area populated by Han Chinese,” he said.

The businessman said Uyghur merchants are either unable or unwilling to rent space in those areas because of higher tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese after violent riots erupted in Urumqi on July 5.

“It is difficult for Rebiya Kadeer’s relatives to find a place to rent in the current situation because Han Chinese hate them and Uyghurs are scared of [renting to] them,” he said.

Ahmetjan, a Uyghur merchant from Atush city in the far West of the remote Tarim Basin, said he had heard that merchants in Kadeer’s buildings were scrambling to prepare for the eviction.

“My uncle had to travel to Urumqi from Atush to find a new location for his business. He had a wholesale store in one of Rebiya’s buildings,” he said in a phone call from Kyrgyzstan, where he was traveling on business.

Thriving business community

Rebiya Kadeer speaking at the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center, Dec. 15, 1997. Courtesy of the Kadeer family

The Akida Trade Center, which comprises 15 floors and 20,000 square meters of living space, also serves as a residence for Kadeer’s relatives, who draw an income by running a restaurant on the building’s first floor.

A total of 37 family members, including Kadeer’s sister, brothers, and grandchildren, live in the building.

The Kadeer Trade Center has served as the main wholesale center in the XUAR since it was established by Kadeer in 1990.

Several thousand Uyghur merchants have set up shop in both the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center and the Akida Trade Center.

Both buildings are to be demolished for the construction of a public park, according to the eviction notice.

Local authorities were unavailable for comment.

‘Act of revenge’

Rebiya Kadeer condemned the move by Urumqi authorities as an “act of revenge against me and against Uyghurs over July 5.”

The official Chinese media has branded Kadeer the “mastermind” behind the ethnic riots and regularly accuses her of sponsoring separatist terrorism in the region.

She also voiced concern for her family members, who she said would face difficulty in finding a new source of income and place to live because they have been blacklisted by the government.

“I cannot believe this kind of retaliation—punishing the family members of a political dissident—can still occur in the 21st century. I had thought it was the last act of retaliation when the authorities forced my family to speak out against me on state-owned TV,” Kadeer said.

On Aug. 4, state-controlled television broadcast interviews with Kadeer’s son Kahar, daughter Rushangul and imprisoned son Alim, as well as with Kadeer’s younger brother Mehmet.

Kadeer maintains that her children and brother were compelled to make false accusations about her alleged role in the July 5 unrest.

The day before the interviews aired on television, official news media published a letter that accused Kadeer of having broken her promises not to participate in “ethnic splittism” when she left China.

The letter was signed by her children, their spouses, and five of her grandchildren.

Following her release from prison in 2005, and before her exile to the U.S., Chinese officials warned Kadeer against speaking out on behalf of Uyghurs in China, saying that if she continued to do so her children and businesses would be targeted.

When she later engaged in human rights advocacy in the United States, Chinese officials shut down her businesses and harassed her family members.

Following Kadeer’s election as president of the Uyghur American Association and the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, her sons Alim and Ablikim were detained and imprisoned for seven and nine years respectively.

“The Chinese will do whatever they can to stop my activities. Making my family homeless is probably just one of the measures they have planned,” she said.

Uyghur buildings razed

Kadeer said the buildings are two of the few remaining in Urumqi that were designed in Uyghur-style architecture.

Buildings with Chinese architecture have taken over the city in recent years.

“The authorities don’t want to see Uyghur-style buildings in the [Xinjiang] capital, and they don’t want to see my name anywhere in the city,” Kadeer said.

Officials began demolishing Uyghur-style buildings in the ancient city of Kashgar, in southwestern Xinjiang, a few months before the July 5 incident in Urumqi.

“They can erase my name from the building by demolishing it, but they cannot erase it from the hearts of my people,” she said.

Kadeer, 60, was a self-made millionaire in China and a favorite of the authorities until she spoke out about Beijing’s heavy-handed treatment of her people, who frequently complain of harassment and discrimination and suffer high unemployment.

She later spent six years in prison for opposing the government and was released into U.S. exile in 2005.

Since the Urumqi unrest, the Chinese government has harshly criticized the governments of Japan and Australia for granting Kadeer visas to travel to their countries on unofficial visits.

It has also attempted to prevent an independent Australian film festival from screening a documentary about Kadeer’s life.

source: www.rfa.org

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The Prime Minister defended the granting of a visa to Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, a decision Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has conceded had angered China.

“The Government I lead is one where Australia makes decisions on who it issues visas to or not,” Mr Rudd said today.

The strongly worded statement of sovereignty comes during a difficult period in the Sino-Australian relationship, starting with the arrest of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu.

The Australian reported this morning that Beijing had snubbed Resources Minister Martin Ferguson while he was in China this week to sign a $50 billion gas deal.

Ambassador Geoff Raby’s failure to arrange top-level meetings for Mr Ferguson is understood to have been a reason he was recalled to Canberra for urgent talks.

Yesterday, Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the Government had failed to work constructively with China regarding the visit of Ms Kadeer.

“The Liberal Party is now saying that when it comes to Australia’s visa policy that we’ve got to get a permit slip from another country,” Mr Rudd said.

He said Australia’s relationship with China was challenging, and would be for some time, accusing the Opposition of using the Kadeer issue and Mr Hu’s arrest to play domestic politics.

“What we’ve seen instead from the alternative government of Australia is a determination to play domestic politics with this relationship on this and so many other aspects of it,” Mr Rudd said.

source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

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The Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer has accused the Chinese government of “psychologically torturing” her children, who have written open letters criticizing their mother, and even appeared on national television to accuse her of having instigated Uyghur’s revolt in Urumqi last July.

Speaking with journalists, the Uyghur leader said her daughter Roxingul and her son Alim were forced to accuse her, and bend to the will of Beijing: “The method being used by the Chinese government is perhaps the worst kind of violence against my children! to force them to speak against me … I think that this is a form of dictatorship imposed on them”.

Two days ago, in the early evening the children and the brother of Kadeer appeared on national television news. “The road my mother has chosen leads to a bottomless hole,” said her son Alim, 33, in prison for tax evasion. “With such a strong nation [China], she will fail in her project of separatism.”

A day before the Chinese media gave extensive space to an open letter by her children as they repeated the same accusations that Beijing has laid against Kadeer: of being the cause of the Uyghur revolt in Urumqi and wanting to divide the nation.

The revolts began on July 5, then degenerated into ethnic clashes between Muslim Uyghurs and Chinese Han, which led to the deaths of at least 197 people. China has detained thousands of Uyghurs, but according to Kadeer “in one night” at least 10 thousand people went missing.

“It’s hard for me to imagine what kind of psychological torture they are going through right now,” said the Uyghur leader. “When I was in prison, I was also forced by the Chinese government to say things against my will, in a video posted on a website.”

62 year old Rebiya Kadeer, once a successful businesswoman and member of the Party, fell into disgrace when she began to seek more rights and autonomy for the Uyghur criticizing the government’s policy of colonization. For this she was imprisoned for 5 years. Released in 2005 thanks to international pressure, she now lives in exile in the United States and is a member of the World Uygur Congress.

After a visit to Japan, she has recently arrived in Melbourne to attend the International Film Festival, where a documentary about her life will be shown for the first time.

China initially tried to remove the film from the program, then, faced with a no from organizers, withdrew all Chinese films. In the preceding weeks Beijing also criticized Japan for having given an entry visa to Kadeer and reproached Turkey for having defended the Uyghurs. “China – said the Uyghur leaders – has also put pressure on the United States to curb my activities. I think that because of me, the Chinese government is trying in practice to impose its authoritarianism throughout the world. ”

source: www.speroforum.com

STICHTING  OEIGOEREN NEDERLAND

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