Uigurs have no reason to celebrate: 50 years of Chinese rule have meant 50 years of repression and the destruction of their culture

In the light of the forthcoming celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Chinese rule over the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang on 1st October the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) has accused Peking of systematically destroying the traditional culture of the Uigurs in the province in the north-west of the country. "For the Muslim population of Xinjiang there is nothing to celebrate,” said the GfbV Asia expert Ulrich Delius on Friday in Göttingen, "for China’s policies mean the destruction of the Uigur culture. The burning of books by authors who are critical of the regime is only the tip of the iceberg. Of greater consequence is the intentional removal of the Uigur language from public life in favour of Chinese.” With the celebrations in mind Peking announced a few days ago a new wave of repression against Uigur critics of the regime.

"With the closing of the minority schools, the prohibition of Turk languages in lectures, seminars and other public meetings, the limits placed on teacher training in minority languages and with special limitations on admission, which affect above all the Uigur students, the culture of the Uigurs, which is thousands of years old, is being systematically destroyed” said Delius. Peking is disregarding the officially existing "autonomy” of Xinjiang, which by the Uigurs, who have been living there since time immemorial, the Kazakhs, the Kirgiz and other Turk peoples is still called "East Turkistan”. With its lack of respect for the traditional culture of East Turkistan Peking is stirring up the resistance of the Uigurs against its rule.

"A blossoming future” for the region was prophesied on Thursday by the chairperson of the Communist party of Xinjiang, Wang Lequan, declaring that the economic growth of the region would increase by 9.2 percent annually. But research by the GfbV shows that those who profit most from this economic growth are the immigrants of the Chinese majority population, who today already make up at least 40 percent of the official 19.6 million inhabitants of the Autonomous Region. Peking is systematically encouraging them to settle there. These Han Chinese already occupy the lions’ share of jobs in business, trade and administration. The high economic growth is one-sided since it is derived in great measure from the extraction of raw oil and natural gas. Peking’s main interest lies in securing its rule in Xinjiang in order to ensure that the industrial centres on the east coast are provided with raw materials.