The US with the support of some of its allies continues to escalate its onslaught against China by describing the latter’s repression of more than 1 million detained Muslim Uygurs in the Xinjiang autonomous region as “genocide” , adopting the same rhetoric as the Trump administration.
Many governments and countries around the world, also some in the West, but particularly in the developing world, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, are increasingly of the view that the US and its allies have adopted an ill-considered and unfair approach. Compelling questions are increasingly being posed to the US and its handful of allies by the developing world, which represents more than 70% of the world’s population compared to the 4% of the US. For example:
How can these serious allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity be made without backing them up with concrete and credible evidence? It is felt that such a malicious practice, accompanied by a shameless hypocrisy, should be beyond the standing and dignity of the US as a so-called “leading democracy”.The manipulation of facts by the US further adds to the declining role and credibility of the US globally.
Why do the US and others continue to ignore the fact that the Xinjiang-related issues in essence evolve around counterterrorism and de-radicalisation rather than about human rights? Also why the remarkable economic and social progress that China has achieved over the past few decades including in Xinjiang where the Uygur ethnic population continues to grow apace, is given short shrift by the Western media?
What prompted this sudden concern on the part of the US and some of its allies for the “well-being of Muslims” at this juncture, which led to a flurry of punitive measures and sanctions against the Xinjiang autonomous region? This not only constitutes an offence to the dignity of Chinese people but also a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs and a grave violation of China’s sovereignty and security interests.
Is this playing of the Uygur card by spreading preposterous fabrications about genocide not a deliberate attempt by the US to foment civil unrest in Xinjiang with the view to discredit and destabilise China, as was alluded to by former high ranking US intelligence officials over the last year or so?
On the question of concrete evidence of genocide and other human rights abuses, the US and others have thus far not produced one iota of credible proof. The sad irony is the fact that the US and others who pride themselves on being democratic, just and fair, have discarded all these hallowed principles by falling hook line and sinker for the lies and fabrications on Xinjiang emanating from a host of anti-China forces, including Christian extremist Adrian Zenz, a so-called “leading German expert” and his questionable crony institutions such as the right-wing, US government-backed group “Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation”. Zenz actually serves as a convenient tool for anti-China forces in a number of countries and in the process funds and manipulates Uyghur groups abroad. Furthermore, the bulk of reporting by the Western media on Xinjiang province originates from Zenz and his ilk, with their so-called “evidence” based partly on false “internal documents” and victim statements.
Fortunately, China’s many friends, particularly in the developing world, who uphold an objective and unbiased attitude, have spoken up to support China’s position and positive measures on Xinjiang-related matters. There is widespread understanding in many countries on the African continent for China’s position on Xinjiang.
At the recently concluded 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, more than 80 countries made joint or separate statements to express their solidarity with and support for China's legitimate position on Xinjiang-related issues. In fact, the influential Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, which consists of 57 countries, as well as the Gulf Co-operation Council commended the progress in China’s human rights cause and its counterterrorism and de-radicalisation efforts .
It should also be noted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has indicated recently that there was “no basis to proceed at this time” with an investigation into alleged claims of genocide against the Uygur ethnic group.
Also of interest is that there was a recent difference of opinion within the US State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor, given that the latter also concluded earlier this year that there was insufficient evidence to prove genocide charges, placing the US’s top diplomatic lawyers at cross purposes with both the Trump and Biden administrations.
As for what motivated the US and some of its allies to display this newfound concern about the rights of Muslims, there is an increasing global realisation that it is anchored in an outdated Cold War mentality which exposes the hegemonic idea of the US to pursue supremacy and deprive others of the right to development. Furthermore that human rights issues are being used as a pretext for interfering in China’s internal affairs and to impede China’s development. The worst irony is that this so-called concern for the human rights of Muslims in Xinjiang stems from a country that has been the most dominant and fervent proponent of bombing, sanctioning, torturing and displacing millions of Muslims in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iran and others in recent decades.
China’s many friends will continue to value its bilateral relations with China and step up its efforts to counter the destructive tactics of those seeking to undermine China's success by politicising and fabricating issues to advance their own agendas.
What, therefore, is of increasing importance to a growing number of countries in the international community, as far as developments in Xinjiang are concerned, is to separate the propaganda promoted by the US and its few allies from the true facts on the ground in the Xinjiang autonomous region, in the interest of justice and fairness. So to speak, to sift the truth about Xinjiang from the US propaganda chaff.
* Grobler is a former senior diplomat in the South African Department of International Relations and Co-operation and currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies at the Zhejiang Normal University.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.