Muslim children forced to drop 'religious' names in western China
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Salaam
Another update.
Mesut Ozil challenges Arsenal to say ‘Muslim Lives Matter’
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has criticised the London club’s response to his comments about the persecution of Uyghur Muslims and has called on the Gunners to say “Muslim Lives Matter.”
In an interview with The Athletic, Ozil said Arsenal were happy to get involved in political matters by supporting the Black Lives Matters movement.
He said: “I have given a lot to Arsenal, on and off the pitch, so the reaction was disappointing. They said they don’t get involved in politics but this isn’t politics and they have got involved in other issues.”
Ozil also wants Arsenal to show support for “Muslim Lives Matter” as well as “Black Lives Matter.”
He said: “In America, we saw George Floyd killed and the world spoke up to say Black Lives Matter, and that is correct. We are all equal and it’s a good thing that people fight against injustice. There are a lot of black players and fans of Arsenal and it’s fantastic the club is backing them.
“But I wish people would have done the same for the Muslims because Arsenal have many Muslim players and fans as well, and it is important for the world to say that Muslim Lives Matter.”
In December 2019, Ozil spoke out strongly against China’s treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, where over a million people have reportedly been held in detention camps over recent years.
Ozil’s Instagram message read: “East Turkistan, the bleeding wound of the Ummah, resisting against the persecutors trying to separate them from their religion.
“They burn their Qurans. They shut down their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. The men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. The women are forced to marry Chinese men.
“But Muslims are silent. They won’t make a noise. They have abandoned them. Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself?”
But Arsenal moved to distance themselves from his comments and sought to limit any damage to their business in China, a move Ozil today told The Athletic he was not happy with.
A statement released by the club at the time on Chinese social media site Weibo said: “Regarding the comments made by Mesut Ozil on social media, Arsenal must make a clear statement.
“The content published is Ozil’s personal opinion. As a football club, Arsenal has always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics.”
https://5pillarsuk.com/2020/08/13/mesut-ozil-challenges-arsenal-to-say-muslim-lives-matter/
Another update.
Mesut Ozil challenges Arsenal to say ‘Muslim Lives Matter’
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has criticised the London club’s response to his comments about the persecution of Uyghur Muslims and has called on the Gunners to say “Muslim Lives Matter.”
In an interview with The Athletic, Ozil said Arsenal were happy to get involved in political matters by supporting the Black Lives Matters movement.
He said: “I have given a lot to Arsenal, on and off the pitch, so the reaction was disappointing. They said they don’t get involved in politics but this isn’t politics and they have got involved in other issues.”
Ozil also wants Arsenal to show support for “Muslim Lives Matter” as well as “Black Lives Matter.”
He said: “In America, we saw George Floyd killed and the world spoke up to say Black Lives Matter, and that is correct. We are all equal and it’s a good thing that people fight against injustice. There are a lot of black players and fans of Arsenal and it’s fantastic the club is backing them.
“But I wish people would have done the same for the Muslims because Arsenal have many Muslim players and fans as well, and it is important for the world to say that Muslim Lives Matter.”
In December 2019, Ozil spoke out strongly against China’s treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, where over a million people have reportedly been held in detention camps over recent years.
Ozil’s Instagram message read: “East Turkistan, the bleeding wound of the Ummah, resisting against the persecutors trying to separate them from their religion.
“They burn their Qurans. They shut down their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. The men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. The women are forced to marry Chinese men.
“But Muslims are silent. They won’t make a noise. They have abandoned them. Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself?”
But Arsenal moved to distance themselves from his comments and sought to limit any damage to their business in China, a move Ozil today told The Athletic he was not happy with.
A statement released by the club at the time on Chinese social media site Weibo said: “Regarding the comments made by Mesut Ozil on social media, Arsenal must make a clear statement.
“The content published is Ozil’s personal opinion. As a football club, Arsenal has always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics.”
https://5pillarsuk.com/2020/08/13/mesut-ozil-challenges-arsenal-to-say-muslim-lives-matter/
Salaam
Another update.
'Sold out': Uighurs fear deportation as China ratifies extradition treaty with Turkey
Uighur activists urge Turkish government not to abide by agreement that could put tens of thousands at risk of being detained in internment camps
Beijing has ratified an extradition treaty with Turkey that Uighurs fear could pave the way for tens of thousands to be deported and imprisoned in internment camps that rights group say constitute a “cultural genocide”.
The treaty, first signed during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Beijing in 2017, was ratified last weekend at the Chinese National People’s Congress, with state media saying it would be used for counter-terrorism purposes.
Turkey is yet to ratify the treaty, and as such no extraditions are expected any time soon. However Uighurs are now calling on the Turkish government and lawmakers to stop the agreement from going through.
Uighurs, a Muslim-majority Turkic minority, have sought refuge in Turkey since 1952, when the Turkish government offered asylum to those fleeing the Xinjiang region (also known as East Turkestan) as a fledgling communist China cemented its hold.
Today, however, Turkey’s estimated 50,000 Uighur refugees now find themselves living on the edge, as China escalates the persecution of their kin back home and targets the community abroad.
Warming relations and allegations of collusion between Ankara and Beijing have only compounded fears that Uighurs could be deported to join the estimated one million detained in camps.
Earlier this week, an investigation by BuzzFeed News revealed a vast sprawl of factory facilities built across the western region of Xinjiang, underscoring allegations of forced labour and mass incarceration.
China denies the allegations, and says it seeks to lift Xinjiang's people out of poverty and increase seucrity through its policies.
'Big mistake'
Abduweli Ayup, a Uighur activist in Turkey, told Middle East Eye the treaty was “not surprising” because of alleged Turkish cooperation in deporting Uighur dissidents to China, sometimes via a third country.
Among them is a 59-year-old mother of two, whom activists fear was deported from Turkey to Tajikistan in June, before being taken to neighbouring Xinjiang. Ankara denies the claims.
Ayup suggests that should Ankara ratify the treaty, extraditions will be carried out in secret and not en masse. “I don’t believe that the Turkish government will send Uighurs to China openly, not like what happened in Egypt,” he said, referring to the mass arrests of Uighur students in Cairo in 2017, thought to be at the behest of Beijing.
However, he says that the public nature of the extradition accord could turn the spotlight on China’s hitherto covert campaign to force Uighurs to return home for political and religious screening.
“The extraditions were taking place underground before, and the Chinese government didn’t mention them openly. Now they’ve put it on the table, it can draw international attention,” said Ayup, who added that Turkish campaigners are now taking up the issue.
“China has made a big mistake,” he said.
Provisions in the treaty that have raised the alarm include a clause that “it shall not matter whether the laws of both parties place the offence within the same category or describe the offence by the same terminology”.
Rights groups say this could allow the parties to request the extradition of its citizens charged for offences that are interpreted differently in the other party's jurisdiction.
This fear is echoed by Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uighur Congress, who is one of those China has charged with "terrorism", a tactic critics say is used to tarnish and criminalise Beijing's opponents.
“Because the Chinese and Turkish governments have a different view of what a criminal is, the Chinese can misuse this law to claim that any Uighur is criminal and seek their extradition," Isa said.
Representatives from the Congress are lobbying politicians to oppose the ratification of the treaty, which Erdogan introduced to parliament in April 2019.
'Sold out'
Australian-Uighur activist Arslan Hidayat said that by merely entertaining the treaty, Turkey had “sold out” the Uighurs.
“We Uighurs feel as though we have been sold out because obviously the Turks and the Uighurs have ethnic ties as well as religious ties. To be sold out by your own is very, very hurtful,” he told MEE.
Hidayat questioned Erdogan’s commitment to the Uighur cause, highlighting the disparity between Muslim-majority Turkey drawing closer to Beijing while France last week opposed a proposed EU-Chinese trade deal over the abuse of Uighurs.
He noted that Erdogan had positioned himself as a defender of Muslims by calling for a boycott of French products in October over President Emmanuel Macron's support for depictions of Prophet Muhammad.
“It’s certainly hypocrisy where you’ve got the government of supposed Muslim-majority countries selling out Uighurs, and the governments of non-Muslim countries standing up for Uighurs,” he said.
Turkish officials did not respond to a request by MEE for comment.
'I lost everything for downloading WhatsApp'
An investigation by Buzzfeed News this week revealed the construction of more than 100 factory buildings within the vast compounds used to house more than 1 million people in in Xingjiang, the latest evidence in a thickening catalogue of abuses committed against Uighurs and other minority Muslim groups.
One Uighur woman interviewed by Buzzfeed News said she was arrested in 2017, detained in a compound and forced to work in a factory, sewing garments for nine hours a day.
In the evenings after her shift, she was required to take classes, memorising and repeating Chinese Communist party propaganda and studying Mandarin, the language spoken by the majority of Chinese.
In September 2018, near the end of her time in the camp, police finally told her that she had been arrested for downloading the WhatsApp messaging app. “I lost everything, including my health,” she told BuzzFeed News.
Uighur activist Abduweli Ayup said that, to avoid a similar fate, Uighurs in Turkey were left with little choice but to speak up.
“In Turkey, people [Uighurs] are afraid of being arrested, so they are not very politically active,” he said.
“We need to stand up and say that we are Uighur and to tell people on social media that we can be victims of deportation.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uighur-china-turkey-extradition-ratified-fear-deportation
Another update.
'Sold out': Uighurs fear deportation as China ratifies extradition treaty with Turkey
Uighur activists urge Turkish government not to abide by agreement that could put tens of thousands at risk of being detained in internment camps
Beijing has ratified an extradition treaty with Turkey that Uighurs fear could pave the way for tens of thousands to be deported and imprisoned in internment camps that rights group say constitute a “cultural genocide”.
The treaty, first signed during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Beijing in 2017, was ratified last weekend at the Chinese National People’s Congress, with state media saying it would be used for counter-terrorism purposes.
Turkey is yet to ratify the treaty, and as such no extraditions are expected any time soon. However Uighurs are now calling on the Turkish government and lawmakers to stop the agreement from going through.
Uighurs, a Muslim-majority Turkic minority, have sought refuge in Turkey since 1952, when the Turkish government offered asylum to those fleeing the Xinjiang region (also known as East Turkestan) as a fledgling communist China cemented its hold.
Today, however, Turkey’s estimated 50,000 Uighur refugees now find themselves living on the edge, as China escalates the persecution of their kin back home and targets the community abroad.
Warming relations and allegations of collusion between Ankara and Beijing have only compounded fears that Uighurs could be deported to join the estimated one million detained in camps.
Earlier this week, an investigation by BuzzFeed News revealed a vast sprawl of factory facilities built across the western region of Xinjiang, underscoring allegations of forced labour and mass incarceration.
China denies the allegations, and says it seeks to lift Xinjiang's people out of poverty and increase seucrity through its policies.
'Big mistake'
Abduweli Ayup, a Uighur activist in Turkey, told Middle East Eye the treaty was “not surprising” because of alleged Turkish cooperation in deporting Uighur dissidents to China, sometimes via a third country.
Among them is a 59-year-old mother of two, whom activists fear was deported from Turkey to Tajikistan in June, before being taken to neighbouring Xinjiang. Ankara denies the claims.
Ayup suggests that should Ankara ratify the treaty, extraditions will be carried out in secret and not en masse. “I don’t believe that the Turkish government will send Uighurs to China openly, not like what happened in Egypt,” he said, referring to the mass arrests of Uighur students in Cairo in 2017, thought to be at the behest of Beijing.
However, he says that the public nature of the extradition accord could turn the spotlight on China’s hitherto covert campaign to force Uighurs to return home for political and religious screening.
“The extraditions were taking place underground before, and the Chinese government didn’t mention them openly. Now they’ve put it on the table, it can draw international attention,” said Ayup, who added that Turkish campaigners are now taking up the issue.
“China has made a big mistake,” he said.
Provisions in the treaty that have raised the alarm include a clause that “it shall not matter whether the laws of both parties place the offence within the same category or describe the offence by the same terminology”.
Rights groups say this could allow the parties to request the extradition of its citizens charged for offences that are interpreted differently in the other party's jurisdiction.
This fear is echoed by Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uighur Congress, who is one of those China has charged with "terrorism", a tactic critics say is used to tarnish and criminalise Beijing's opponents.
“Because the Chinese and Turkish governments have a different view of what a criminal is, the Chinese can misuse this law to claim that any Uighur is criminal and seek their extradition," Isa said.
Representatives from the Congress are lobbying politicians to oppose the ratification of the treaty, which Erdogan introduced to parliament in April 2019.
'Sold out'
Australian-Uighur activist Arslan Hidayat said that by merely entertaining the treaty, Turkey had “sold out” the Uighurs.
“We Uighurs feel as though we have been sold out because obviously the Turks and the Uighurs have ethnic ties as well as religious ties. To be sold out by your own is very, very hurtful,” he told MEE.
Hidayat questioned Erdogan’s commitment to the Uighur cause, highlighting the disparity between Muslim-majority Turkey drawing closer to Beijing while France last week opposed a proposed EU-Chinese trade deal over the abuse of Uighurs.
He noted that Erdogan had positioned himself as a defender of Muslims by calling for a boycott of French products in October over President Emmanuel Macron's support for depictions of Prophet Muhammad.
“It’s certainly hypocrisy where you’ve got the government of supposed Muslim-majority countries selling out Uighurs, and the governments of non-Muslim countries standing up for Uighurs,” he said.
Turkish officials did not respond to a request by MEE for comment.
'I lost everything for downloading WhatsApp'
An investigation by Buzzfeed News this week revealed the construction of more than 100 factory buildings within the vast compounds used to house more than 1 million people in in Xingjiang, the latest evidence in a thickening catalogue of abuses committed against Uighurs and other minority Muslim groups.
One Uighur woman interviewed by Buzzfeed News said she was arrested in 2017, detained in a compound and forced to work in a factory, sewing garments for nine hours a day.
In the evenings after her shift, she was required to take classes, memorising and repeating Chinese Communist party propaganda and studying Mandarin, the language spoken by the majority of Chinese.
In September 2018, near the end of her time in the camp, police finally told her that she had been arrested for downloading the WhatsApp messaging app. “I lost everything, including my health,” she told BuzzFeed News.
Uighur activist Abduweli Ayup said that, to avoid a similar fate, Uighurs in Turkey were left with little choice but to speak up.
“In Turkey, people [Uighurs] are afraid of being arrested, so they are not very politically active,” he said.
“We need to stand up and say that we are Uighur and to tell people on social media that we can be victims of deportation.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uighur-china-turkey-extradition-ratified-fear-deportation
Salaam
Before we forget.
Another Ramadan Without Ramadan
Congratulations to all for reaching the holy month of Ramaḍān! I would like to remind everyone what this month is all about, and this is a reminder to myself before anybody else.
This month is a month of drinking alcohol, entering beer drinking competitions,[1] eating pork, watching dancing imams,[2] getting closer to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by proving your allegiance to its members, and by worshipping their lord and saviour Xi Jinping for giving us our daily sustenance.[3]
Now, before you start writing your letters of complaints to the editors of Islam21c or notifying them that they might have been hacked, the information I have just presented is unfortunately true, and it is only the tip of the iceberg of what happens to the Uyghur Muslims of Chinese-occupied East Turkestan on a daily basis, not only during the month of Ramaḍān.
The following is a summary of what an ordinary Uyghur Muslim experiences on a daily basis in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan. It is something we should all be thinking about as another year passes with us being unable to spend time with our friends and family or maybe going to tarāwīḥ prayers because of COVID-19 restrictions.
This Ramaḍān, just like every Ramaḍān for the last six years, Uyghurs will not be allowed to worship Allāh. The following are all banned: using simple phrases like ‘Assalāmu‘alaykum,’[4] ‘Alḥamdullilāh,’ ‘Allāhu Akbar,’ praying, fasting, wearing hijab, having a beard, abstaining from sins such as drinking alcohol or eating pork,[5] reading or even owning the Quran or any religious item,[6] giving charity, and other such religious activities.
One may ask, how does the Chinese government go about monitoring this? Surely they cannot keep track of all this? Well, digital technologies have helped assist in the repression of the Uyghurs.[7] The CCP has not only been able to clamp down on public religious activities, it has also been able to quash religious activities in private too. Processors, sensors, QR codes, smartphone apps, cameras, and the millions of CCP officials forced to live with Uyghurs. All of this monitors each and every move a Uyghur Muslim makes, from expressing the Uyghur culture to religious practices.
Rabigul Hajimuhemmed,[8] a Uyghur rights activist based in Turkey, said back in 2003 that while she was in high school, she would try and fast with her friends. Their efforts to worship Allāh would come with great difficulty as they had to fast in secret. Their teachers and school administration would give out food and water throughout the holy month. This practice was done every Ramaḍān in order to see who was fasting. Hajimuhemmed recounts one incident where she and her friends were interrogated by the school administration to confess if they had taken part in fasting. She narrates, “The principal would ask us, ‘Aren’t you all strong believers in Allāh? Muslims do not lie. Don’t you fear him?’”
Despite the Chinese government’s roots being that of a communist-atheist system, it still uses religious ideology to make Uyghurs come forward to admit their so-called crimes. Hajimuhemmed came forward on that day in school and confessed that she had fasted for three days. She was fined 10 yuan (around $1 at the time) for each day. The amount was small but symbolic, used as a psychological tool to manipulate Uyghurs from a young age. This message is ingrained into their psyche: absolutely no religiosity will be tolerated. The mere fact that you can be fined for worshipping your Lord sends a clear message to young Uyghurs about what was going to be in store for them if they continued to defy the CCP’s rulings on religious practice.
Those who do not follow the rules or are seen as a threat to the stability of Chinese society are sent to modern-day concentration camps.[9] Here, they are ‘re-educated’ to become law-abiding Chinese citizens, i.e. whole-heartedly adhering to the laws of the CCP. In essence, they are forced to reject their culture and religion, and essentially their entire identity. CCP authorities achieve this through forceful indoctrination.[10] Uyghurs are given a warped truth about their religion and culture. Islam is considered a mental illness that needs to be cured,[11] and the cure can be found in the camps. Women are forcefully sterilised to no longer become ‘baby-making machines’ that ‘produce’ more Uyghurs to destabilise the region.[12] [13] Uyghurs are tortured and raped to such a level that the concentration camps are now used as brothels.[14]
Whilst everyone is busying themselves in worshipping Allāh this Ramaḍān – as we all should be to the best of our abilities – and making du‘ā for our shortcomings, make sure you make du‘ā for your Uyghur brothers and sisters who are suffering. Educate yourself on their plight and ask Allāh to help make you a vessel in helping those in need, and He will guide you, in shā’ Allāh.
Stand up for Uyghurs
Islam21c has been working hard behind the scenes with key figures on the Uyghur activism scene to create a nationwide campaign to guide us towards effective action for our Uyghur brothers and sisters. If you would like to be part of this campaign, simply enter your email address in the box below and you’ll be contacted in due course inshāAllāh.
https://www.islam21c.com/campaigns/another-ramadan-without-ramadan/
Meanwhile
A lot of controversy caused by this article, but judging by whats happened in the past I can believe it.
Blurb
The US has officially designated the Chinese government’s brutal crackdown of Uyghur Muslims as genocide. But suppression of Uyghur people doesn’t stop at China’s border - Beijing’s ongoing “One Belt One Road” project threatens Uyghurs in neighboring countries like Pakistan.
Mohammed Umer is an Uyghur activist who operates an underground railroad in Pakistan, smuggling persecuted Muslims into other countries. His work is becoming more difficult as China invests billions of dollars into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a series of infrastructure projects that connect the two countries.
For all the promises of CPEC to transform Pakistan’s economy, some groups see these developments as a threat and have mounted a violent campaign of resistance.
Producer-Director Brent E. Huffman traveled to Pakistan several times in the past few years to produce this film with grant assistance from both the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Buffet Institute for Global Studies.
Edit - Oh dear oh dear :facepalm:
Before we forget.
Another Ramadan Without Ramadan
Congratulations to all for reaching the holy month of Ramaḍān! I would like to remind everyone what this month is all about, and this is a reminder to myself before anybody else.
This month is a month of drinking alcohol, entering beer drinking competitions,[1] eating pork, watching dancing imams,[2] getting closer to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by proving your allegiance to its members, and by worshipping their lord and saviour Xi Jinping for giving us our daily sustenance.[3]
Now, before you start writing your letters of complaints to the editors of Islam21c or notifying them that they might have been hacked, the information I have just presented is unfortunately true, and it is only the tip of the iceberg of what happens to the Uyghur Muslims of Chinese-occupied East Turkestan on a daily basis, not only during the month of Ramaḍān.
The following is a summary of what an ordinary Uyghur Muslim experiences on a daily basis in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan. It is something we should all be thinking about as another year passes with us being unable to spend time with our friends and family or maybe going to tarāwīḥ prayers because of COVID-19 restrictions.
This Ramaḍān, just like every Ramaḍān for the last six years, Uyghurs will not be allowed to worship Allāh. The following are all banned: using simple phrases like ‘Assalāmu‘alaykum,’[4] ‘Alḥamdullilāh,’ ‘Allāhu Akbar,’ praying, fasting, wearing hijab, having a beard, abstaining from sins such as drinking alcohol or eating pork,[5] reading or even owning the Quran or any religious item,[6] giving charity, and other such religious activities.
One may ask, how does the Chinese government go about monitoring this? Surely they cannot keep track of all this? Well, digital technologies have helped assist in the repression of the Uyghurs.[7] The CCP has not only been able to clamp down on public religious activities, it has also been able to quash religious activities in private too. Processors, sensors, QR codes, smartphone apps, cameras, and the millions of CCP officials forced to live with Uyghurs. All of this monitors each and every move a Uyghur Muslim makes, from expressing the Uyghur culture to religious practices.
Rabigul Hajimuhemmed,[8] a Uyghur rights activist based in Turkey, said back in 2003 that while she was in high school, she would try and fast with her friends. Their efforts to worship Allāh would come with great difficulty as they had to fast in secret. Their teachers and school administration would give out food and water throughout the holy month. This practice was done every Ramaḍān in order to see who was fasting. Hajimuhemmed recounts one incident where she and her friends were interrogated by the school administration to confess if they had taken part in fasting. She narrates, “The principal would ask us, ‘Aren’t you all strong believers in Allāh? Muslims do not lie. Don’t you fear him?’”
Despite the Chinese government’s roots being that of a communist-atheist system, it still uses religious ideology to make Uyghurs come forward to admit their so-called crimes. Hajimuhemmed came forward on that day in school and confessed that she had fasted for three days. She was fined 10 yuan (around $1 at the time) for each day. The amount was small but symbolic, used as a psychological tool to manipulate Uyghurs from a young age. This message is ingrained into their psyche: absolutely no religiosity will be tolerated. The mere fact that you can be fined for worshipping your Lord sends a clear message to young Uyghurs about what was going to be in store for them if they continued to defy the CCP’s rulings on religious practice.
Those who do not follow the rules or are seen as a threat to the stability of Chinese society are sent to modern-day concentration camps.[9] Here, they are ‘re-educated’ to become law-abiding Chinese citizens, i.e. whole-heartedly adhering to the laws of the CCP. In essence, they are forced to reject their culture and religion, and essentially their entire identity. CCP authorities achieve this through forceful indoctrination.[10] Uyghurs are given a warped truth about their religion and culture. Islam is considered a mental illness that needs to be cured,[11] and the cure can be found in the camps. Women are forcefully sterilised to no longer become ‘baby-making machines’ that ‘produce’ more Uyghurs to destabilise the region.[12] [13] Uyghurs are tortured and raped to such a level that the concentration camps are now used as brothels.[14]
Whilst everyone is busying themselves in worshipping Allāh this Ramaḍān – as we all should be to the best of our abilities – and making du‘ā for our shortcomings, make sure you make du‘ā for your Uyghur brothers and sisters who are suffering. Educate yourself on their plight and ask Allāh to help make you a vessel in helping those in need, and He will guide you, in shā’ Allāh.
Stand up for Uyghurs
Islam21c has been working hard behind the scenes with key figures on the Uyghur activism scene to create a nationwide campaign to guide us towards effective action for our Uyghur brothers and sisters. If you would like to be part of this campaign, simply enter your email address in the box below and you’ll be contacted in due course inshāAllāh.
https://www.islam21c.com/campaigns/another-ramadan-without-ramadan/
Meanwhile
A lot of controversy caused by this article, but judging by whats happened in the past I can believe it.
Blurb
The US has officially designated the Chinese government’s brutal crackdown of Uyghur Muslims as genocide. But suppression of Uyghur people doesn’t stop at China’s border - Beijing’s ongoing “One Belt One Road” project threatens Uyghurs in neighboring countries like Pakistan.
Mohammed Umer is an Uyghur activist who operates an underground railroad in Pakistan, smuggling persecuted Muslims into other countries. His work is becoming more difficult as China invests billions of dollars into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a series of infrastructure projects that connect the two countries.
For all the promises of CPEC to transform Pakistan’s economy, some groups see these developments as a threat and have mounted a violent campaign of resistance.
Producer-Director Brent E. Huffman traveled to Pakistan several times in the past few years to produce this film with grant assistance from both the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Buffet Institute for Global Studies.
Edit - Oh dear oh dear :facepalm:
Last edited:
Salaam
More on Chinas muscle flexing.
China warns Australia
It appears China is beginning to warn off the second-tier players in what looks rather like preparation for a move on Taiwan:
Just in case the warning hasn't been received, The Global Times has underlined the point in an interview with an Australian academic who is an expert on Sino-Australian relations:
Australia would be insane to place any trust whatsoever in the increasingly incomptent US military, which at this point would be more likely to send them a transgender dance troupe to twerk defiance at the Chinese than risk the chance that an aircraft carrier group would end up on the bottom of the Western Pacific. South Korea appears to understand this, as it certainly doesn't want any part of the Taiwan question.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2021/05/china-warns-australia.html
More on Chinas muscle flexing.
China warns Australia
It appears China is beginning to warn off the second-tier players in what looks rather like preparation for a move on Taiwan:
Just in case the warning hasn't been received, The Global Times has underlined the point in an interview with an Australian academic who is an expert on Sino-Australian relations:
Australia would be insane to place any trust whatsoever in the increasingly incomptent US military, which at this point would be more likely to send them a transgender dance troupe to twerk defiance at the Chinese than risk the chance that an aircraft carrier group would end up on the bottom of the Western Pacific. South Korea appears to understand this, as it certainly doesn't want any part of the Taiwan question.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2021/05/china-warns-australia.html
Salaam
Like to share.
Blurb
Sh Dr Haitham al-Haddad and Dr Salman Butt are at the Uyghur Tribunal meeting with some senior representatives of the Uyghur diaspora globally.
Abdulhakim Idris is the Executive Director of the Center for Uyghur Studies and Inspector General of the World Uyghur Congress.
Visit Islam21c.com for more updates.
Blurb
Sh Dr Haitham al-Haddad and Dr Salman Butt are at the Uyghur Tribunal meeting with some senior representatives of the Uyghur diaspora globally.
Nick Vetch is Vice-Chair of the Tribunal. He is engaged with a range of NGOs particularly in the field of Human Rights and was a member of the China Tribunal.
Visit Islam21c.com for more updates.
Testimony
Chinese response.
Comment.
And again why Pakistan rulers are unlikely to respond.
Like to share.
Blurb
Sh Dr Haitham al-Haddad and Dr Salman Butt are at the Uyghur Tribunal meeting with some senior representatives of the Uyghur diaspora globally.
Abdulhakim Idris is the Executive Director of the Center for Uyghur Studies and Inspector General of the World Uyghur Congress.
Visit Islam21c.com for more updates.
Blurb
Sh Dr Haitham al-Haddad and Dr Salman Butt are at the Uyghur Tribunal meeting with some senior representatives of the Uyghur diaspora globally.
Nick Vetch is Vice-Chair of the Tribunal. He is engaged with a range of NGOs particularly in the field of Human Rights and was a member of the China Tribunal.
Visit Islam21c.com for more updates.
Testimony
Chinese response.
Comment.
And again why Pakistan rulers are unlikely to respond.
Last edited:
Salaam
Another update.
China has created 'dystopian hellscape' for Uighurs in Xinjiang, says Amnesty
Rights groups says Beijing is committing crimes against humanity, including mass detention, torture, and persecution
Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang region face systematic and state-organised "mass internment and torture amounting to crimes against humanity", Amnesty International has said.
In a 160-page report published on Thursday, the rights group called on the UN to investigate the abuses, and said Beijing had subjected Muslims to mass detention in violation of international law.
More than 50 former camp detainees shared new testimony with Amnesty, providing a detailed inside account of the conditions in internment camps sanctioned by Chinese authorities since 2017.
Testimonies from former detainees included the use of "tiger chairs" - steel chairs with leg irons and handcuffs that restrain the body in painful positions - during police interrogations.
Two former detainees told the rights group they had been forced to wear heavy shackles - in one case for an entire year. Others described being shocked with electric batons and sprayed with pepper spray.
"Chinese authorities have created a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary-general and a former UN investigator on human rights.
"It should shock the conscience of humanity that massive numbers of people have been subjected to brainwashing, torture and other degrading treatment in internment camps, while millions more live in fear amid a vast surveillance apparatus."
The report comes less than two months after Human Rights Watch said it believed China was responsible for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.
Some Western countries have accused China of persuing a genocide against the Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, with the US state department having previously declared it as such, and the parliaments of the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands having passed resolutions making the same declaration.
Still, Jonathan Loeb, author of the Amnesty report, said at press conference on Thursday that the rights group's research "did not reveal that all the evidence of the crime of genocide had occurred" but that it had so far "only scratched the surface".
Outside scope of Chinese justice system'
Rights groups have also accused China of conducting forced sterilisations and abortions on Uighur women and using population transfer to reduce the population density.
China routinely denies accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps are voluntary vocational and de-radicalisation programmes for combating terrorism in the region.
In its report, Amnesty said counterterrorism could not properly justify the scale of the mass detention there, and that the Chinese government's actions showed a "clear intent to target parts of Xinjiang's population collectively on the basis of religion and ethnicity and to use severe violence and intimidation to root out Islamic religious beliefs and Turkic Muslim ethno-cultural practices".
Amnesty also said camps in Xinjiang appeared to be "operating outside the scope of the Chinese criminal justice system or other known domestic law", and that there was evidence detainees had been transferred from camps to prisons.
While many of its findings have been previously reported, Amnesty's study is likely to add to further pressure on Beijing over its actions and policies in Xinjiang.
In March, the EU, US, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over the alleged abuses. China responded by imposing retaliatory sanctions on lawmakers, researchers and institutions.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/china-uighurs-xinjiang-dystopian-hellscape-amnesty
Another update.
China has created 'dystopian hellscape' for Uighurs in Xinjiang, says Amnesty
Rights groups says Beijing is committing crimes against humanity, including mass detention, torture, and persecution
Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang region face systematic and state-organised "mass internment and torture amounting to crimes against humanity", Amnesty International has said.
In a 160-page report published on Thursday, the rights group called on the UN to investigate the abuses, and said Beijing had subjected Muslims to mass detention in violation of international law.
More than 50 former camp detainees shared new testimony with Amnesty, providing a detailed inside account of the conditions in internment camps sanctioned by Chinese authorities since 2017.
Testimonies from former detainees included the use of "tiger chairs" - steel chairs with leg irons and handcuffs that restrain the body in painful positions - during police interrogations.
Two former detainees told the rights group they had been forced to wear heavy shackles - in one case for an entire year. Others described being shocked with electric batons and sprayed with pepper spray.
"Chinese authorities have created a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary-general and a former UN investigator on human rights.
"It should shock the conscience of humanity that massive numbers of people have been subjected to brainwashing, torture and other degrading treatment in internment camps, while millions more live in fear amid a vast surveillance apparatus."
The report comes less than two months after Human Rights Watch said it believed China was responsible for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.
Some Western countries have accused China of persuing a genocide against the Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, with the US state department having previously declared it as such, and the parliaments of the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands having passed resolutions making the same declaration.
Still, Jonathan Loeb, author of the Amnesty report, said at press conference on Thursday that the rights group's research "did not reveal that all the evidence of the crime of genocide had occurred" but that it had so far "only scratched the surface".
Outside scope of Chinese justice system'
Rights groups have also accused China of conducting forced sterilisations and abortions on Uighur women and using population transfer to reduce the population density.
China routinely denies accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps are voluntary vocational and de-radicalisation programmes for combating terrorism in the region.
In its report, Amnesty said counterterrorism could not properly justify the scale of the mass detention there, and that the Chinese government's actions showed a "clear intent to target parts of Xinjiang's population collectively on the basis of religion and ethnicity and to use severe violence and intimidation to root out Islamic religious beliefs and Turkic Muslim ethno-cultural practices".
Amnesty also said camps in Xinjiang appeared to be "operating outside the scope of the Chinese criminal justice system or other known domestic law", and that there was evidence detainees had been transferred from camps to prisons.
While many of its findings have been previously reported, Amnesty's study is likely to add to further pressure on Beijing over its actions and policies in Xinjiang.
In March, the EU, US, UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over the alleged abuses. China responded by imposing retaliatory sanctions on lawmakers, researchers and institutions.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/china-uighurs-xinjiang-dystopian-hellscape-amnesty
Last edited:
Salaam
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blurb
For the first time in #Unscripted history! While they were in the UK for the Uyghur Tribunal and G7 summit, President Dolkun Isa and Inspector General Abdulhakim Idris of the World Uyghur Congress joined Dr Salman Butt in a special podcast not to be missed.
Like to share
blurb
For the first time in #Unscripted history! While they were in the UK for the Uyghur Tribunal and G7 summit, President Dolkun Isa and Inspector General Abdulhakim Idris of the World Uyghur Congress joined Dr Salman Butt in a special podcast not to be missed.
Salaam
Like to share.
Blurb
As part of the Stand4Uyghurs National Khutbah Day, mosques up and down the United Kingdom spoke about the Uyghur Muslims suffering genocide in East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang). Islam21c Chief Editor, Dr Salman Butt, delivered a khutbah in Yaseen Youth Centre today as part of this.
Visit Stand4Uyghurs.com and make sure you stand with your brothers and sisters on 1st July 5-8pm outside the Chinese embassy in London!
That day is a symbolic day that our Uyghur brothers and sisters want us to stand up for them internationally - the 100 year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Like to share.
Blurb
As part of the Stand4Uyghurs National Khutbah Day, mosques up and down the United Kingdom spoke about the Uyghur Muslims suffering genocide in East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang). Islam21c Chief Editor, Dr Salman Butt, delivered a khutbah in Yaseen Youth Centre today as part of this.
Visit Stand4Uyghurs.com and make sure you stand with your brothers and sisters on 1st July 5-8pm outside the Chinese embassy in London!
That day is a symbolic day that our Uyghur brothers and sisters want us to stand up for them internationally - the 100 year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
And more
Blurb
China is on the back foot. Now is our time to stand for the Uyghur Muslims facing genocide. Prove to them that we have not forsaken them by attending a national demonstration of solidarity during the Chinese Communist Party's 100th anniversary celebrations.
Blurb
China is on the back foot. Now is our time to stand for the Uyghur Muslims facing genocide. Prove to them that we have not forsaken them by attending a national demonstration of solidarity during the Chinese Communist Party's 100th anniversary celebrations.
Salaam
Another update. This protest happened a couple of days ago.
British Muslims call for an end to the Uyghur Muslim genocide
Major demonstrations were organised on Thursday outside of the Chinese embassy in London, in an attempt to address ongoing crimes committed by the Chinese regime against its minority population. Protesters demanded that the Chinese state immediately halt its ongoing genocide of ethnic Uyghur Muslims in the western autonomous region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan.
The rally was organised by a coalition of over 50 British Muslim organisations. It was publicised under the umbrella campaign brand ‘Stand4Uyghurs’, and was held to coincide with celebrations that marked the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The coalition included major regional Islamic bodies, such as Finsbury Park Mosque, the East London Mosque, and the London Muslim Centre. Muslim media organisations such as Islam21c and the Islam Channel also played presiding roles in the diverse coalition.
Prominent members of the Muslim community and greater society also made appearances to address the ongoing ethnic cleansing in East Turkestan. They reiterated their concern for the Uyghur people, and articulated a message of global solidarity and moral support. Attendees included the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Sir Iqbal Sacranie, and the newly elected head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) Raghad Altikriti.
The event’s campaign coordinator was the Chief Editor of Islam21c, Dr Salman Butt. He appreciated the increasing awareness of the international community regarding the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide. However, he noted the immense difficulties that people face when they attempt to take appropriate actions against these gross injustices. Dr Butt explained that this campaign’s chief aim is to tackle these shortcomings by not only motivating people to act, but by also providing them accurate information regarding the major crises occurring in East Turkestan. Butt stressed the importance of the event by making the following remarks:
Abdulhakim Idris, the Inspector General of the World Uyghur Congress, echoed this sentiment with the following statement: “the CCP has killed more than 60 million of its own citizens during its reign. The systematic genocide against Uyghur Muslims is just one in a long line of death and state terror. The global Uyghur diaspora called on all people to use their voices to make this known to the world on this day in particular, and we are grateful to all those standing up and doing their part.”
A message of collective action
The main aims of Thursday’s rally included delivering a message of global unity and solidarity for the Uyghur Muslim ethnic group, and vocally condemning Chinese oppression. Guest speakers stressed that China could be effectively challenged through collective efforts. Despite the Chinese regime’s superpower status in the international community, diplomatic weight in the UN, and unparalleled economic might, normal people across the world can collectively make a difference by standing up to these oppressors. Regarding the potential leverage that the event held, Sir Sacranie stated the following:
The founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain believes that Muslim nations find themselves in a strategically strong position, and can exercise a level of influence on Beijing which would serve the interests of Uyghur Muslims. These Muslim states, according to Sacranie, enjoy strong political and economic ties with China. Because of their powerful standing vis-à-vis Beijing, these countries can effectively exert leverage over the regime and help bring an end to the Uyghur Muslim genocide in Xinjiang. Regarding the powerful position of Muslim states, Sir Sacranie made the following astute observations:
Raged Altikriti of the MAB emphasised how the Uyghurs have been suffering at the hands of the ruthless Beijing authorities for an extended period of time. She also expressed her sadness that many normal human beings trying to live customary lives in China are forced to face an Orwellian nightmare simply for belonging to a different ethnic group or religion. For many ethnic minority groups, every facet of the communist party’s espoused values is imposed through continuous state propaganda. In many cases, Muslim minority groups are even forced to consume prohibited substances, like pork, in their homes or concentration camps.
Regarding the plight of the Uyghur people, Altikriti delivered the following powerful remarks:
The MAB head mentioned in elaborate detail the scope of crimes committed by the Chinese regime against the Muslim minority group:
Systemic ethnic cleansing and genocide
The Chinese government has faced increasing criticism from the international community ever since mounting evidence revealed that Beijing is implementing an intense campaign of ethnic and cultural genocide against the Uyghur Muslims. Recent satellite imagery illustrates the rapid growth of mass concentration camps in the countrysides of Xinjiang. Furthermore, graphic stories of human rights abuses are growing in number.
The Chinese regime has defended its genocidal policies in the region, arguing that they are necessary coercive measures, which are aimed at tackling extremism and terrorism. This is a trope that is routinely used to mask and cover the gross human rights abuses being committed. As part of its cultural genocide, Beijing has destroyed centuries old mosques and Muslim graveyards, forcibly denied Muslims the right to practice their faith, and is even altering the traditional structure of Uyghur Muslim families.
The Chinese government has routinely denied the existence of concentration camps, despite there being clear evidence to the contrary. Up to a million Uyghur Muslims are believed to be detained in these camps. The regime claims that these are simply ‘re-educational centres’ which are aimed at reforming the local population and teaching them new skills. Survivors and former detainees of such camps, however, have spoken of brutal and inhuman acts of torture being committed at both the physical and psychological levels.
Earlier this year, a horrifying report published by the BBC revealed the extent to which rape is used against defenceless Uyghur Muslim women who find themselves detained in these concentration camps. The report shares horrific witness accounts of how Chinese soldiers and police officers viciously rape and torture Uyghur women in these camps. Furthermore, Uyghur Muslim women are forcibly sterilised, robbing them of their right to bear children. There can be no doubt that these policies appear to be aimed at curbing the Muslim population in the province. [1]
A ground-breaking report published in March this year revealed that every single article of the United Nations 1948 Genocide Convention has been violated by the Chinese state in its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Subsequently, according to the report, there is no doubt that the Chinese state bears responsibility for the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against members of its own population. [2].
https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/british-muslims-call-for-an-end-to-the-uyghur-muslim-genocide/
In the past he had the decency to at least squirm when the plight of the Uighurs was mentioned but now.
No words
Another update. This protest happened a couple of days ago.
British Muslims call for an end to the Uyghur Muslim genocide
Major demonstrations were organised on Thursday outside of the Chinese embassy in London, in an attempt to address ongoing crimes committed by the Chinese regime against its minority population. Protesters demanded that the Chinese state immediately halt its ongoing genocide of ethnic Uyghur Muslims in the western autonomous region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan.
The rally was organised by a coalition of over 50 British Muslim organisations. It was publicised under the umbrella campaign brand ‘Stand4Uyghurs’, and was held to coincide with celebrations that marked the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The coalition included major regional Islamic bodies, such as Finsbury Park Mosque, the East London Mosque, and the London Muslim Centre. Muslim media organisations such as Islam21c and the Islam Channel also played presiding roles in the diverse coalition.
Prominent members of the Muslim community and greater society also made appearances to address the ongoing ethnic cleansing in East Turkestan. They reiterated their concern for the Uyghur people, and articulated a message of global solidarity and moral support. Attendees included the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Sir Iqbal Sacranie, and the newly elected head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) Raghad Altikriti.
The event’s campaign coordinator was the Chief Editor of Islam21c, Dr Salman Butt. He appreciated the increasing awareness of the international community regarding the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide. However, he noted the immense difficulties that people face when they attempt to take appropriate actions against these gross injustices. Dr Butt explained that this campaign’s chief aim is to tackle these shortcomings by not only motivating people to act, but by also providing them accurate information regarding the major crises occurring in East Turkestan. Butt stressed the importance of the event by making the following remarks:
Abdulhakim Idris, the Inspector General of the World Uyghur Congress, echoed this sentiment with the following statement: “the CCP has killed more than 60 million of its own citizens during its reign. The systematic genocide against Uyghur Muslims is just one in a long line of death and state terror. The global Uyghur diaspora called on all people to use their voices to make this known to the world on this day in particular, and we are grateful to all those standing up and doing their part.”
A message of collective action
The main aims of Thursday’s rally included delivering a message of global unity and solidarity for the Uyghur Muslim ethnic group, and vocally condemning Chinese oppression. Guest speakers stressed that China could be effectively challenged through collective efforts. Despite the Chinese regime’s superpower status in the international community, diplomatic weight in the UN, and unparalleled economic might, normal people across the world can collectively make a difference by standing up to these oppressors. Regarding the potential leverage that the event held, Sir Sacranie stated the following:
The founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain believes that Muslim nations find themselves in a strategically strong position, and can exercise a level of influence on Beijing which would serve the interests of Uyghur Muslims. These Muslim states, according to Sacranie, enjoy strong political and economic ties with China. Because of their powerful standing vis-à-vis Beijing, these countries can effectively exert leverage over the regime and help bring an end to the Uyghur Muslim genocide in Xinjiang. Regarding the powerful position of Muslim states, Sir Sacranie made the following astute observations:
Raged Altikriti of the MAB emphasised how the Uyghurs have been suffering at the hands of the ruthless Beijing authorities for an extended period of time. She also expressed her sadness that many normal human beings trying to live customary lives in China are forced to face an Orwellian nightmare simply for belonging to a different ethnic group or religion. For many ethnic minority groups, every facet of the communist party’s espoused values is imposed through continuous state propaganda. In many cases, Muslim minority groups are even forced to consume prohibited substances, like pork, in their homes or concentration camps.
Regarding the plight of the Uyghur people, Altikriti delivered the following powerful remarks:
The MAB head mentioned in elaborate detail the scope of crimes committed by the Chinese regime against the Muslim minority group:
Systemic ethnic cleansing and genocide
The Chinese government has faced increasing criticism from the international community ever since mounting evidence revealed that Beijing is implementing an intense campaign of ethnic and cultural genocide against the Uyghur Muslims. Recent satellite imagery illustrates the rapid growth of mass concentration camps in the countrysides of Xinjiang. Furthermore, graphic stories of human rights abuses are growing in number.
The Chinese regime has defended its genocidal policies in the region, arguing that they are necessary coercive measures, which are aimed at tackling extremism and terrorism. This is a trope that is routinely used to mask and cover the gross human rights abuses being committed. As part of its cultural genocide, Beijing has destroyed centuries old mosques and Muslim graveyards, forcibly denied Muslims the right to practice their faith, and is even altering the traditional structure of Uyghur Muslim families.
The Chinese government has routinely denied the existence of concentration camps, despite there being clear evidence to the contrary. Up to a million Uyghur Muslims are believed to be detained in these camps. The regime claims that these are simply ‘re-educational centres’ which are aimed at reforming the local population and teaching them new skills. Survivors and former detainees of such camps, however, have spoken of brutal and inhuman acts of torture being committed at both the physical and psychological levels.
Earlier this year, a horrifying report published by the BBC revealed the extent to which rape is used against defenceless Uyghur Muslim women who find themselves detained in these concentration camps. The report shares horrific witness accounts of how Chinese soldiers and police officers viciously rape and torture Uyghur women in these camps. Furthermore, Uyghur Muslim women are forcibly sterilised, robbing them of their right to bear children. There can be no doubt that these policies appear to be aimed at curbing the Muslim population in the province. [1]
A ground-breaking report published in March this year revealed that every single article of the United Nations 1948 Genocide Convention has been violated by the Chinese state in its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Subsequently, according to the report, there is no doubt that the Chinese state bears responsibility for the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against members of its own population. [2].
https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/british-muslims-call-for-an-end-to-the-uyghur-muslim-genocide/
In the past he had the decency to at least squirm when the plight of the Uighurs was mentioned but now.
No words
Last edited:
Salaam
Another update
Right on cue.
Banks not tanks
People often accuse China of being imitative rather than creative, and stealing techniques and technology rather than inventing it. Well, it looks like they learned a rather nasty new trick from the West's globalist bankers and are applying it effectively with vigor around the world:
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been engaging in debt-trap diplomacy for decades. The Chinese offer is actually less burdensome and less controlling... unless the country defaults. Which is how China is going to snap up very inexpensive property all around the world and there is literally nothing that the globalists - who invented the scheme - can do to stop it.
Nationalism and the ability to default has been the only answer to this sort of financial predation, but even nationalism won't help much when the lender holding the collateral has a massive military to back up his legal claims.
It's always more efficient to invade-and-occupy using banks rather than tanks.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2021/07/banks-not-tanks.html
Another update
Right on cue.
Banks not tanks
People often accuse China of being imitative rather than creative, and stealing techniques and technology rather than inventing it. Well, it looks like they learned a rather nasty new trick from the West's globalist bankers and are applying it effectively with vigor around the world:
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been engaging in debt-trap diplomacy for decades. The Chinese offer is actually less burdensome and less controlling... unless the country defaults. Which is how China is going to snap up very inexpensive property all around the world and there is literally nothing that the globalists - who invented the scheme - can do to stop it.
Nationalism and the ability to default has been the only answer to this sort of financial predation, but even nationalism won't help much when the lender holding the collateral has a massive military to back up his legal claims.
It's always more efficient to invade-and-occupy using banks rather than tanks.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2021/07/banks-not-tanks.html
Salaam
Another update
Beijing Watch
In early June the first hearings of the Uyghur tribunal - an independent hearing chaired by barrister Geoffrey Nice to hear evidence from detention survivors about whats happening in Xinjian, China - took place in London. the evidence is no longer news, but still horrible.
Mihrigul Tursun, released from two years detention, found two of her four year old triplets seriously ill, the third dead, all bearing mysterious surgical scars. Tursunay Ziyadin described forced sterilisation. Bumeryem Rozi described forced abortion at five months of pregnancy, with a needle being passed into her stomach. Shes says eight other pregnant women were taken at the same time. An Uyghur doctor testified to carrying out forced abortions and being haunted by seeing an aborted baby in a bucket, still moving.
We know the birth rates in Uyghur regions have fallen dramatically since 2015. Survivors testified to routine rape and gang rape, forced serialisation, child removals, electrocution, beatings and physical torture, and retaliation by the state against any Uyghurs with relatives outside China. The Uyghurs are being brutalised, intimidated, sterilised and aborted out of existence.
The tribunal is a 'peoples response' to the failure of the United Nations or the International Criminal Court to hold China to account, despite many individual countries (including the US and UK) having openly accused it of genocide. The UN Security Council cannot pass a resolution without Chinas agreement. The Human Rights Council is equally toothless.
Yet there is something we can do. The Chinese government cares what its public thinks, as evidenced by its hysterical response to talk of genocide. It has declared the tribunal 'blasphemy against the law' and an illegal publicity stunt to smear Xinjian, issuing sanctions against the organisers.
China shrugged denials as the first rumours leaked from Xinjian in 2017 have morphed into a stream of ridiculous counter claims, from films of Uyghurs dancing in re education centre videos to coerced televised testimonies by relatives of survivors, denouncing them as immoral traitors, all paraded in front of Western journalists in a frenzy of pathetic self defence.
Why? Because try as the authorities might, China vase population hears what the Western public hears. China may have the UN in a straightjacket and lie outside the jurisdiction of the ICC, but the accusation of genocide has it on the back foot. Calls are going out for a full boycott of next February Beijing Winter Olympics. The Irish government recently declared it would send no officials and the EU parliament has voted for a diplomatic boycott. Last week the UK parliament debated the same thing, with many of these points passionately made - but to no avail. The motion passed, but the government was non committal: IT has made no decision, it is already doing enough (despite Iain Duncan Smith suggesting otherwise).
Its time to order the window stickers. At a time when global sport hold everyone attention and Gareth Southgate's men take the knee, we can all show the abusers we can see them.
Source - PE No: 1552
Another update
Beijing Watch
In early June the first hearings of the Uyghur tribunal - an independent hearing chaired by barrister Geoffrey Nice to hear evidence from detention survivors about whats happening in Xinjian, China - took place in London. the evidence is no longer news, but still horrible.
Mihrigul Tursun, released from two years detention, found two of her four year old triplets seriously ill, the third dead, all bearing mysterious surgical scars. Tursunay Ziyadin described forced sterilisation. Bumeryem Rozi described forced abortion at five months of pregnancy, with a needle being passed into her stomach. Shes says eight other pregnant women were taken at the same time. An Uyghur doctor testified to carrying out forced abortions and being haunted by seeing an aborted baby in a bucket, still moving.
We know the birth rates in Uyghur regions have fallen dramatically since 2015. Survivors testified to routine rape and gang rape, forced serialisation, child removals, electrocution, beatings and physical torture, and retaliation by the state against any Uyghurs with relatives outside China. The Uyghurs are being brutalised, intimidated, sterilised and aborted out of existence.
The tribunal is a 'peoples response' to the failure of the United Nations or the International Criminal Court to hold China to account, despite many individual countries (including the US and UK) having openly accused it of genocide. The UN Security Council cannot pass a resolution without Chinas agreement. The Human Rights Council is equally toothless.
Yet there is something we can do. The Chinese government cares what its public thinks, as evidenced by its hysterical response to talk of genocide. It has declared the tribunal 'blasphemy against the law' and an illegal publicity stunt to smear Xinjian, issuing sanctions against the organisers.
China shrugged denials as the first rumours leaked from Xinjian in 2017 have morphed into a stream of ridiculous counter claims, from films of Uyghurs dancing in re education centre videos to coerced televised testimonies by relatives of survivors, denouncing them as immoral traitors, all paraded in front of Western journalists in a frenzy of pathetic self defence.
Why? Because try as the authorities might, China vase population hears what the Western public hears. China may have the UN in a straightjacket and lie outside the jurisdiction of the ICC, but the accusation of genocide has it on the back foot. Calls are going out for a full boycott of next February Beijing Winter Olympics. The Irish government recently declared it would send no officials and the EU parliament has voted for a diplomatic boycott. Last week the UK parliament debated the same thing, with many of these points passionately made - but to no avail. The motion passed, but the government was non committal: IT has made no decision, it is already doing enough (despite Iain Duncan Smith suggesting otherwise).
Its time to order the window stickers. At a time when global sport hold everyone attention and Gareth Southgate's men take the knee, we can all show the abusers we can see them.
Source - PE No: 1552
Salaam
Another update, this has caused a lot of controversy and debate.
A Reluctant Embrace: China’s New Relationship with the Taliban
As the United States withdraws from Afghanistan and leaves a security vacuum there, is China moving in by cozying up to the Taliban? On July 28, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a high-profile official meeting with a delegation of nine Afghan Taliban representatives, including the group’s co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. This was not the first visit by Taliban members to China, but the meeting was unprecedented in its publicity, the seniority of the Chinese attendees, and the political messages conveyed. Most notably, Wang used the meeting to publicly recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan, a step that has major significance for the country’s future development.
Even so, close examination of the meeting’s details and the Chinese government’s record of engagement with the Taliban reveals that the future path of the relationship is far from certain. Not only is the endgame of the armed conflict in Afghanistan undetermined. There are also questions about how moderate the Taliban will ever be, which has a tremendous impact on Chinese officials’ perception of, and policy toward, the organization. Additionally, despite the narrative that Afghanistan could play an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative as well as in regional economic integration, economics is not yet an incentive for China to lunge into the war-plagued country. China has been burned badly in its previous investments in Afghanistan and will tread carefully in the future. In an effort to further its political and economic interests, the Chinese government has reluctantly embraced the Taliban, but it has also hedged by continuing to engage diplomatically with the Afghan government.
China’s Public Recognition of the Taliban as a Legitimate Political Force
In 1993, four years after the Soviet Union had withdrawn its last troops from Afghanistan and one year after the Afghan communist regime had collapsed, China evacuated its embassy there amid the violent struggle then taking place. After the Taliban seized power in 1996, the Chinese government never established an official relationship with that regime. The Taliban’s fundamentalist nature, their association with and harboring of al-Qaeda, and their questionable relationship with Uighur militants all led Chinese officials to view them negatively.
Even as China has maintained its official recognition of the Afghan government, in recent years, Chinese officials have developed a relationship with the Taliban in response to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and shifts in the balance of power on the ground. In 2015, China hosted secret talks between representatives of the Taliban and Afghan government in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. In July 2016, a Taliban delegation — led by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, then the group’s senior representative in Qatar — visited Beijing. During the trip, the Taliban representatives reportedly sought China’s understanding and support for their positions in Afghan domestic politics. China’s engagement efforts intensified in 2019, as peace talks between the United States and the Taliban gained speed. In June of that year, Baradar, who had become head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar and is viewed as a moderate figure by Chinese officials, visited China for official meetings on the Afghan peace process and counter-terrorism issues. After the negotiations between the Taliban and the United States in Doha faltered in September 2019, China tried to fill the void by inviting Baradar again to participate in a two-day, intra-Afghan conference in Beijing. It was originally scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30 of that year. It was postponed at least twice, in October and November, before China and ultimately the world plunged into the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting never took place.
China’s keen and active engagement with the Taliban reveals Beijing’s deepening perception of the group’s critical role in Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal. During his meeting with Baradar last month, Wang publicly described the Taliban as “a crucial military and political force in Afghanistan that is expected to play an important role in the peace, reconciliation, and reconstruction process of the country.” This was the first time that any Chinese official publicly recognized the Taliban as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan, a significant gesture that will boost the group’s domestic and international standing. As Chinese officials battle a reputation for cozying up to the Afghan Taliban — designated a terrorist organization by Canada, Russia, and others — it is important for them to justify the rationale for their engagement.
Wang did not forget to diss Washington in the meeting with the Taliban: He emphasized “the failed U.S. policy on Afghanistan” and encouraged the Afghan people to stabilize and develop their country without foreign interference. Although the United States was not the focus of the meeting, Chinese officials did draw a contrast between what they consider America’s selective approach to Afghan politics and China’s “benevolent” role by virtue of its self-proclaimed noninterference principle and amical approach to all political forces in Afghanistan.
The third aspect of Wang’s message focused on the demand that the Taliban “sever all ties with all terrorist organizations, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement,” a Muslim separatist group founded by militant Uighurs. Although many have questioned the existence of the organization, and the Trump administration removed it from the U.S. Terrorist Exclusion List last November, the presence of Uighur militants in Afghanistan and their political aspirations are real. This issue has been a priority for Chinese officials in their dealings with all political forces in Afghanistan. In fact, without the Taliban’s public promise in July not to harbor any group hostile to China, it is questionable whether Chinese officials would have issued such a high-profile recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political force at all.
China’s Balancing Diplomacy
While the Taliban delegation’s recent visit to Beijing has garnered much publicity, less attention was paid to what happened just prior to it. Twelve days before, General Secretary Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Xi emphasized “China’s firm support of the Afghan government to maintain the nation’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.” The call highlighted that not only does China still recognize Ghani’s government as the legitimate representative of Afghanistan, but that Beijing also has pledged its support to Ghani in relation to the peace process and much-needed COVID-19 relief, at least for the time being.
There are different views in China over the likely outcome of the conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Although many analysts assess that the Taliban will eventually prevail, some prominent Chinese experts have argued that the group’s victory is “only one of the possibilities” and that its territorial advances have been exaggerated. Even if many signs point to potential victory by the Taliban, the nature and timing of that event remain to be seen. For the Chinese government, uncertainty about the future of Afghan politics underscores the need for a balanced approach that maintains ties with both sides, as perfectly illustrated by Xi’s phone call with Ghani and Wang’s meeting with the Taliban.
As long as the civil war in Afghanistan persists, the Chinese government will continue to pursue this diplomatic balancing act as the best way to promote its interests. Indeed, China needs both the Afghan government and the Taliban to help protect the security of Chinese assets and nationals on the ground, as well as to combat organizations such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. In the event the Taliban and Afghan government end up in a prolonged stalemate, China also desires to play the role of a mediator — even if outsiders see it more as a facilitator — which requires China not to pick a side.
A China-Taliban Romance?
The meeting between Wang and the Taliban delegation was not all cozy. And China’s budding relationship with the group comes with conditions. Wang told his visitors — in a style reminiscent of a lecture — that they need to “build a positive image and pursue an inclusive policy.” The implied message is that if the Taliban enact draconian measures again, this will inevitably affect China’s stance toward them. Indeed, some Chinese experts have called for the Taliban to make more changes in their policies in order to modernize and pursue a moderate direction. The Taliban’s ability and willingness to do so will determine the depth and breadth of China’s future engagement with them.
Chinese officials have felt a growing need to curry favor with the Taliban as the security situation in Afghanistan and the surrounding region has deteriorated. On June 19, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a rare warning calling for all Chinese nationals and entities in Afghanistan to “evacuate as soon as possible” in anticipation of intensified fighting in the country. Two days after the Wang-Taliban meeting, the Foreign Ministry issued the same warning once again. In neighboring Pakistan, three high-profile attacks against Chinese nationals have been launched in the last four months: the April 22 bombing of a hotel in Quetta where the Chinese ambassador was staying, a bus explosion in Kohistan that killed nine Chinese engineers in mid-July, and the shooting in Karachi of a car carrying Chinese engineers on the same day the Taliban delegation met with Wang. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack and analysts also suspected that it is culpable in the other attacks. Some Chinese experts have warned that the security vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could lead to an intensification of violence against Chinese nationals in the region. Hence, Chinese officials will likely see a need to rely on the Afghan Taliban not to target China, as well as to help influence or rein in those who might.
The relationship is born of necessity rather than preference. Many Chinese officials and analysts have doubts about how modernized the Afghan Taliban will ever be. Although some in China assess that the Taliban have become more pragmatic, there is no guarantee for what their policy will look like, especially regarding relations with radical Islamic organizations in the region. In addition, even if the core of the Taliban adopts a neutral, or even friendly, policy toward China, whether it could rein in all of the group’s radical factions remains a major question. Chinese officials don’t see many choices other than working with the Afghan Taliban, but the relationship will be complex, and its course will be determined by numerous factors in the months and years ahead.
Economics Not Yet an Incentive
The Taliban have openly welcomed Chinese investment in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and have indicated they would guarantee the safety of investors and workers from China. However, China is unlikely to lunge into Afghanistan with major investment in the foreseeable future. There has consistently been a disconnect between Chinese rhetoric regarding Afghanistan’s economic potential and the actual scale of Chinese commercial projects in the country. In 2019, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan emphasized the important role Afghanistan could play in China’s Belt and Road Initiative as well as in Chinese-Pakistani-Afghan regional economic integration. Nevertheless, that rosy picture is not supported by the actual data. For the first six months of 2021, total Chinese foreign direct investment in Afghanistan was only $2.4 million, and the value of new service contracts signed was merely $130,000. That suggests that the number of Chinese companies and workers in Afghanistan is declining significantly. For the whole of 2020, total Chinese foreign direct investment in Afghanistan was $4.4 million, less than 3 percent of that type of Chinese investment in Pakistan, which was $110 million for the same year.
China has been burned badly in its investments in Afghanistan. Its two major projects to date — the Amu Darya basin oil project by China’s largest state-owned oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation, and the Aynak copper mine by state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the Jiangxi Copper Company Limited — have both been ill fated. The challenges have included archeological excavation that halted the progress of the Aynak copper mine, security threats, and renegotiation of terms as well as the challenges of resettling local residents. Among these, political instability and security threats have been the top concerns. As long as the security environment remains unstable, China is unlikely to launch major economic projects in Afghanistan. The American troop presence there was not the factor hindering Chinese economic activities. In fact, Chinese companies had benefited from the stability that U.S. troops provided. Therefore, the U.S. withdrawal is unlikely to encourage major Chinese investment.
Walking a Tightrope
In anticipation of prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, Beijing is trying to strike a balance in its diplomacy toward the Afghan government and the Taliban. Chinese officials’ recent recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political force is significant. However, the prospects for that relationship remain uncertain as the Taliban’s future policies are unclear. China has the capacity to play a bigger role in the country economically, but a willingness to do so will only emerge when there are signs of sustainable stability. China has been weaving a net of bilateral, trilateral (China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), and multilateral engagements to encourage that stability. If stability does not emerge in the foreseeable future, China most likely will avoid deep economic involvement in Afghanistan and will work with both the Afghan government and the Taliban to protect its interests on the ground.
https://warontherocks.com/2021/08/a-reluctant-embrace-chinas-new-relationship-with-the-taliban/
Another update, this has caused a lot of controversy and debate.
A Reluctant Embrace: China’s New Relationship with the Taliban
As the United States withdraws from Afghanistan and leaves a security vacuum there, is China moving in by cozying up to the Taliban? On July 28, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a high-profile official meeting with a delegation of nine Afghan Taliban representatives, including the group’s co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. This was not the first visit by Taliban members to China, but the meeting was unprecedented in its publicity, the seniority of the Chinese attendees, and the political messages conveyed. Most notably, Wang used the meeting to publicly recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan, a step that has major significance for the country’s future development.
Even so, close examination of the meeting’s details and the Chinese government’s record of engagement with the Taliban reveals that the future path of the relationship is far from certain. Not only is the endgame of the armed conflict in Afghanistan undetermined. There are also questions about how moderate the Taliban will ever be, which has a tremendous impact on Chinese officials’ perception of, and policy toward, the organization. Additionally, despite the narrative that Afghanistan could play an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative as well as in regional economic integration, economics is not yet an incentive for China to lunge into the war-plagued country. China has been burned badly in its previous investments in Afghanistan and will tread carefully in the future. In an effort to further its political and economic interests, the Chinese government has reluctantly embraced the Taliban, but it has also hedged by continuing to engage diplomatically with the Afghan government.
China’s Public Recognition of the Taliban as a Legitimate Political Force
In 1993, four years after the Soviet Union had withdrawn its last troops from Afghanistan and one year after the Afghan communist regime had collapsed, China evacuated its embassy there amid the violent struggle then taking place. After the Taliban seized power in 1996, the Chinese government never established an official relationship with that regime. The Taliban’s fundamentalist nature, their association with and harboring of al-Qaeda, and their questionable relationship with Uighur militants all led Chinese officials to view them negatively.
Even as China has maintained its official recognition of the Afghan government, in recent years, Chinese officials have developed a relationship with the Taliban in response to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and shifts in the balance of power on the ground. In 2015, China hosted secret talks between representatives of the Taliban and Afghan government in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. In July 2016, a Taliban delegation — led by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, then the group’s senior representative in Qatar — visited Beijing. During the trip, the Taliban representatives reportedly sought China’s understanding and support for their positions in Afghan domestic politics. China’s engagement efforts intensified in 2019, as peace talks between the United States and the Taliban gained speed. In June of that year, Baradar, who had become head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar and is viewed as a moderate figure by Chinese officials, visited China for official meetings on the Afghan peace process and counter-terrorism issues. After the negotiations between the Taliban and the United States in Doha faltered in September 2019, China tried to fill the void by inviting Baradar again to participate in a two-day, intra-Afghan conference in Beijing. It was originally scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30 of that year. It was postponed at least twice, in October and November, before China and ultimately the world plunged into the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting never took place.
China’s keen and active engagement with the Taliban reveals Beijing’s deepening perception of the group’s critical role in Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal. During his meeting with Baradar last month, Wang publicly described the Taliban as “a crucial military and political force in Afghanistan that is expected to play an important role in the peace, reconciliation, and reconstruction process of the country.” This was the first time that any Chinese official publicly recognized the Taliban as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan, a significant gesture that will boost the group’s domestic and international standing. As Chinese officials battle a reputation for cozying up to the Afghan Taliban — designated a terrorist organization by Canada, Russia, and others — it is important for them to justify the rationale for their engagement.
Wang did not forget to diss Washington in the meeting with the Taliban: He emphasized “the failed U.S. policy on Afghanistan” and encouraged the Afghan people to stabilize and develop their country without foreign interference. Although the United States was not the focus of the meeting, Chinese officials did draw a contrast between what they consider America’s selective approach to Afghan politics and China’s “benevolent” role by virtue of its self-proclaimed noninterference principle and amical approach to all political forces in Afghanistan.
The third aspect of Wang’s message focused on the demand that the Taliban “sever all ties with all terrorist organizations, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement,” a Muslim separatist group founded by militant Uighurs. Although many have questioned the existence of the organization, and the Trump administration removed it from the U.S. Terrorist Exclusion List last November, the presence of Uighur militants in Afghanistan and their political aspirations are real. This issue has been a priority for Chinese officials in their dealings with all political forces in Afghanistan. In fact, without the Taliban’s public promise in July not to harbor any group hostile to China, it is questionable whether Chinese officials would have issued such a high-profile recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political force at all.
China’s Balancing Diplomacy
While the Taliban delegation’s recent visit to Beijing has garnered much publicity, less attention was paid to what happened just prior to it. Twelve days before, General Secretary Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Xi emphasized “China’s firm support of the Afghan government to maintain the nation’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.” The call highlighted that not only does China still recognize Ghani’s government as the legitimate representative of Afghanistan, but that Beijing also has pledged its support to Ghani in relation to the peace process and much-needed COVID-19 relief, at least for the time being.
There are different views in China over the likely outcome of the conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Although many analysts assess that the Taliban will eventually prevail, some prominent Chinese experts have argued that the group’s victory is “only one of the possibilities” and that its territorial advances have been exaggerated. Even if many signs point to potential victory by the Taliban, the nature and timing of that event remain to be seen. For the Chinese government, uncertainty about the future of Afghan politics underscores the need for a balanced approach that maintains ties with both sides, as perfectly illustrated by Xi’s phone call with Ghani and Wang’s meeting with the Taliban.
As long as the civil war in Afghanistan persists, the Chinese government will continue to pursue this diplomatic balancing act as the best way to promote its interests. Indeed, China needs both the Afghan government and the Taliban to help protect the security of Chinese assets and nationals on the ground, as well as to combat organizations such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. In the event the Taliban and Afghan government end up in a prolonged stalemate, China also desires to play the role of a mediator — even if outsiders see it more as a facilitator — which requires China not to pick a side.
A China-Taliban Romance?
The meeting between Wang and the Taliban delegation was not all cozy. And China’s budding relationship with the group comes with conditions. Wang told his visitors — in a style reminiscent of a lecture — that they need to “build a positive image and pursue an inclusive policy.” The implied message is that if the Taliban enact draconian measures again, this will inevitably affect China’s stance toward them. Indeed, some Chinese experts have called for the Taliban to make more changes in their policies in order to modernize and pursue a moderate direction. The Taliban’s ability and willingness to do so will determine the depth and breadth of China’s future engagement with them.
Chinese officials have felt a growing need to curry favor with the Taliban as the security situation in Afghanistan and the surrounding region has deteriorated. On June 19, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a rare warning calling for all Chinese nationals and entities in Afghanistan to “evacuate as soon as possible” in anticipation of intensified fighting in the country. Two days after the Wang-Taliban meeting, the Foreign Ministry issued the same warning once again. In neighboring Pakistan, three high-profile attacks against Chinese nationals have been launched in the last four months: the April 22 bombing of a hotel in Quetta where the Chinese ambassador was staying, a bus explosion in Kohistan that killed nine Chinese engineers in mid-July, and the shooting in Karachi of a car carrying Chinese engineers on the same day the Taliban delegation met with Wang. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack and analysts also suspected that it is culpable in the other attacks. Some Chinese experts have warned that the security vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could lead to an intensification of violence against Chinese nationals in the region. Hence, Chinese officials will likely see a need to rely on the Afghan Taliban not to target China, as well as to help influence or rein in those who might.
The relationship is born of necessity rather than preference. Many Chinese officials and analysts have doubts about how modernized the Afghan Taliban will ever be. Although some in China assess that the Taliban have become more pragmatic, there is no guarantee for what their policy will look like, especially regarding relations with radical Islamic organizations in the region. In addition, even if the core of the Taliban adopts a neutral, or even friendly, policy toward China, whether it could rein in all of the group’s radical factions remains a major question. Chinese officials don’t see many choices other than working with the Afghan Taliban, but the relationship will be complex, and its course will be determined by numerous factors in the months and years ahead.
Economics Not Yet an Incentive
The Taliban have openly welcomed Chinese investment in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and have indicated they would guarantee the safety of investors and workers from China. However, China is unlikely to lunge into Afghanistan with major investment in the foreseeable future. There has consistently been a disconnect between Chinese rhetoric regarding Afghanistan’s economic potential and the actual scale of Chinese commercial projects in the country. In 2019, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan emphasized the important role Afghanistan could play in China’s Belt and Road Initiative as well as in Chinese-Pakistani-Afghan regional economic integration. Nevertheless, that rosy picture is not supported by the actual data. For the first six months of 2021, total Chinese foreign direct investment in Afghanistan was only $2.4 million, and the value of new service contracts signed was merely $130,000. That suggests that the number of Chinese companies and workers in Afghanistan is declining significantly. For the whole of 2020, total Chinese foreign direct investment in Afghanistan was $4.4 million, less than 3 percent of that type of Chinese investment in Pakistan, which was $110 million for the same year.
China has been burned badly in its investments in Afghanistan. Its two major projects to date — the Amu Darya basin oil project by China’s largest state-owned oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation, and the Aynak copper mine by state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the Jiangxi Copper Company Limited — have both been ill fated. The challenges have included archeological excavation that halted the progress of the Aynak copper mine, security threats, and renegotiation of terms as well as the challenges of resettling local residents. Among these, political instability and security threats have been the top concerns. As long as the security environment remains unstable, China is unlikely to launch major economic projects in Afghanistan. The American troop presence there was not the factor hindering Chinese economic activities. In fact, Chinese companies had benefited from the stability that U.S. troops provided. Therefore, the U.S. withdrawal is unlikely to encourage major Chinese investment.
Walking a Tightrope
In anticipation of prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, Beijing is trying to strike a balance in its diplomacy toward the Afghan government and the Taliban. Chinese officials’ recent recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political force is significant. However, the prospects for that relationship remain uncertain as the Taliban’s future policies are unclear. China has the capacity to play a bigger role in the country economically, but a willingness to do so will only emerge when there are signs of sustainable stability. China has been weaving a net of bilateral, trilateral (China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), and multilateral engagements to encourage that stability. If stability does not emerge in the foreseeable future, China most likely will avoid deep economic involvement in Afghanistan and will work with both the Afghan government and the Taliban to protect its interests on the ground.
https://warontherocks.com/2021/08/a-reluctant-embrace-chinas-new-relationship-with-the-taliban/
I can't see the Taliban getting on with anti God Red China. Afghanistan is rich in mineral resources and it will need to buddy up to a super power if it wants to survive. Russia is probably the best candidate as there are Christian and Muslim states and it is very close to Afghanistan. USA is far away and very Zionist and culturally, politically, morally and ideologically manipulating and seething with cultural Marxist wokes-- probably the most obnoxious country on Earth.
Salaam
Very distressing to see, there are no good choices, all these choices are unpalpatable.
Having said that compared to other Muslim countries I think they will at least give them shelter and wont force them to go back to one of the worse fates imaginable.
The hard reality
Having said that, this 'pragmatic' approach wont work without you debasing yourself in the process - if China is capable of doing this evil to Muslims (and their techniques are already being copied more or less abroad) what makes you think they wont do this to you in the future. Are they the really the kind of 'friend' you want?
Tidbit from history.
Very distressing to see, there are no good choices, all these choices are unpalpatable.
Having said that compared to other Muslim countries I think they will at least give them shelter and wont force them to go back to one of the worse fates imaginable.
The hard reality
Having said that, this 'pragmatic' approach wont work without you debasing yourself in the process - if China is capable of doing this evil to Muslims (and their techniques are already being copied more or less abroad) what makes you think they wont do this to you in the future. Are they the really the kind of 'friend' you want?
Tidbit from history.
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