DPRK SUPPORTS CHINA REGARDING UIGHUR

Saudi Arabia, Russia and North Korea were among 37 countries that
signed a letter praising China's 'remarkable achievements in the field of
human rights' over its Uighur Muslim oppression.

(CNN)​Ambassadors representing 37 countries praised China for its "remarkable

achievements in the field of human rights,"​ just a day after a group of 22 other countries

formally condemned Beijing for the mass detention of ethnic and religious minorities in the

country's Xinjiang region.

The Thursday letter was the first major collective international challenge to China's ongoing policy in its far western
border region, where experts estimate ​up to 2 million people ​have been detained in vast re-education style camps.
Many of those detained are ethnic Uyghurs and Muslims.

Beijing denies any allegations of torture or political indoctrination, and says the camps are "vocational training
centers" designed to fight terrorism and combat Islamic extremism.

China's partners backed that claim in their Friday letter, claiming the signatories to the
Thursday statement were politicizing human rights issues, ​according to China's
state-run Xinhua news agency​.

In their letter, the 37 envoys commended China's efforts in "protecting human and

promoting human rights through development," echoing a common refrain used in

Chinese state media.

"The past three consecutive years has seen not a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang and

people there enjoy a stronger sense of happiness, fulfillment and security," the envoys said.

The cThe countries backing China included several accused of human rights violations.
Among those listed are Saudi Arabia, accused of ​jailing​ and ​executing​ dissidents and
critics of the regime; Russia, accused of cracking down on ​individual freedoms ​and
killing critics​ of President Vladimir Putin; Myanmar, ​accused of carrying out crimes
against​ humanity targeting the minority Rohingya community inside the country; Syria,
where the Bashar al Assad regime ​has been accused of using chemical weapons
against civilians​; and North Korea, which is ​accused of detaining more than 100,000
political prisoners in a gulag-like facilities.

"The pro-China signatories include a rogues' gallery of rights abusing countries that

have zero credibility when it comes to human rights," Elaine Pearson of Human Rights
Watch said in a statement.

Pearson said it appears the letter criticizing China "touched a nerve."

"Clearly the Chinese government is feeling so insecure that it needs to issue a

statement praising itself," she said.

'Sensitive and concerned'

Allegations of ​torture inside the​ Xinjiang camps are rampant. Accounts ​given to CNN​ by
former detainees describe forced reeducation under the threat of violence.

The reports, however, have been difficult to independently corroborate. Though the
Chinese government has provided limited access to journalists and foreign diplomats in
strictly guided tours of the facilities, access to Xinjiang is tightly controlled, amid growing
surveillance and a prominent police presence.

China tries to thwart CNN probe into detention camps 03:56

Top UN officials including Michelle Bachelet have called for the global body to be given
access to the camps to investigate allegations of human rights abuses.

James Leibold, a professor at Australia's La Trobe University who specializes in modern

Chinese history and society, said Beijing is likely seeking help from its international
partners in order to bolster its arguments

"They've always been sensitive and concerned about how they are viewed
internationally, and I think the entire Xinjiang story and the amount of press it's gotten
internationally has really disturbed policy makers in Beijing," Leibold said.

"It's not enough for them to say it themselves, they want to get their allies and
supporters internationally to also back that claim ... particularly in the Muslim world,
where I think they need to make sure that the wider Islamic community doesn't start to
question what's happening in Xinjiang, to see China as anti-Islam."

The Thursday letter expressing concern about "credible reports of arbitrary detention ...
as well as widespread surveillance and restrictions" was co-signed by mostly Western

and European countries.

The 37 countries who signed the letter backing China included several Muslim majority
nations, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Pakistan.

AT A SESSION of the U.N. Human Rights Council this month, 22 mostly Western

ambassadors joined in a ​letter ​expressing concern about China’s mass detentions in the

Xinjiang region and calling for “meaningful access” for “independent international

observers.” It was another tepid gesture in what has been a weak international effort to

respond to Beijing’s ​campaign of cultural genocide​ against the Uighur ethnic group and

other Muslim minorities.

What was remarkable was what came next. Four days later, countries recruited by

Beijing ​delivered their own letter ​to the council, signed by 37 ambassadors, which

endorsed what it whitewashed as a “counter-terrorism and de-radicalization” operation

and ​claimed​ that “the fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there are

safeguarded.” The signatories included the usual global rogue’s gallery — Cuba,

Russia, North Korea, Venezuela. But a dozen Muslim governments also joined in —

thereby sanctioning one of the largest assaults on Islam in modern times.

The ​statement​ represents a shameful capitulation by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the

United Arab Emirates, Algeria and other majority-Muslim states that frequently pose as

defenders of the faith — especially when it involves condemning Israel. And it offers an

augur of what international affairs will look like if the Chinese regime of Xi Jinping

realizes its global ambitions: a world where most states meekly submit to Beijing’s

dictates and endorse its crimes.

That abuses of historic magnitude are taking place in Xinjiang is now ​beyond question​.

According to ​outside estimates​, more than 1 million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims

are being held in concentration camps where they are being forced to learn Chinese

and abandon their own languages and religious practices. The children of those

detained have been sent to ​separate camps​ to be indoctrinated. And the rest of the

some 13 million Muslims in the region, which is twice the size of Germany, are

subjected to​ intrusive monitoring​ by more than 1 million agents, as well as ubiquitous

high-tech surveillance systems​.

That Muslim nations would condone this record is testimony to Beijing’s ability to

leverage its growing economic clout. A few of those that signed, including Pakistan and

Tajikistan, are benefiting from billions of dollars in Chinese investments through the

​ elt and Road​” infrastructure program. Others are hoping for a share. Saudi Arabia,
“B
whose U.N. ambassador ​falsely claimed t​ hat the letter only addressed China’s

“developmental work,” is desperate for foreign investment.

A few important Muslim countries resisted China’s lobbying and did not sign the letter,

including Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia. But none was brave enough to join in the

Western letter, mild though it was. Perhaps they would show more determination if the

United States was stronger in denouncing the genocide. But the Trump administration

has been inconsistent, at best. On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, angered

by what he said was China’s lobbying of governments not to attend a conference on

religious freedom he hosted, called its treatment of the Uighurs the​ “stain of the

century.”

Yet when a Uighur attending the conference spoke about the camps
to President Trump, ​he appeared baffled​, asking where in China they
were before commenting, “That’s tough stuff.” It’s a short distance
from that waffle to the full sellout by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.