Report: China Has Renamed Hundreds of Uyghur Villages, Towns
A new report from Human Rights Watch and Norway-based Uyghur Hjelp says China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, removing religious, historical, and cultural references....
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Facts
- A new report from Human Rights Watch and Norway-based Uyghur Hjelp says China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, removing religious, historical, and cultural references.1
- The researchers cited data from China's National Bureau of Statistics website, claiming that Beijing in 2009 began swapping out Uyghur names for ones that reflect the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.2
- Uyghurs are Turkic Muslims who have long had a tense relationship with Beijing, which accuses many of wanting independence.3
- Approximately 11M Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities live in Xinjiang, a vast region bordering Kazakhstan. Mass detentions, political indoctrination, family separations, and forced labor were allegedly part of a 2017 assimilation campaign.4
- Since 2014, China has allegedly detained millions of Uyghur and Turkic Muslims in re-education camps and jails, criminalizing religious acts like growing beards and Qur'an readings. NGOs have documented mass labor transfers, social re-education, torture, disappearances, and reproductive control.1
- China, however, has repeatedly denied the allegations, countering that it's attempting to mitigate counter-terrorist and extremist threats in Xinjiang.1
Sources: 1Guardian, 2Al Jazeera, 3Firstpost and 4Associated Press.
Narratives
- Anti-China narrative, as provided by Human Rights Watch. China has been guilty of crimes against humanity in relation to the Uyghurs for years, and the renaming of Uyghur cities and villages is just another blatant move to erase the Uyghurs' existence. The international community must step up its efforts to hold Beijing accountable for its atrocities in Xinjiang.
- Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. This report is just another bout of misinformation produced by an organization sympathetic to nations that have a bone to pick with China. The CCP is performing counterterrorism actions in Xinjiang in order to protect its national security. The US, its friendly human rights organizations, and other aligned countries should stop making false claims against China.
