Chinese dictator Xi Jinping made a rare visit to occupied East Turkistan, home of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims, for the 70th anniversary of the “founding” of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
This is the Chinese Communist government’s euphemism for the anniversary of China conquering the Uyghur homeland of East Turkestan by force.
As groups like the World Uyghur Congress point out every year, what China is actually commemorating is the date in 1955 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China marched across the border and consolidated their grip on the region by transforming it into a “semi-autonomous” “province” of China.
Autonomy was rather thin on the ground when China was marching the Uyghurs into massive concentration camps and forcing them to renounce their culture and religious faith to accept Chinese Communist dogma. During this year’s Ramadan holiday, Chinese officials reportedly ordered Uyghur Muslims to submit video proof that they ate food during the day, instead of following the Ramadan daytime fasting ritual.
The U.S. State Department denounced China’s abuse of the Uyghurs as “genocide” in 2021. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which presumes all Chinese companies operating in Xinjiang are using forced labor from the Uyghurs unless they can prove otherwise, went into effect in 2022.
China built the world’s most oppressive surveillance state to monitor the Uyghurs, pioneering surveillance technology that Beijing has since exported to other oppressive governments around the world. Uyghur activists have sued Chinese information technology giants like Huawei and Hikvision for their roles in developing surveillance technology for Xinjiang.
Xi was the first Chinese leader to attend the anniversary event in person, but it was otherwise much the same as in previous years. Chinese officials deflect accusations of forced labor and genocide by insisting they have improved the lives of Uyghurs by pouring money into the province for infrastructure and reducing unemployment.
The dictator arrived in the provincial capital of Urumqi with two members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the top executive body of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese state media claimed the presence of these high-ranking officials “fully demonstrates” that the Party “attaches great importance” to “people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.”
Other Chinese media outlets touted the growth of tourism in Xinjiang, facilitated by China’s construction of rail, road, and air transit lines to the mountainous region.
“Video from state TV showed dozens of dancing, flower-waving celebrants on the airport tarmac as Xi disembarked. State media reports say he met with representatives of ethnic groups and ‘expressed the hope that everyone would join forces and move forward together to build a beautiful Xinjiang,’” Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
Xi made a similar visit to oppressed Tibet in August to mark the 60th anniversary of China’s conquest of the Himalayan nation. The Tibetan event mixed flowers and dancing with a military parade and ominous warnings that “separatism” would not be tolerated.
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