The westernmost region of China is a historically majority Turkic place, inhabited by the Uyghur people. They are Muslims and have their own language and culture. However, they have been under vicious attack from the Chinese government, who in the name of economic development through her “belt-and-road” initiative as well as dreams of expanding a Chinese hegemony that never existed and clamping down on any possibility for rebellion, China has decided to exterminate the Uyghur people through a systematic genocide. The entire province of Xinjiang, where the Uyghurs come from, has been turned into a massive open prison monitored by AI systems and aided with the support of American, European, and Israeli businesses seeking to profit from selling technology to murderers.
Most of the people in Xinjiang, especially those who are picked up and sent to “education camps” in the area, are seldom heard from again. Many are tortured and put to death directly or through systematic maltreatment. Some journalists have braved to go in and report. However, it is dangerous for them because of the tight control that China keeps over the area. It is even more dangerous for those who try to escape, as certain death usually awaits. However, that is what one woman did, and after her case made international attention, she then sought and received asylum in Sweden where she confirmed what happened in the camps, and even worse.
Torture – metal nails, fingernails pulled out, electric shocks – takes place in the “black room.” Punishment is a constant. The prisoners are forced to take pills and get injections. It’s for disease prevention, the staff tell them, but in reality they are the human subjects of medical experiments. Many of the inmates suffer from cognitive decline. Some of the men become sterile. Women are routinely raped.
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The other inmates, those who weren’t burdened with teaching duties, endured more stringent conditions. “There were almost 20 people in a room of 16 square meters [172 sq. ft.],” she says. “There were cameras in their rooms, too, and also in the corridor. Each room had a plastic bucket for a toilet. Every prisoner was given two minutes a day to use the toilet, and the bucket was emptied only once a day. If it filled up, you had to wait until the next day. The prisoners wore uniforms and their heads were shaved. Their hands and feet were shackled all day, except when they had to write. Even in sleep they were shackled, and they were required to sleep on their right side – anyone who turned over was punished.”
Sauytbay had to teach the prisoners – who were Uyghur or Kazakh speakers – Chinese and Communist Party propaganda songs. She was with them throughout the day. The daily routine began at 6 A.M. Chinese instruction took place after a paltry breakfast, followed by repetition and rote learning. There were specified hours for learning propaganda songs and reciting slogans from posters: “I love China,” “Thank you to the Communist Party,” “I am Chinese” and “I love Xi Jinping” – China’s president.
The afternoon and evening hours were devoted to confessions of crimes and moral offenses. “Between 4 and 6 P.M. the pupils had to think about their sins. Almost everything could be considered a sin, from observing religious practices and not knowing the Chinese language or culture, to immoral behavior. Inmates who did not think of sins that were severe enough or didn’t make up something were punished.”
After supper, they would continue dealing with their sins. “When the pupils finished eating they were required to stand facing the wall with their hands raised and think about their crimes again. At 10 o’clock, they had two hours for writing down their sins and handing in the pages to those in charge. The daily routine actually went on until midnight, and sometimes the prisoners were assigned guard duty at night. The others could sleep from midnight until six.” (source)
There is a sad and disturbing irony to all of this considering what happened a century ago with the Japanese occupation of China.
During that time, China performed many horrible experiments on people openly. This was captured on film in the Chinese movie The Men Behind The Sun, as well as in the film City Of Life And Death.
It was wrong what the Japanese did to the Chinese. There is no excuse for it. However, at the same time, what reason justifies the treatment of the Uyghurs such as this?
There is no reason. “Terrorism” in not an excuse either, because evil does not justify evil. Terrorists have killed and abused many, but they have not wiped out an entire people, as is what the Chinese government is attempting to do.
The Chinese Communist Party is very evil, and fancies themselves to be, as they would have it before the world, an invincible force that nobody can stop. However, the fact that everybody knows is that they are brutal, they are evil, and they will recall their true plight of the past while striking back with as hard or worse ferocity in supporting the same eugenic ends.
Make no mistake, the Central Asian peoples are looking on and know what is happening. Russia too is watching, and while she claims to support the Chinese, she has no issue turning against them, as she does not trust them.
Currently, Trump is working on reviving the Japanese military through progressively undoing the post-World War II shackles placed upon her. If this happens, the Japan will do to China what China is doing to the Uyghurs right now, and likely worse. Yet what can be said about the Chinese?
Remember the story in the Bible the parable of the unforgiving servant, whose master forgave him his debts but he refused to forgive those who were indebted to him. In response for his cruelty, the servant was ordered blinded by his master and thrown into darkness.
China has become powerful, but as her power has risen, so has her cruelty to others. It is true that the acquisition of power often involves doing things that are sometimes not good, but genocide is never a reason, and the Chinese have barely attempted to hide their actions before the world.
Perhaps the Japanese coming out of her cage, just like the remilitarization of Germany and the impending release of the Teutonic war dog alongside her Turkish comrade, while certainly not good, is justice for a world who wants mercy for herself but not for others.