Xinjiang crisis creates ripples abroad
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - In recent days, China's mainland intellectuals have publicly
displayed a wave of patriotic support for the Xinjiang cause. They have
expressed anger against "hostile foreign forces", which they blame for inciting
the recent violence in the ethnic Muslim area.
But much of this is suspected of being stage-managed by the country's leaders.
And behind this fervent display there is a welling up of anger in a section of
the Chinese literati who are critical of Beijing's policies towards it ethnic
minorities.
The Xinjiang crisis, which erupted in early July, claiming 197 lives, has now
spilled far beyond the borders of China's resource-rich western autonomous
region.
Last week, the issue created ripples in Melbourne, which is
hosting Australia's largest film festival.
Several Chinese filmmakers decided to boycott the festival in a gesture of
protest against the inclusion of a documentary in the festival about Rebiya
Kadeer, an exiled Uyghur leader accused by Beijing of instigating the unrest
from abroad.
Rebiya Kadeer on Wednesday said 10,000 people vanished overnight during the
unrest. "If they were killed where are the bodies? If they were taken away,
where are they now?" she asked at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
Among the directors who withdrew their works from the festival is Jia Zhangke,
one of China's award-winning independent filmmakers.
His refusal to participate in the Melbourne festival spurred Beijing to
highlight that artists operating outside of the mainstream film umbrella are
"patriots" who are unwilling to compromise on issues of national sovereignty.
The Beijing Youth Daily reported that Zhangke felt repulsed by the idea of
appearing on the same stage as Rebiya Kadeer.
"We feel that appearing with Rebiya in a thoroughly politicized festival,
crosses the line of what our emotions and behavior can accept, and [it] is not
appropriate. Therefore, Xstream [Jia's production company] unanimously decided
to withdraw, in order to express our attitude and position," said the press
statement released by Zhangke.
The film festival's organizers said they were unable to verify whether his
decision to withdraw was under duress. Zhangke has not been available for any
independent comments since then.
But the walkout from the festival has been very publicly supported by a slew of
famous film directors and film industry heavyweights. Director Feng Xiaogang,
known as the master of sweet-sour modern Chinese dramas, told the state agency
Xinhua last week that film festivals should be a platform for cultural and
artistic exchanges.
"However, the Melbourne film festival organizers have turned it into a
political drama by inviting Rebiya Kadeer, a political liar," he said.
The works that were withdrawn from the festival were not state-endorsed film
products by any standards. Zhangke's Cry Me a River is an elegy of lost
idealism swept by the tides of China's fast modernization. Petition,
another withdrawn film, by director Zhao Liang, is a documentary about the
evolution of the ancient Chinese tradition of petitioning central authorities
over the abuses by local officials.
Beijing's chances of pushing its version of what happened in Xinjiang as
legitimate have got a boost with artistic rebels like Zhangke appearing to be
on its side.
Riots were reportedly ignited in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, on July 5, as
college students and other citizens protested against the death of two Uyghur
migrant workers in a factory located in Shaoguan, Guangdong province. But
Beijing claims Uyghur terrorist units from southern and western Xinjiangg
infiltrated Urumqi before July 5 and instigated the riots.
Chinese leaders have blamed Rebiya Kadeer, a 62-year-old former business
tycoon, now exiled in the United States, for inciting the violence. Beijing
claims that the "East Turkestan forces" - a Uyghur independence movement
accused by China of having terrorist links - have long portrayed Kadeer as an
international spokesperson for Uyghur people, similar to the role the Dalai
Lama plays for Tibetans.
Beijing's claims have received a mixed response overseas. Japan has irked China
by issuing a visa to Kadeer despite Beijing's repeated concerns that she might
engage in "anti-China separatist activities". India, however, showed more
consideration for Beijing's concerns and denied Kadeer a visa even before the
July riots.
Domestically, Beijing has attempted to muzzle dissenting voices on the causes
of the protests. But Chinese intellectuals have been prodding the roots of
ethnic unrest since the Tibetan riots last year, which exposed the facade of
harmonious society painstakingly maintained by the leadership.
The debate over China's dealings with its 56 ethnic minorities is gathering
pace despite official frowns. Two polarized views have emerged. The first is
about defending the rights of the majority Han Chinese, who make up 91% of the
country's population, to develop. The other traces the roots of ethnic
resentment among Tibetans and Uyghurs. Beijing's imposed economic modernization
of their homeland, observers say, has led to the social marginalization of
these ethnic groups.
Ma Rong, a professor of sociology at Beijing University, represents the former
view. He argues that while Beijing did not grant its minorities the right to
self-determination, as the former Soviet Union did, it did offer several social
privileges that are currently being exploited by hostile elements.
Those rights include exemption from China's "one-child" policy, educational
privileges and a slew of financial and infrastructure programs aimed at
boosting their economic development. Ma warns against treading the path of the
former Soviet Union. The right of autonomy for its ethnic minorities led to the
politicization of ethnic identities and ultimately to the breakup of the Soviet
empire.
"Modern China's policies on ethnic minorities were hugely influenced by the
Soviet Union's theories on nation-building, and therefore there exists a clear
danger of nationalist separation in China too," Ma wrote in a research paper,
excerpts of which were published in the Southern Weekend newspaper.
The opposing lobby argues that the lack of adequate rights to development has
led to the flaring up of ethnic unrest. Investigating the causes for the
widespread Tibetan riots in March last year, members of the liberal group
Gongmeng, or Open Constitution Initiative, came up with a report detailing a
list of grievances among ethnic groups.
Their paper, posted briefly in June on Chinese websites before being censored
by the authorities, argues that Beijing has not given ethnic minorities a fair
share of the profits from the exploitation of their homeland's resources. It
also states that ethnic Han Chinese migrants enjoy a monopoly on jobs in all
service industries promoted by the central government as ways of ending
poverty.
When the Urumqi riots broke out in July, investigative reports revealed the
same picture. The two migrant workers who died in a toy factory brawl in
southern China were part of a government-funded labor export scheme aimed at
relieving poverty in a Xinjiang area, where jobs for locals were few and far
between.
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