Countries have varied reasons for refusing to confront China over its human rights record
three years China’s government, citing national-security concerns, has run relentless campaigns against the culture and religion of the Uighur people, 11m Muslims who speak a Turkic language and live in Xinjiang, China’s north-westernmost corner. Mosques have been shut. Men are forbidden to grow beards, women may not wear head coverings and children are barred from prayers.
Until the middle of 2018, Chinese diplomats managed to keep international criticism of the camps in check. At that point America’s vice-president, Mike Pence, raised concerns about “round-the-clock political indoctrination”. Since then, the Chinese have lost their battle to persuade foreign countries that Xinjiang is purely an internal matter, of no concern to anyone else. But they have turned it into an issue that polarises diplomatic opinion. That polarisation has now burst into the open.
Days later, 37 countries, among them Russia and Saudi Arabia, responded with a letter of their own, defending China’s policies on the grounds of fighting terrorism. Some signatories were anti-Western autocracies which can be relied upon to rally round anyone that the West criticises. They include Russia and Venezuela. Other signatories are Western allies, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which oppose what might be called the global human-rights regime.
Most intriguing, however are Gulf states which back China for a combination of defence, economic and even religious reasons. The United Arab Emirates, for example, cannot get the drones it wants from America, so is buying China’s Wing Loong 2 drones. It signed the letter, along with 19 other members of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, an international group of mostly Muslim-majority states.
China’s attempt to divide international opinion about Xinjiang has worked so far. But, as more details leak out about the region’s camps, Muslim leaders are beginning to come under domestic pressure to defend their co-religionists. One day, they may find it harder to kowtow."With friends like these"
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