COLUMN
There are three ways for a territory to be yours, two of which are legal, and one is illegal. First, if the land is inherited from your ancestors, it is yours and legal. Second, if you payed for and bought this land, it is yours and legal. The third one is that you forcibly occupied it, it is yours but illegal and with the possibility that the original owners of the land will take it back someday.
Now, let us look at China’s shameless claims about East Turkistan according to these criteria. It should be said that historically, the Chinese are not an ethnic group who have lived in this territory! However, the Chinese, whether nationalists or communists, have been trying to inculcate this myth in the history books as if the land were theirs for “two thousand years”.
Furthermore, they have put in considerable effort in to implanting this lie in the subconsciousness of their descendants, guiding them to believe in it as historical fact. As a result of this indoctrination, Chinese authorities have successfully made Chinese people accept that not only East Turkistan but also all of Central Asia is theirs as fact. However, if we put it into practice and examine this “historical fact,” everything becomes clear:
According to Amnesty International in 2002, before the communists occupied East Turkestan in 1949, the Chinese population made up only 2 per cent of the population in East Turkestan. This percentage exclusively included the number of the invading army, the police, the colonial government officials, and their family members. There were no Chinese farmers or herdsmen living in East Turkistan. So, how can the Chinese, who made up only 2 percent until 1949, claim the land as something they inherited from their ancestors? Where is the homeland of the remaining 98 percent?
Did the Chinese rent the land out to the Uyghurs and other Turkic nations while they returned to China? If so, do they have the rental agreement or contract? To change this historical reality, the Chinese authorities are now selling the myth that “Chinese people have become the majority in East Turkestan. Uyghurs and the other ethnic groups in East Turkistan are the migrants,” fabricating a false history and forcing it to be accepted.
If China bought the land, is there any contract or document proving it? Obviously, China has never claimed that they have bought this land.
In that case, what remains here is the third possibility, namely, China has occupied East Turkistan by force or other illegal means. If this is the case, respecting this as a historical fact, China or the rest of the world should recognize East Turkistan as an occupied region. In general, morality is very black and white, you are either good or evil. If one ignores injustice and fails to accept the truth, they are truly evil. Putting personal interest above the truth is also immoral.
In light of these reflections, we, the people of East Turkestan who are being brutally oppressed and humiliated in today’s civilized world, sincerely urge the whole world to acknowledge, advocate and stand up for the truth, as opposed to taking side of the oppressor, and ignoring historical facts. We expect that the world will recognize East Turkestan as an occupied country. Furthermore, to recognize China as the occupier and aggressor. Fascism is always a catastrophe, and we warn all of humanity of Chinese fascism.
We as the oppressed understand China the most. We understand that the unique Chinese method of expansionism is immigration. Colonialism is “殖民主义” in Chinese, literally meaning “reproduction or growth of the population.” It is the practice of changing the demographic structure of the local population with an influx of immigrants from the colonizers. For example, Singapore, originally part of Malaysia, has an immense majority Chinese population thanks to mass influx of Chinese immigrants. The point is, China has taken over Singapore without even using military forces. Today, Malaysia has a population of more than four million Chinese immigrants, who contribute to more than half of the Malaysian economy.
The demographic structure of far Russian regions such as Siberia and Vladivostok, is completely changing. The Chinese immigrant population there has surpassed the local population. Chinese immigrants in Central Asia, who are settling by marrying natives, are being intentionally encouraged by the Chinese state to create a cooperative force from within for China’s expansionism into Central Asia. It is only a matter of time before China starts claiming these lands. Africa was liberated from European colonialism but now is under threat of colonization again as the Chinese immigrant population grows.
Unfortunately, the growing number of Chinese immigrants are increasing also in Latin America and Canada, where their efforts to seize mining rights for the oil industry, and their success in these types of schemes are still not taken seriously by these countries. China will not stop until they get in full control of everything. And until they do, Chinese people will try to be the quietest, friendliest, and gentlest people in the world.
The fact is, we cannot convince anyone other than us to believe in the deceptive nature of the Chinese people. The cruelty is hidden under the hard working, gentle, soft spoken expressions of the Chinese and is not so easily exposed. By the time their original color is revealed we are already too late (just like in our experience) to rectify our mistakes and change our situation.
Chinese aid given underdeveloped countries today, is the beginning of a catastrophe tomorrow. After this aid gets too difficult for the debtor country to repay, China will claim their land. This is proven by what happened in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, where China succeeded in demanding land in exchange for debts.
We consider it our humanitarian duty to warn you that the same genocide is fast approaching countries indebted to China. Soon the aid they received will become a strangling rope around their neck. We call on the world to respect historical facts and recognize East Turkistan as an occupied country.
Furthermore, we call on the world to fight with the Uyghurs to regain our independence and control of our homeland. If you allow this to happen to the Uyghurs, what’s stopping China from doing the same to your country?
(This article was written by the president of East Turkistan Government in-Exile Ghulam Osman)