US Brings Attention to Uyghurs

Academic Ilham Tohti said tensions needed to be reduced in Xinjiang

In a bipartisan effort not often seen these days in the US Senate, 13 lawmakers have signed a letter of nomination this year of Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo, Norway.

They hope this will put pressure on China to stop its crackdown of the minority group.

Tohti, an ethnic Uyghur economist, writer and professor at Minzu University in Beijing, has been serving a life sentence since 2014 on separatism-related charges.

However, he was vocal about the need to reduce tensions in Xinjiang, and asked Beijing to abide by the region's existing laws, reduce economic discrimination, and establish a legal system.

Tohti was sentenced to life in prison in 2014

"This nomination could not be more timely as the Chinese government and Communist Party continue to perpetrate gross human rights violations with over a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslims detained in 'political re-education' camps," said Republic Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

It is believed more than a million Uyghurs are being held in extrajudicial internment camps in Xinjiang, a crackdown that started in 2017, that the government claims is an anti-terrorist measure. The authorities later claimed these camps help the ethnic minority to learn better job skills to make them more employable.

Two weeks ago, representatives Christopher Smith and Thomas Suozzi introduced a bill called the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, that empowers the State Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to hold accountable Chinese officials who intimidate Uyghurs overseas.

"It's encouraging to see that the issue is attracting more interest," said Sean Roberts, director of the International Development Studies Program at George Washington University.

Tohti was recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

"For Congress, this could be a particular opportunity to highlight what's happening inside Xinjiang right now. It could also be used to apply pressure on China to respond why this person [Tohti], who certainly is anything but a separatist, was given a very extreme sentence."

If Tohti does win the Nobel Peace Prize, it would draw attention to his imprisonment and pressure on China to release him.

However, we can probably guess China's reaction with the fate of previous 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo who died in 2017 on medical parole.

We don't even know how Tohti is doing...

Happy Birthday LXB

Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo turns 61 years old in prison today

Today is dissident Liu Xiaobo's birthday. He is marking his 61st birthday in jail, serving his seventh year of an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion of state power when he wrote and circulated his "Charter 08" petition, demanding greater democratic rights in China.

On Christmas Day, several former pan-democratic lawmakers in Hong Kong, like Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho Chun-yan protested outside the Liaison Office, demanding Liu be released, and that house arrest immediately end for his wife Liu Xia, and the persecution of other dissidents, like rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, former Wukan village chief Lin Zulian, and Beijing-based activist Hu Shigen.

Activists like Lee Cheuk-yan held a Liu Xiaobo protest

Ho, who is chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, said after the protest that even though China looks powerful on the surface, "It appears to be so paranoid and so frightened in hearing dissenting voices."

He said locking up more and more non-violent people asking for the recognition of basic rights indicates the "inside is weak and maybe quite fragile."

Liu's 11-year sentence is meant to harshly punish him, but also act as a deterrent to those who think the Chinese should fight for democracy.

What's interesting to note is that this year also marks the sixth anniversary of frosty relations between Beijing and Norway after the Nobel Committee awarded the highly coveted Peace Prize to Liu in 2010.

However, earlier this month, Norway's Foreign Minister Borge Brende made an unannounced visit to Beijing and on December 19 the two countries announced a normalization of relations.

We are waiting for Liu to come to Oslo to receive his award

In the two governments' joint statement, they acknowledged the deterioration in the bilateral relationship had been "due to the Nobel Peace Prize award and events connected to the prize." It added, "The Norwegian side is fully conscious of the position and concerns of the Chinese side and has worked actively to bring the bilateral relations back to the right track."

Brende did not mention anything about human rights. That would be expected, particularly if a country is keen to restore economic ties with Beijing again.

According to Norwegian data, in December 2010, exports of whole salmon to China was 1 million kilograms, that plunged to 315,000 kg in January 2011, and 75,000 the month after.

Despite normalization of relations between the two countries, Liu's Peace Prize still stands and we are patiently waiting to watch him go to Oslo to receive it.

Happy Birthday Liu! We have not forgotten you.