BY ALİ RIZA TAŞDELEN
“It is unacceptable that people belonging to the Uyghur minority are imprisoned in concentration camps,” Jean Yves Le Drian said at the French National Assembly last Tuesday. Le Drian, the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, parroted the lies of US imperialism as a member of parliament:
“Concentration camps for Uyghurs, custody, disappearances, forced labor, forced sterilization, the destruction of Uyghur cultural heritage and especially places of worship, population surveillance and more generally the entire pressure system have been established in this region”. Le Drian demanded “international independent observers’ access to Xinjiang”.
The defeated US targets China
The US, which has experienced military defeats and an inconvenient economic crisis, is the center of most geopolitical hostility towards China. Trade Wars against Beijing went into high-gear under US President Donald Trump: rising in customs rates, banning Chinese telecommunications and IT company Huawei, one of the leaders of 5G technology, and putting pressure on Europe to do the same, tension regarding the sovereignty rights over the South China Sea, Trump’s accusing China of responsibility for COVID-19 and global epidemic, and finally the closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston with the claim that it had become “a center of espionage and intellectual property theft”.
The Western press is taking action
Whenever tension rises between the US and China, the Atlantic press of Europe steps up to spread propaganda against their ally’s Chinese rival. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited London and called to remove Huawei from the nation’s budding 5G network, called for the “inclusion of global forces in the Trump administration’s effort to form a coalition against China”. With this call and the growing tension due to the closure of the consulate general, the Atlantic press in France increased the number of anti-China broadcasts. Again, the cheapest materials such as falsehoods about Uyghur persecution were re-cooked and put on the table.
The headline of the July issue of Liberation newspaper reads: “The Uyghur Genocide Continues”. Looking at the news headlines against China in the past four days will show us the extent of the media attack:
Le Parisien:“Pressure on Uyghurs in China: The West is finally awakening … but slowly “
L’express:“Uyghurs: Ear-splitting silence of the Muslim world”
Marianne :“Uyghurs of Xinjiang: Beijing’s unprecedented oppressive policies implemented since 2015”
Lesinrocks:“Arrest of Uighurs: The creepy expression of a teacher”
La Voix du Nord :“More than a million Uyghurs are in concentration camps in China, Beijing condemns French critics”
France Tv İnfo:“Persecution of Uyghurs in China: France condemns ‘these unacceptable practices’, Beijing denies”
A handful of activists in Paris
Following the provocation of state officials and the press, a handful of demonstrators gathered in Paris’ André Tardieu Square on Saturday and chanted anti-Chinese slogans. They carried banners that said, “End the Uyghur genocide in China”. Demonstrators urged France to take a stance against China. Israel’s i24 television broadcasting in French gave wide coverage to the show, and the so-called expert Nathaneal Chouraqui expressed very easily the lies about China such as the systematic torture of Uyghurs in China and the rape of Uyghur women.
Explanation for the lies from the Chinese embassy
The spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in France made a written statement against the statements of the Foreign Minister and the false news in the press:
“Some accuse Xinjiang of creating ‘concentration camps’ or ‘retraining camps’ where ‘one million Uyghurs’ are held. This lie was produced and spread by ‘Chinese Human Rights Defenders’, a non-governmental organization funded by the US government, with nothing but interviews with only eight Uyghurs and an ambiguous prediction to support it.”
“It must be remembered that during the 20 years before preventive anti-terrorism and anti-radicalization measures were implemented in Xinjiang, the region experienced thousands of terrorist attacks with hundreds of victims, thousands of injuries and unavoidable economic losses. Xinjiang has not been experiencing a terrorist attack for 40 months today, the local economy is developing well, the society is stable and the people live in peace. Still, there are people who don’t want to see it. They constantly produce ridiculous lies with the pretext of human rights and religion. What are their real goals? The destabilization of Xinjiang.”