Submitted by: Liberal Democrats (UK); Liberal International British Group
Noting
That Chinese scholar Professor Ilham Tohti, an ethnic Uygur was awarded Liberal International’s Prize for Freedom May 2017
Liberal International Congress in Dakar November 2018 expressed concern about the continuing detention of Muslim Uighurs in the region of Xinjiang
Expressing concern
At mounting credible reports of accelerated religious and ethnic oppression of the Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang Province China, including disappearances, mass incarceration, banning of religious symbols, and mass surveillance and screening including compulsory DNA donation
At reports to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on August 10th 2018 in Geneva, that up to 2m Uyghurs have been detained without trial in ‘re-education’ camps, and subject to mistreatment, at a cost revealed by investigators in excess of US$8bn
Believes
That the oppression in Xinjiang Province , on which China is dependent in the implementation of Xi Jinping’s signature ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ investment project (BRI), is not conducive to a beneficial investment climate, nor civil peace in the longer term, and is not in China’s national interest nor in the interests of the East-Central-Asia region as a whole
Condemns
The portrayal by Chinese officials of adherence to religious faith as a ‘virus’ than needs to be cured
The statement by Wang Yang of the Chinese State Council and number four in the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy, on 25th March 2019, that the state should ‘resolutely oppose and crack down on religious extremist thought’ in Xinjiang,
The ethnic-based quasi-militarisation of the Han Chinese population in Xinjiang Province through the Bingtuan paramilitary organisation.
Calls for
An international tribunal to investigate Chinese claims that there is full religious and cultural freedom in Xinjiang, and examine the extent of oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in the province
The Chinese leadership to remove hardliners for responsibility for ‘crackdowns’ in Xinjiang,
The Chinese judiciary in the region to adhere to the constitutional rights of all Xinjiang citizenry
A ban on all non-Chinese investment in Xinjiang associated with the oppression, and with oil and BRI investments, through UN institutions, with special emphasis on global energy companies bidding for hydrocarbon exploration blocks, and Western-allied companies contracting to construct and manage re-education camps
The closure of the detention centres/re-education camps and for the immediate release of academics including Prof Tohti currently detained without just cause.
