US Officials, Lawmaker Slam China Over Religious Persecution of Ethnic Uyghurs

[TomSea]

US Officials, Lawmaker Slam China Over Religious Persecution of Ethnic Uyghurs
2018-07-27

Top U.S. officials and a U.S. lawmaker have called out China in recent days for its treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in the country’s northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), slamming Beijing for what they said was a systematic effort to destroy the Muslim minority’s religious and cultural identity.

Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout the XUAR, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Senator Marco Rubio spoke at separate events in Washington decrying China’s re-education camps in the XUAR and calling on the country to end its religious persecution of the Uyghurs, in a rare example of U.S. officials at such senior levels concertedly drawing attention to the issue.

Read more at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/persecution-07272018172541.html

[truth_seeker]

Mark me down for zero sympathy for a group tied with terrorism.

[Wingnut]

slamming Beijing for what they said was a systematic effort to destroy the Muslim minority’s religious and cultural identity.

They say that like it is a bad thing.   

[TomSea]

But I'm not sure if all of this minority are strict Muslim types yet, the people as a whole are being persecuted.  There was some pop singer who is Uighur and he disappeared, assumingly into a "reeducation camp".

Also, who knows if we might be saying something like this for our Saudi allies or Nato member Turkey.  It's possible.

The Uyghur Justin Bieber, Ablajan (okay, for being the Uyghur Justin Bieber might justify persecution, just kidding):

! No longer available

Maybe he's free now but he looks pretty mainstream.  Sometimes when you crush some groups, radicalism and terrorism will flourish more. Some of these people may not be into the religion at all and let's not forget, we probably need some of our allies that are Muslim nations.