Beijing’s Persecution of Uyghurs Reaches Nearly 30 Countries: Report

Accused of inciting racial strife against the Chinese people Bilash was released in August 2019. After his release, he told his supporters gathered outside a courthouse in Almaty that his freedom was Accused of ”inciting racial strife” against the Chinese people. Bilash was released in August 2019. After his release, he told his supporters gathered outside a courthouse in Almaty that his freedom was a victory for the people. Beijing seems to have been the real victor, however. In order to secure his freedom, Bilash had to accept guilt for politically motivated charges and cease his activism.(2) He and his organization continued to face threats and harassment until he was blacklisted as a “terroris.” Once blacklisted, he faced continuous harassment including the freezing of his bank accounts and impoundment of his car. He later temporarily immigrated to Turkey, and then to the United States, where he is living as of June 2021. The case of Bilash signifies China’s growing influence around the world and offers insight into how it manages discourse. Bilash’s case also speaks to the degree to which China has been exerting influence on members of Turkic and predominantly Muslim ethnic groups from the Uyghur Region overseas. a “victory for the people.” Beijing seems to have been the real victor, however. In order to secure his freedom, Bilash had to accept guilt for politically motivated charges and cease his activism.(2) He and his organization continued to face threats and harassment until he was blacklisted as a terrorist. Once blacklisted, he faced continuous harassment including the freezing of his bank accounts and impoundment of his car. He later temporarily immigrated to Turkey,(3) and then to the United States, where he is living as of June 2021. The case of Bilash signifies China’s growing influence around the world and offers insight into how it manages discourse. Bilash case also speaks to the degree to which China has been exerting influence on members of Turkic and predominantly Muslim ethnic groups from the Uyghur Region overseas.

Since 1997, when the first cases of rendition of Uyghurs to China were recorded in Pakistan. China’s transnational repression has expanded to include a full gamut of activities from espionage, cyberattacks, and physical assaults, to the issuance of Red Notices via Interpol, an organization that coordinates police activities around the world. Between 1997 and December 2016, China was involved in the detention or deportation back to China of over 851 Uyghurs across 23 countries. Since 2017, China’s actions against overseas Uyghurs have expanded dramatically as part of the broader security sweep taking place in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) under the framework of the so-called People’s War on Terror and Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism. Since 2017, at least 695 Uyghurs have been detained or deported to China from 15 separate countries.

The Middle East has played a particularly alarming role in China’s transnational repression. Beginning in early July 2017ǰmore than 200 Uyghurs, many of them students of religion at Al-Azhar, were detained in Egypt after being rounded up in Uyghur restaurants.(4) In many of the cases we identified, relatives in the Uyghur Region had been forced to place calls to these students abroad, demanding their return to China.(5) As part of the new measures, Chinese security services had adopted a blacklist of 26 countries deemed “suspicious” for XUAR residents to have connections with. The blacklist consists of countries across Central Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, escalating Beijing’s campaign of external pressure on these countries to comply with its demands.

This report draws from a comprehensive new database, the China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs Dataset, a joint initiative by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), which documents cases worldwide in which governments have cooperated with China to arrest, detain, intimidate, and even extradite Uyghurs and other peoples who have fled the XUAR.(6) The database contains detailed information on 300 cases of transnational repression in 27 countries, and an upper estimate of 1,546 cases in 28 countries, based on supplementary data in which we have found only limited biographical information for targeted individuals. Of the more detailed cases, 96 are cases of a Uyghur being detained in their host country by their host government and 204 are cases of a Uyghur being deported, extradited, or rendered back to China. Of the 1,546 upper-estimate cases, 1,151 are cases of Uyghurs being detained in their host country, and 395 are cases of Uyghurs being deported, extradited, or rendered back to China. The database and this report present the most complete account of ChinaȂs global campaign against XUAR peoples yet published.

1. In this report we refer to this region interchangeably as the Uyghur Region and “the XUAR”  (short for Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). Uyghurs around the world see“ Xinjiang, ”the shortened form of “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” preferred by the authorities in China, as a colonial term. In addition to “Uyghur Region,” many Uyghurs also refer to their homeland as “EastTurkistan.”

2. Catherine Putz, “UN Working Group Finds Serikzhan Bilash’s Detention Arbitrary,”The Diplomat, November 26, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/11/un-working-group-findsserikzhan-bilashs-….

3. Bruce Pannier, “Activist Defending Ethnic Kazakhs in China Explains Why He Had to Flee Kazakhstan,”Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, January 18, 2021. https://www.rferl.org/a/31051495.html

4. Uyghur Students in Turkey Detained,Sent Back to China,” Radio Free Asia, July 7, 2017, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/students-07072017155035.html.

5. “Five Uyghurs From One Family Imprisoned for Egypt Study, Another Believed to Have Died inCamp,”Radio Free Asia, March 5, 2021, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/egypt03052021184200.html.

6. To access the China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs Dataset, please see https://oxussociety.org/viz/transnational-repression.