The Case of the Forged Passports Curtain Coming Down on Erdogan’s Excellent Uyghur Adventure?

By PETER LEE

Counterpunch - February 24, 2015 

To demonstrate that it’s possible, for me anyway, to acquire a lot of useful information in a short period of time via Twitter, I offer for your consideration this series of exchanges (with multipart tweets stitched together for continuity and clarity):

Tweets From Aleppo ‏@halabtweets 
The whole northern countryside of #Aleppo is crawling with mercenaries/terrorists from Caucasus, Central Asia, and Chinese Ugyur. #Turkey
chinahand (me)
hmm. wonder if this tweeter knows stuff or just says stuff. Interesting to explore if any of Uyghurs given haven by Turkey have gone on to Syria with any kind of Turkish govt encouragement or knowledge.
Christoph Germann ‏@newgreatgame 
Chechens living in Turkey have been forced to go to Syria http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/turkey-chechen-murder-syria-link.html# … same probably true of Uyghurs living in Turkey
chinahand ‏
only a few hundred Uyghurs in Turkey as I understand. If TK subsidized & monitored them in place, PRC might think it’s acceptable. But if TK sending them to Syria to get trained/radicalized/networked, PRC will be seriously PO’d IMO
Christoph Germann ‏@newgreatgame 
China tries to prevent Turkey from hosting more Uyghurs http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-china-turkey-thailand-idUSKCN0JC0X920141128 … makes sense given that NED-funded World Uyghur Congress, etc. “take care” of Uyghurs living in Turkey
http://christophgermann.blogspot.de/2015/01/the-new-great-game-round-up-83.html …IMO that’s why Global Times broke story of arrest of Turks/Uyghurs in Shanghai, which happened last Nov https://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/porkins-great-game-episode-5-east-turkestan-exposed/ …

chinahand

‏tks. v/ interesting podcast. I think one area of interest for PRC was that TK consulate replaced “lost” passports.  I tend to think Turkish government militancy policy one of “idiotic entrepreneurship” rather than carefully managed policy i.e. set up a bunch of militant-enabling orgs w/ arms-length deniability, let them run wild, then try to rein them in when they become too much of a liability. Chinese media naming Turkey (& PRC MOFI spox Hong Lei endorsing) definitely a shot across the bow. Will be interesting to see if Turkey makes some publicly Uyghur-unfriendly gesture to please PRC.  Hong Lei’s statement that report “extremely accurate” http://tinyurl.com/pob3ccv  a major tell. At same time, report was run in GT, not official govt outlet Xinhua, to soften the blow a bit.
Christoph Germann ‏@newgreatgame 
Yes, Turkey immediately sent its police chief to Beijing to calm the waves http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2015-01/26/c_133948355.htm … & http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/905261.shtml …
chinahand ‏
& 155 Uyghurs on Turkish passports in Malaysia! That raised some flags. Tks v/much for v/interesting & informative exchange
Christoph Germann ‏@newgreatgame
Kunming attack suspects also had Turkish passports http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0213/c90882-8850247.html …

The knowledgeable and cordial Christoph Germann, by the way, runs the New Great Game blog over at Sibel Edmonds’ shop and, as can be seen, stays on top of the news from the region.  I am bookmarking NGG and look forward to visiting regularly.

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Special Issue: China and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

China Policy Institute - February 23, 2015

Much has been written in recent times about China’s growing interest and stake in the Middle East, and its potential involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although Beijing’s intentions are debatable and the exact nature of China’s involvement is hard to pin down, a number of pronouncements suggest that China may be a serious new actor in the region. In May 2013, Beijing put forward a five-point resolution to the Palestinian issue, followed last year by Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s peace proposal for settling the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Although China appears to be a new entrant to the region’s diplomacy, this “recent” interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict is actually not so novel. Under Mao China was a strong supporter of various “liberation movements” around the world. Friendly relations with Palestine from this period have persisted to the present day (Beijing did not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until 1992). With the end of the Cold War and changing international and domestic circumstances (thirst for oil among them), China has redefined its Middle Eastern diplomacy to reflect its changing preferences and interest in the region. The question we have put to our scholarly contributors to this special issue, is simple: what kind of role can, should or will China play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Confirmed contributors include:

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, University of Manchester

Yiyi Chen, Peking University

Robert R. Bianchi, University of Chicago

James M. Dorsey, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

Yoram Evron, University of Haifa

Meron Medzini, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Manochehr Dorraj, Texas Christian University

Yitzhak Shichor, University of Haifa

Sam Chester, Johns Hopkins University

Guy Burton, University of Nottingham

Harry Chen, Penn State University

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International Conference: China in the Middle East - March 17–18, 2015 Peking University and Indiana University China Office

Indiana University and Peking University Present an

International Conference on

China in the Middle East

印第安纳大学与北京大学联合举办“中国在中东”国际学术研讨会

March 17–18, 2015

Peking University and Indiana University China Office

http://english.pku.edu.cn

http://china.iu.edu

Organized by

Dr. Kemal Silay, Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Chair, Indiana University, USA

Dr. Tuğrul Keskin, Portland State University, USA

Dr. Zan Tao, Peking University, People’s Republic of China

PROGRAM

March 17, 2015 at Peking University

9:00–9:30 AM: Opening Ceremony

Introduction by Dr. Kemal Silay, Indiana University, USA

Opening Remarks by Dr. Michael McRobbie, President, Indiana University

9:30–10:15 AM: Keynote Speech by Dr. Pan Guang, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, People’s Republic of China

10:30 AM–1:00 PM: Panels

PANEL I: CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE MIDDLE EAST

Moderator: Dr. Zan Tao, Peking University

“China’s Middle East Strategy after the Arab Spring” by Dr. Kong Yan, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, People’s Republic of China

“Making a Difference? China and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” by Dr. Guy Burton, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, UK

“China’s Role, Operation Progress and Strength Limitation since Iraq Reconstruction: An Analysis Based on the Swot Model” by Dr. Jiang Xudong, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, People’s Republic of China

“Is China Becoming a New Hegemony in the Middle East?” by Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi, University of Alberta, Canada

“Chinese Foreign Policy toward Iran’s Nuclear Program beyond the Revisionism Paradigm” by Dr. Moritz A. Pieper, School of International Studies, University of Kent, Brussels

"Will Silk Road Economic Belt Project solve the 'Uygur problem' between Turkey and China?" by Adnan Akfirat, Turkish Chinese Business Matching Center

PANEL II: SINO-TURKISH RELATIONS: PAST AND PRESENT

Moderator: Dr. Tuğrul Keskin, Portland State University, USA

“The Coverage of China in Turkish Academic Literature: An Overview” by Dr. Seriye Sezen, Institute for Turkey and the Middle East, Republic of Turkey

“Turkish-Chinese Bilateral and Multilateral Security Cooperation” by Dr. Lenore G. Martin, Harvard University, USA

“The Developing Relations between Turkey and China during the Last Decade” by Dr. Barış Doster, Marmara University, Republic of Turkey

“Sino-Turkish Relations in the Context of Cold War Politics” by Dr. Barış Adıbelli, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Dumlupınar University, Republic of Turkey

“Confucius Institutes’ Importance in Turkish-Chinese Relations” by Dr. Begümşen Ergenekon, Middle East Technical University, Republic of Turkey

“Turkey and China in Central Asia: The New Silk Road to the Nascent Struggle for Recognition in International Affairs” by Dr. Emilian Kavalski, Australian Catholic University, Australia

“One Belt, One Road’: A Win - ­Win Proposition for Turkey - ­China Relations?” by PhD Student Umut Ergunsü, Peking University, People’s Republic of China

1:00–2:00 PM: Lunch

2:00–4:30 PM: Panels

PANEL III: SINO-IRANIAN RELATIONS: PAST AND PRESENT

Moderator: Dr. Jamsheed Choksy, Indiana University, USA

“China’s Strategic Relations with Iran” by Dr. Ya Zhao, Indiana University, USA

“China-Iran Cooperation in Central Asia” by Dr. Ajay Patnaik, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

“China’s Strategic Culture and Its Non-Proliferation Behavior toward Iran” by Dr. Mohiaddin Messbahi, Florida International University, USA and Dr. Mohamad Homayounvash, Louisiana State University, USA

“Understanding China-Iran Energy Relations: Its Intentions, Complexities and Ramifications” by Dr. Sima Baidya, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

“Iran and China: A Soft Power Coalition” by Dr. Arash Reisinezhad, Florida International University, USA

“The Image of China in Iranian Classical Poetry” by Dr. Hadi Sultan-Qurraie, University of Washington, USA

PANEL IV: SINO-ARAB RELATIONS: PAST AND PRESENT

Moderator: Dr. Mojtaba Mahdavi, University of Alberta, Canada

“The Gulf Looks East: Sino-Arab Relations in an Age of Instability” by Dr. Geoffrey F. Gresh, National Defense University, USA

“China-Gulf Relations: Current Strengths and Future Possibilities” by Dr. Jacqueline Armijo, Qatar University, Qatar

“China’s Emerging Soft Power in the Middle East: Cultural Diplomacy of China’s Arabic Satellite Television Channel” by Dr. Wai-Yip Ho, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong

“Political Economy of China Toward Middle East” by Dr. Juan Cole, University of Michigan, USA

March 18, 2015 at Indiana University China Office

9:45–10:00 AM: Welcoming Ceremony at the Indiana University China Office

Introduction by Dr. Kemal Silay, Indiana University, USA

10:00 AM–12:00 PM: Panel

PANEL V: SINO-ISRAELI RELATIONS: PAST AND PRESENT

Moderator: Dr. Kemal Silay, Indiana University, USA

“China in the Middle East” by Dr. Yitzhak Shichor, University of Haifa, Israel

“The Sino-Israel Relationship from the Chinese Perspective” by Dr. Yiyi Chen, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, People’s Republic of China

“Israel-China Relations: The Post Harpy-Drone Decade” by Dr. Alvite Singh Ningthoujam, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

“China and the Middle East: Embarking on a Strategic Approach” by Dr. James M. Dorsey, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

12:00–1:00 PM: Lunch

1:00–3:30 PM: Panel

PANEL VI: CHINA’S ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Moderator: Dr. Carol E. B. Choksy, Indiana University, USA

“Seek Knowledge Even If It Takes You to China (Via Washington): America, China, and Saudi Arabia in the Twenty-First Century” by Dr. Sean Foley, Tennessee State University, USA

“A Five-Dimensional Paradigm: Energy, Trade, Arms Sales, Cultural Relations, and Political Cooperation” by Dr. Muhamad Olimat, Khalifa University of Science, UAE

“Hajj Politics and Hajj Diplomacy in Modern China” by Dr. Alexander Jost, Peking University, People’s Republic of China

“Being a Global Power through Soft Power: The China Case in the Caucasian and Central Asian Region” by Dr. Özlem Aruz Azer, Istanbul University, Republic of Turkey

3:30–4:00 PM: Closing Remarks by Dr. Zan Tao, Peking University, People’s Republic of China

5:00–7:00 PM: Dinner

Israel’s New Asian Allies

EURASIA REVIEW - February 25, 2015

By Jonathan Cook

It was another difficult week for Israel.
In Britain, 700 artists, including many household names, pledged a cultural boycott of Israel, and a leader of the Board of Deputies, the representative body of UK Jews, quit, saying he could no longer abide by its ban on criticizing Israel.
Across the Atlantic, the student body of one of the most prestigious US universities, Stanford, voted to withdraw investments from companies implicated in Israel’s occupation, giving a significant boost to the growing international boycott (BDS) movement.
Meanwhile, a CNN poll found that two-thirds of Americans, and three-quarters of those under 50, believed the US foreign policy should be neutral between Israel and Palestine.
This drip-drip of bad news, as American and European popular opinion shifts against Israel, is gradually changing the west’s political culture and forcing Israel to rethink its historic alliances.
The deterioration in relations between Israel and the White House is now impossible to dismiss, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama lock horns, this time over negotiations with Iran.

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China's $24.3 million non-refundable Grant to Egypt endorsed - Cabinet

ZAWYA - FEB. 18, 2015

By Ahmed Fayez

The agreement stipulates that Chinese government shall grant Egypt a non-refundable grant 150 million yuan or around US$24.3 million to fund Egyptian developmental projects. In return, the agreement would contribute to bolstering the friendship bonds and economic as well as technical cooperation between the two countries.
Elsewhere, the cabinet approved to task Isozaki, Aoki & Associates with carrying out the second phase of the consulting works to design the engineering structure and the buildings of Egypt - Japan University of Science and Technology at total cost of US$2.875 million.

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QF institute, embassy in deal to teach Chinese

THE PENINSULA - February 22, 2015

DOHA: Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation, and the Chinese embassy will collaborate in the areas of language teaching and cultural activities for the benefit of learners and the wider Qatari community.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both sides sets the foundation for collaboration between Language Center at TII and the embassy, recognising the importance of Arabic and Chinese languages, education and culture in the global economy.
The centre supports the academic mission of the institute by offering training in five languages, including Mandarin Chinese.
Aimed to serve the needs of the professional community, classes emphasise the integration of language and culture and incorporate technology in learning and teaching.
As China is the world’s largest energy consumer and oil importer with 35 percent of its crude oil imports in 2013 from GCC countries, the Mandarin Chinese course is in line with GCC-Sino economic partnership.
Dr Amal Al Malki, Executive Director, TII, said, “The deal with the embassy will help us explore opportunities to promote Chinese language and culture in Qatar and Arabic language and Arab, and Qatari culture in China.
“The MoU will help realise our vision of building linguistic capacity in Qatar and open the door for further collaborations with Chinese institutions.”
Chinese Ambassador Youzhen Gao said, “The strategic partnership between China and Qatar is continuously developing. Looking to the future, we will be building the cooperative ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road’ project and jointly hold the 2016 China-Qatar Cultural Year.” The MoU is valid for two years after which both sides will meet to evaluate results.

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Israel looks to help Chinese firms with early-stage start-ups

The Trendlines Group, specializing in medical devices and agritech, plans to take its incubator model, IP knowledge to China

By David Shamah

The Times of Israel - February 19, 2015

Not a week goes by, it seems, without a large delegation of Chinese business people, investors and government officials visiting Israel to look for deals, start-ups and joint projects with businesses and universities. In a sense, the Israel-China business channel has become very crowded – overcrowded, some might say – as VCs and large corporations on both sides compete for the best deals.
But most of that action is taking place among top-tier organizations – companies and venture capital funds that invest in the largest projects and organizations, according to D. Todd Dollinger, Chairman and CEO of The Trendlines Group, an Israeli investment firm that specializes in early stage start-ups in the areas of medical devices and agricultural technology.

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China, Iran to expand cooperation areas

CCTV - 02-16-2015

Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran. The two leaders held talks at the Iranian presidency office on Sunday.
Wang Yi said China looks to expand areas of cooperation with the middle eastern country, and find ways to complement each other for common development. Wang went on to say that China is willing to strengthen coordination with Iran on international and regional issues.
The Foreign Minister also said China appreciates Iran's attitude of not pursuing nuclear weapon ambitions. China will continue to push forward the six-party talks on the Iranian nuclear issue, and hopes a resolution can come soon.
Rouhani said Iran values its relationship with China, and Iran supports China's One Belt One Road initiative. He would also like to expand bilateral cooperation in various areas. He also spoke highly of China's positive role in pushing the Iranian nuclear talks forward.

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Turkey’s Missile Shield Won’t Be NATO-Integrated

The American Interest - Feb 22, 2015

Turkey is pressing forward with a major defensive program—it’s ballistic-missile defense system—that will not be integrated into the broader NATO network. Hurriyet Daily News reports:

Turkey’s new defense missile system, for which Ankara is in talks on a $3.4 billion deal with a Chinese company, will not be integrated with one used by NATO, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has said.
Ankara will use the long-range system without integrating it with NATO’s system, Yılmaz said in his elaboration on the issue, which came in response to a parliamentary question filed by an opposition deputy.

NATO and Turkey have been drifting apart since the end of the Cold War. This move would be a strategic and structural parallel to the tactical disagreements over the Iraq invasions and, at present, how to handle the Syrian Civil War. As Seth Cropsey has pointed out at Hudson, “This loss of interoperability would deprive Europe of Asia Minor’s large defensive extension into the heart of the Middle East – and into a region where the prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons mounted aloft ballistic missiles with steadily increasing range is real.”
With the election of a Russia-friendly coalition in Greece, NATO’s southern Mediterranean flank has started to look weaker; this story is just one more reason to worry.

Chinese Salafism and the Saudi Connection

In China, the Hui Salafi sect, and its links with Saudi Arabia, have a long and complex history.

By Mohammed Al-Sudairi

The Diplomat - October 23, 2014

Salafism, or Salafiyya, is a doctrinal-intellectual current within Islam that espouses a return to the ways of the Salaf As-Salih (the Pious Ancestors), the first three generations of Muslims who lived during and after the death of the Prophet Mohammed. Often described as being rooted in the works of the medieval scholars Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyyah, Salafism seeks to establish a more “authentic” religious experience predicated on a presumably correct reading of the Quran and the sunnah (the sayings and practices of the Prophet) and away from the supposed bid’ah (innovations) and heretical practices that have “polluted” it.
This current moreover embraces to a certain extent a rejection of the madhhab (legal school) Sunni traditions that had emerged in Islam’s early centuries. As a relatively modern phenomenon building on the Sunni orthodox revivals of the 18th century, the failures of traditional Muslim authorities to contend with mounting internal and external challenges, as well as the spread of new modernistic discourses, Salafism found a popular following across many Muslim societies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its growth was facilitated by Saudi Arabia – which embraced its own idiosyncratic brand of Salafism rooted in the mid-18th century religious revivalism that swept central Arabia (usually denoted by its detractors as Wahhabism after its “founder” Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab) – especially after its annexation of Mecca and Medina in 1924-25, and the subsequent influx of oil wealth, which endowed the country with the religious authority and means (universities, charities, organizations, preachers, and communicative mediums) to promote this current globally.

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Chinese foreign minister due in Tehran

Islamic Republic News Agency - Feb 14, 2015

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi leading a delegation is to arrive in Tehran Saturday evening to confer with senior Iranian officials on expansion of mutual relations and the regional and global issues.

This is the first visit of the Chinese foreign minister to Tehran.
The visit takes place upon official invitation extended by his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Chinese foreign minister is scheduled to stay in Tehran until February 16.
Several Chinese officials at the country's foreign ministry are accompanying the Chinese foreign minister.
The two sides are to study various political, economic, cultural, regional and international issues.

Prestigious Chinese university changes head

Xinhua - 2015-02-16

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Peking University, one of the most prominent universities in China, has welcomed a new president, marking its third change of heads in less than seven years.

On Sunday, Lin Jianhua, 59, replaced Wang Enge as the 27th president of the university where he started to study chemistry in 1978 and obtained his doctorate in inorganic chemistry.

Addressing the faculty and staff on Sunday, Lin stressed that the individual ideals of teachers and students should match with the "core socialist values" -- a reference to the Party's call in late January to champion the concept.

Lin also said that the university should stick to its spiritual traditions and should not "abandon academic independence and dignity".

Spending more than 20 years at Peking university, the professor worked as dean of the College of Chemistry, provost and executive vice president.

He joined Chongqing University as its president in 2010 and started serving president of Zhejiang University in 2013.

De-radicalizing’ Xinjiang, One Bad Pop Song at a Time

Authorities hope the saccharine 'Little Apple' can calm tensions in the western region.    

By Rachel Lu

Foreign Policy - February 12, 2015

Beijing’s latest weapon against Islamic extremism? A viral Internet song. On Feb. 8, a reported 10,000 people danced in a plaza next to the Id Kah, China’s largest mosque, in Kashgar, the westernmost city in the Xinjiang region in western China. Organized by city government, they stepped to the tune of “Little Apple,” a viral Internet ditty that The Los Angeles Times has called the “Chinese Macarena.” The gathering appears to be part of Xinjiang’s effort to “de-radicalize” the Uighurs, a mostly-Muslim Turkic people that comprise approximately 47 percent of the region’s population of 22 million, and, to quote state media, “save” them from extreme forms of Islamism that the government claims are driving adherents towards separatism and even terrorism. The people who most need saving, presumably, are the Uighurs, at least those turning to radical strains of Islam that the government accuses of destabilizing the region. On July 30, 2014, three young Uighurs stabbed and killed the government-friendly imam of Id Kah mosque. In July 2014, almost 100 people, both Uighur and members of the majority Han, were killed when a group of axe-wielding Uighurs attacked local government building and police station in Shache, a smaller town near Kashgar, according to the government, followed by another attack in Shache that led to at least 15 deaths in Nov. 2014. Beijing has linked each of these incidents to radical Islam.

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Peking University and the Origins of Higher Education in China

BRIDGE 21 PUBLISHER

2013

Renowned as one of the most distinguished universities in the world, Peking University (PKU or, colloquially, "Beida") has been at the forefront of higher education in China since its inception. Its roots arguably date to the origin of Chinese higher education. Hao Ping traces the intricate evolution of the university, beginning with the preceding institutions that contributed to its establishment, and stretching from the first Opium War of 1839 through the first of several eye-opening defeats for the then-isolated Middle Kingdom to the Xinhai Revolution and the early days of the Republic of China.

Hao Ping chronicles the contentious debates between reform-minded leaders who championed Western models of learning and conservatives who favored the traditional schooling and examination system, providing readers with details about the workings of the imperial court as well as the individual officials and scholars involved in Chinese educational reform. This authoritative history of the founding of Peking University defends the university’s claim to be the first modern university in China and offers insight into the formation of higher education as it exists in China today.

Hao Ping has been both a professor and an academic administrator at Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University. In his current role as vice minister of education, Hao Ping is a leading figure in China’s education reform and development. He is author of several books, including Sun Yatsen Revolution and the United States and An Unfortunate Ending: John Leighton Stuart and China. 

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New York University Shanghai: What Is the Deal?

By Yaxue Cao

CHINA CHANGE - February 5, 2015

A recent event prompted me to look into New York University Shanghai. I was rather surprised by what I found. This article pieces together my findings which include information available through the media as well as websites, in the spirit of “tossing out a brick hoping to attract a gem  (抛砖引玉).” If it can help deepen inquiries and debate about the host of issues that can arise from setting up university campuses in China, as more American universities are set to do, it will have more than served its purpose.
“A Testing Field to Demonstrate Reform on International Cooperation in Chinese Higher Education”
NYU Shanghai is a joint venture between East China Normal University (ECNU) and New York University, “the first Sino-US joint venture university” according to NYU Shanghai’s website, whose first undergraduate class was inaugurated in the fall of 2013. According to the Chinese state media China News, the joint enterprise was approved by the Ministry of Education of China on January 17, 2011, and construction began on March 28 the same year in Lujiazui, the heart of Shanghai’s newly-developed Pudong District (上海浦东陆家嘴). A vice president of ECNU headed the team that oversaw the construction of and preparation for NYU Shanghai. Given that China’s universities, ECNU included, are owned and run by the government, it is fair to say that NYU Shanghai is a joint venture between NYU and the Chinese government.

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China’s Ban on Islamic Veils Is Destined to Fail

A symbol of Uighur identity is likely to become a touchstone of resistance to the Party-state.     

By Timothy Grose, James Leibold    

Foreign Policy - February 5, 2015

Regional authorities have now outlawed Islamic veils from all public spaces in Urumqi, the regional capital of China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Urumqi ban, which went into effect on Feb. 1 (coincidentally the third annual “World Hijab Day”), empowers Chinese police to punish violators and dole out fines of up to $800 for those who fail to abide by the prohibition.  In recent years, the veil has emerged as a key battleground in the struggle to regain stability in Xinjiang. Stripping women of their head and body coverings provides the Chinese Communist Party with a rare measure of what it sees as progress in the struggle against what it calls “Islamic extremism” in this far western region. However, as officials seek to eliminate veiling, they risk further straining an already fragile relationship between the Uighur ethnic minority, a predominantly Muslim group for whom Xinjiang is their homeland, and a party machine dominated by the Han ethnic majority and its cultural values.

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Anti-terror drill held at national winter games stadiums in Xinjiang

(People's Daily Online) February 06, 2015

About 100 SWAT members take part in an anti-terror drill at the stadiums for the 13th National Winter Games in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Feb. 4, 2015. The 13th National Winter Games will be held in January 2016 in Urumqi. The construction of the sports venues has already been completed. (CNS/Fang Tao)

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Commentary: Mr. Obama, playing the Dalai Lama card backfires

(Xinhua) February 06, 2015

BEIJING, Feb. 5 -- Though the degree to which U.S. President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama will interact Thursday during the National Prayer Breakfast is unclear, any possible meeting or encounter between the two is sure to have negative consequences because the Dalai Lama is a political liability which backfires.
Issues regarding Tibet concern China's core interests and national sentiments. Beijing has long made it clear that the Dalai Lama, who has for decades tried to separate Tibet from China, should never be hosted by leaders of other countries.
Chumming with a secessionist is playing with fire, which severely harms the mutual trust between China and the United States, and downgrades Obama's credit as a national leader for breaking his commitments to China on the Tibet issue.
There may be self-claimed friendship between Obama and the Dalai Lama as individuals, but a meeting between a U.S. president and a political fugitive goes beyond personal domain. What lies under their hypocritical relationship is nothing but political deals and cold calculations.
Frankly speaking, Obama needs the Dalai Lama not because the latter is respectful, as Obama claimed, but because the Dalai Lama is useful. For one thing, he is a separatist. For another, he comes from China and is against his own motherland.

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As Muslim Uighurs Flee, China Sees Jihad

Risk As Homeland Grows Violent, Some Uighurs Seek Haven in Turkey

By Jeremy Page And Emre Peker

The Wall Street Journal - Jan. 30, 2015

KAYSERI, Turkey—In hindsight, it was a soccer match that kindled Mehmet’s hatred of Chinese rule and set him on the path to exile.
In 2002, Mehmet was at university in Xinjiang, the northwest corner of China that is home to his Uighur ethnic group and the source of a wave of deadly violence in the past two years. He and some other Uighurs decided to support Turkey in the soccer World Cup, he said.
Most Uighurs are Muslim, speak a Turkic language and consider themselves part of a broad family of ethnic Turks.
But students from China’s ethnic Han majority were offended, Mehmet said. A fight erupted, leading university authorities to expel six of his friends.
So began a political awakening that led Mehmet to a prison labor camp in Xinjiang and ultimately to Turkey, following a perilous two-month voyage, mostly without a passport, through Central and Southeast Asia.

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China Accuses Turks of Aiding Illegal Travel

Ten Turkish Nationals to Be Tried for Allegedly Helping Citizens Cross Borders

By Emre Peker And Chun Han Wong

The Wall Street Journal - Jan. 15, 2015

Chinese authorities are preparing to put 10 Turkish nationals on trial on allegations they aided illegal travel, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday, as a security clampdown on unrest in western China buffets the two countries’ otherwise strengthening ties.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Chinese prosecutors have accused two of the suspects with “organizing people to illegally cross borders,” and the other eight people with “selling travel documents.” Though the ministry didn’t say whom the Turkish nationals were accused of assisting, China’s state-run Global Times newspaper, which first reported the arrests this week, identified them as Uighurs, a Turkic group from western China.
China’s foreign and police ministries declined to comment on the arrests, which the Turkish government said took place in November.
News of the arrests of the Turkish nationals comes amid persisting troubles in Xinjiang, a Chinese territory abutting Central Asia that the mainly Muslim Uighurs regard as their homeland.

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Türkiye’ye terörle mücadele işbirliğini güçlendirme çağrısı

Yeni Asya - 29 Ocak 2015, Perşembe

 

Çin, Türkiye’ye terörle mücadele işbirliğini daha da güçlendirme çağrısı yaptı.

Emniyet Genel Müdürü M. Celalettin Lekesiz, Pekin’deki Zhongnanhai hükümet yerleşkesinde, Çin Komünist Partisi (ÇKP) Merkez Siyaset ve Hukuk Komisyonu Sekreteri Meng Jianzhu ile Salı günü görüştü.
Çin’in devlet medyasına yansıyan habere göre, görüşmede, kolluk kuvvetleri, güvenlik ve diğer konularda işbirliğinin güçlendirmesini masaya yatırıldı.
Çin’in resmi Xinhua Haber Ajansı, görüşmede Meng’ın, terörizm, insan kaçakçılığı ve diğer sınır ötesi suçlarla mücadelede Türkiye ile daha güçlü işbirliği çağrısı yaptığını duyurdu.
2007-2012 yılları arasında Kamu Güvenliği Bakanlığı da yapan Meng, görüşmede, Çin’in, Türkiye ile birlikte çalışmaya, iki ülke liderlerinin fikir birliğini vardıkları konuları uygulamaya, siyasi karşılıklı güveni geliştirmeye, ekonomik ve ticari alışverişi güçlendirmeye, iki tarafın çekirdek çıkarları ve kaygılarını anlamaya devam etmeye ve karşılıklı destek vermeye hazır olduğunu söyledi.

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5 Things to Know About Turkey and the Chinese Uighurs

Growing numbers of people from China’s mostly Muslim Uighur ethnicity have been fleeing via Southeast Asia in the last year, as China conducts a sweeping counterterrorist campaign in their homeland of Xinjiang. Many of them find refuge in Turkey, which has strong cultural links to the Uighurs, threatening an otherwise robust Turkey-China relationship, The Wall Street Journal reports. Here are five things to know about Turkey’s relationship with China’s Uighurs.

The Wall Street Journal - 30 Jan 2015

By Jeremy Page and Emre Peker

1 Turkish nationalists consider Uighurs kin. Share on Twitter  Many Turkish nationalists regard the Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language, as part of a broad family of ethnic Turks spread across Eurasia. They have lobbied successive Turkish governments to offer refuge to those fleeing Chinese rule and to allow Uighurs to campaign against Beijing’s policies from Turkish soil.

2 Turkey has sheltered Uighur leaders since at least the 1950s. Share on Twitter  Turkey offered shelter in the 1950s to Isa Yusuf Alptekin, a Uighur nationalist who was a leader of the East Turkestan Republic established in southern Xinjiang from 1933 to 1934. A small park named after him can be found in Istanbul, near the Blue Mosque in the city’s historic center.

3 Turkish authorities helped establish Uighur communities in Turkey in 1965. Share on Twitter  In 1965, Turkey offered sanctuary to a group of some 200 Chinese Uighurs who had escaped on foot to Afghanistan. Turkish authorities airlifted them out of Kabul and settled them mostly in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, where many still live today.

4 Uighurs fleeing China often head for Istanbul. Share on Twitter  The Turkish government doesn’t provide official statistics for the number of Uighurs in Turkey. Uighur groups say there are about 20,000, many of whom have never been to China. About 1,500 are in Kayseri, while most others live in Istanbul, especially in the Zeytinburnu neighborhood near old town. There are also hundreds of thousands of Uighurs living in former Soviet Central Asia

5 The Uighur issue makes Turkey-China relations a delicate balance. Share on Twitter  After inter-ethnic rioting in 2009 left at least 156 dead in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, Turkey’s then Prime Minister — now President — Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the violence as “genocide,” prompting an angry response from Beijing. In 2012, with relations improving, Mr. Erdogan made his first stop in Xinjiang during an official visit to China.

China to curb phone, computer purchases in restive Xinjiang

Reuters - SHANGHAI Thu Jan 29, 2015


Anyone buying a mobile phone or a computer in the restive far-western Chinese region of Xinjiang will have to register their personal details with police, state media reported, in the latest sign of tightening government restrictions.
The measures were designed to "prevent people spreading harmful information and carrying out illegal activities", the English-language Shanghai Daily reported, citing government officials.
Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, has struggled with violence in recent years between majority Han Chinese and mostly Muslim Uighurs.

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The Nature of Asian Politics By Bruce Gilley

Cambridge University Press
September 2014


The Nature of Asian Politics is a broad and thematic treatment of the fundamental factors that characterize politics in the fourteen key countries of Southeast and Northeast Asia. Bruce Gilley begins with an overview of state-society relations, then moves on to the fundamental questions of development and democracy, and finally shifts to an exploration of governance and public policy in the region. This book proposes an Asian governance model that is useful for understanding politics from Japan to Indonesia. By reviving an earlier paradigm known as oriental despotism and applying it to political theories on the Asian region, this book is likely to attract wide debate among students of Asian politics and among Western policy makers seeking to engage the region.

• Provides a comprehensive look at the politics of fourteen key countries in Northeast and Southeast Asia
• Structured thematically with chapters on state and society, development, democracy, governance, and public policy
• Provides context for the rise of China

Contents

Introduction

1. Profit and Honor

Reclaiming the Far East

The Asian Governance Model

2. State and Society

The State of Pardons

Refined Oriental Despotism

Money, Colonialism, War, and Water

The Legitimacy Premium

Hegel and Asian Values

Integrative Nationalism

3. Development

The Spinning Kingdom

An Inputs Miracle

Growth Alliances and Regimes

The Rational State

Contentious Development Politics

Recovering from Failures

4. Democracy  

New Orders in Old Bottles

Oriental Democracy

Markets and Modernization

Responsive Transitions

Consolidation without Kings

The Rights of the Majority

The House of Aspirations

Rethinking the Lee Hypothesis

The China Wave

5. Governance

Shepherds of the People

Macho Meritocracy

CEO Government

The Tokyo Consensus

Judge Pao and the Dual State

Harmonious Networks

6. Public Policy

Big, Fast Results

Productivist Welfare

The Giri of Public Works

Knowledge for Nature

Toward Eastphalia?

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China says fake pilgrims sent to Mecca

Officials accused after ‘unqualified’ people from heavily Muslim province of Xinjiang went on tightly regulated trips

The Guardian - Thursday 15 January 2015

China is investigating 32 officials from the western region of Xinjiang for graft linked to pilgrimages by Muslims to Mecca, state media said on Thursday.
Xinjiang is home to the mostly Muslim Uighur people. Hundreds of people have been killed there over the past two years in violence between Uighurs and ethnic majority Han Chinese that the government blames on Muslim separatists.
China’s Uighur Muslims can usually only make pilgrimages to Mecca on government-organised trips.
The China Daily, the country’s official English-language newspaper, said 14,000 such pilgrimages were organised in 2014 though some of the people who went to Mecca were “unqualified“. It did not explain what that meant.
“In addition to arranging pilgrimages for unqualified people, the investigated officials were found to have asked for and received bribes or neglected the inspection and management of pilgrimage work,” the China Daily said, citing the anti-graft watchdog.

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China's Silk Road strategy draws interest from over 50 countries: official

Xinhua - January 25, 2015

HAIKOU,-- China's initiative to build the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road has received interest from more than 50 countries, an official said Saturday.
He Yafei, deputy head of the overseas Chinese affairs office of the State Council, made the remarks at a conference in the southern-most island province of Hainan.
Along the belt and road are many developing countries with a combined population of 4.4 billion and an annual economic output of 2.2 trillion U.S. dollars. Given complementary industrial structures, the economic belt has strong growth potentials, He said.
With huge forex reserves and more frequent uses of the yuan in trade settlement, China could offer low-cost financing to the countries which participate in the drive, he said.
The countries should seek consensus on cooperation and step up cooperation in fields like infrastructure, tourism, energy and finance, he said.

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China's marginalised minorities

On the outside looking in Facing ethnic discrimination, China's Uighurs and Tibetans have fallen behind as the rest of the country surges ahead

The Economist - Jan 21st 2015

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China to Build 7,000 Km Moscow-Beijing Railway Estimated $242 Bln

Sputnik - 22.01.2015

The railway will ease travel between Beijing and Moscow and reduce travel times, Beijing's
municipal government announced.

MOSCOW, January 22 (Sputnik) – China will build a high-speed railway connecting Beijing and Moscow, estimated to cost 1.5 trillion yuan ($242 billion), Beijing's municipal government announced on Thursday.
The length of the railway will total 7,000 kilometers. The railway will pass through Kazakhstan, and the journey will take two days, Bloomberg reports, citing the government' announcement in the Weibo social network. The railway will ease travel between Beijing and Moscow and reduce travel times, the announcement notes.
According to Bloomberg, China is promoting its high-speed rail technology on an international level, adding that the construction of the railway is taking place as Russia's relations with the US and Europe cool over the Ukraine conflict.

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Turkey Chimes in on Uyghur Human Smuggling Case

Plus, Zhang Miao, securing the North Korean border, and China’s nuclear industry. Friday China links.

By Shannon Tiezzi

THE DIPLOMAT - January 17, 2015

First, there are two updates on my previous story about Turkish citizens being arrested for allegedly planning to help Chinese Uyghurs illegally leave China to join terror groups in Syria and elsewhere. First, as The New York Times reports, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that ten of its citizens were arrested in Shanghai for trying to smuggle Uyghurs out of the country. However, Turkey’s statement failed to mention “any of the terrorism-related charges” raised by Global Times’ initial report. As I mentioned in my original piece, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson who addressed the reports earlier this week also ignored the terrorism angle. That raises questions over whether the Turkish group truly intended to funnel Uyghurs to terrorist groups, or whether this was a case of would-be refugees — which would make the issue far more serious for China-Turkey relations. Meanwhile, China Daily reports that China will “strengthen law enforcement cooperation with Turkey to combat terrorist suspects from the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region entering the Eurasian country illegally.” As a Chinese official told the newspaper, China “will work closely with [Turkish authorities] to investigate Xinjiang suspects who enter Turkey illegally.” China also hopes to increase cooperation with Turkish police to prevent “cross-border criminal gangs who help Xinjiang terrorists to cross China’s borders illegally and assist them in obtaining fake Turkish passports.”

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China bans burqa in biggest Muslim city

Violence increases between Uyghur majority, Han minority

WPBF - Jan 14, 2015

BEIJING (CNN) —Legislators in China's far-western Xinjiang province have passed a law to prohibit residents from wearing burqas in public, state media reported, in a continued campaign against what authorities view as religious extremism. The new ban in Urumqi was approved by local legislators last month, and given the greenlight by the regional legislature at the weekend.  The ordinance name suggests it targets outer garments covering someone's full body including the face, which is called a burqa in some Islamic traditions.  A spate of recent violent incidents has rocked Xinjiang, a resource-rich region long inhabited by the Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim Uyghurs.  The arrival of waves of Han Chinese, the country's predominant ethnic group, over the past decades has fueled ethnic tensions.

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China's Uyghurs and Islamic State

Chinese media report that a group of Uyghurs was arrested on suspicion of trying to join the global terror network.

By Shannon Tiezzi

THE DIPLOMAT - January 15, 2015

A report from China’s Global Times (picked up and summarized by Reuters) says that China has arrested 10 Turkish nationals in Shanghai for their role in assisting ethnic Uyghurs in illegally leaving China. According to Global Times, the Uyghurs intended to use fake Turkish passports to travel to Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to fight alongside Islamist militants. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei did not directly confirm the story, but told journalists that the Chinese media report “has gone into great details… I have nothing new to add.” Hong did elaborate a bit on China’s general position on the issue, saying that “cracking down on illegal immigration is an aspiration shared by the international community, and also the persistent stance taken by the Chinese government.” Interestingly, Hong made no mention of the reported connection with terrorism, which is a major focus of theGlobal Times story. The piece opens by saying that in November 2014, authorities in Shanghai uncovered a organization of Turkish nationals that provided “Chinese terrorists” with false Turkish passports that could then be used to illegally leave the country. Each fake passport cost 60,000 RMB ($9,680), according to the report.

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‘In China, it’s never like this’: An interview with Peter Hessler

By William Wan

The Washington Post - September 23, 2013

BEIJING – Recently transplanted to Egypt after many years in China, New Yorker correspondent Peter Hessler has a unique perspective on both countries. To many China watchers, Hessler represents a kind of gold standard for intimately reported pieces on lesser-known people and parts of the country. He’s out with his fourth and latest book – published this spring – a compilation of standalone pieces written both from China and after his return to United States in 2008. I caught up by phone with Hessler this summer, just before the military-led coup against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, to talk about his brand of reporting, life in Egypt and what it would take and look like for an Egyptian-style political movement to come to China.

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Ethnic minorities Don’t make yourself at home

Uighurs and Tibetans feel left out of China’s economic boom; ethnic discrimination is not helping

The Economist - Jan 17th 2015
BEIJING

CHINA is urbanising at a rapid pace. In 2000 nearly two-thirds of its residents lived in the countryside. Today fewer than half do. But two ethnic groups, whose members often chafe at Chinese rule, are bucking this trend. Uighurs and Tibetans are staying on the farm, often because discrimination against them makes it difficult to find work in cities. As ethnic discontent grows, so too does the discrimination, creating a vicious circle.
Breaking this circle is crucial to China’s efforts to defuse unrest in Xinjiang, Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas of other provinces, which collectively account for nearly one-third of China’s land area. In Xinjiang, Uighur grievances have triggered numerous outbreaks of violence. On January 12th, in what appeared to be the latest such example, six people were shot dead after allegedly attacking police in Shule, a town near China’s border with Central Asia. Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim, minority who number about 10m in Xinjiang. In 2000, 80% of them were farmers; ten years later 83% of them were.

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Introducing the Middle East-Asia Project (MAP)

From: "Calabrese, John" <jcalabrese (at) mei.edu>
Reply-To: Sociology of Islam <SOCIOLOGY_OF_ISLAM@LISTSERV.VT.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 7:27 AM
To: Sociology of Islam <SOCIOLOGY_OF_ISLAM@LISTSERV.VT.EDU>
Subject: [Sociology_of_Islam] Introducing the Middle East-Asia Project (MAP)

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to introduce you to the Middle East-Asia Project (MAP).

In brief, the MAP is a platform for exploring:
the roots and dynamics of the multidimensional ties that currently exist between the Middle East and Asia;
the ways in which key developments taking place within the Middle East have reverberated in Asia, and the other way around; and
the extent to which insights/lessons from recent past experiences in Asia might be applicable to the Middle East, and vice versa.

Over the past year, the MAP has launched several essay series, including:
Contemporary Patterns in Transregional Islam
Sectarianism in Muslim Majority/Minority States in the Middle East and Asia
"Civilianizing" the State in the MENA and Asia Pacific Regions
Pathways to Transitional Justice in the Arab World -- Reflections on the Asia Pacific Experience
In the coming months, the MAP will release several new essay series:
Jihadi Recruitment and Return
"Harm Reduction" Strategies
All About China
Civil Society in Transitions
The MAP Cyber Library contains an extensive list of articles on Middle East-Asian affairs with links to full-text versions free of charge.

I encourage you to share the links to the MAP with your students.

Contact me at jcalabrese (at) mei.edu if you would like to
learn more about the MAP
subscribe to the monthly MAP Bulletin
propose topics for new series
write short essays for existing or forthcoming series
Healthy, rewarding 2015 to you all!

Regards,

John Calabrese
American University / Middle East Institute
--
Dr. John Calabrese
202-785-1141 ext. 208

BBC visits China's Xinjiang province - home of the Uighurs

BBC - JANUARY 2, 2015

China says it is facing a growing threat from militant Islam and it is in the midst of a year-long crackdown on what it describes as terrorism driven by religious extremism.
The campaign is focused on the western province of Xinjiang, home to China's Uighur ethnic minority who are predominantly Muslim.
Despite doubling the policing budget in the province and jailing hundreds of Uighurs, violent attacks have continued.
Critics say China is exacerbating its problems by religious repression.
Widespread intimidation makes reporting from the region extremely difficult as the BBC's China editor Carrie Gracie reports.

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Xinjiang: Has China's crackdown on 'terrorism' worked?

BBC - 1 January 2015 

Carrie Gracie BBC China editor

"Kashgar is not stable."

The words of a paramilitary police officer as he marched past me under the statue of Chairman Mao in China's westernmost city.
It was the answer to my question: "Why are there so many armoured trucks, so many armed officers, so many police dogs?"
A history scarred by civil war and foreign invasion makes many Chinese citizens hanker for strong central government.
But for security, they pay a high price in civil liberties.
Especially in border areas like this which are so different from mainstream China and where the pressure to show loyalty is correspondingly immense.
The government is watching every citizen.

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