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  • Turkey faces off with China

  • Over treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority

  • How will this showdown go down?

  • This is China Uncensored.

  • I'm Chris Chappell.

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  • The Uighurs.

  • They're the dominant ethnic minority

  • in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China.

  • That's its official name because it's totally autonomous.

  • You know, other than the massive state security apparatus

  • the Chinese Communist Party has installed in Xinjiang.

  • The security here is incredibly tight.

  • There are armored cars on the streets.

  • Police stations on every corner.

  • And tons of surveillance cameras.

  • In the past year, police have stepped up security.

  • The region is now under probably the most

  • intense government surveillance in the world.”

  • Not to mention the government workers literally

  • being sent into people's homes to spy on them.

  • I mean who doesn't like being watched 24/7

  • with the threat of detention

  • hanging over your head at all times?

  • I can't imagine why any Uighurs

  • would want independence from China.

  • For years, the Chinese Communist Party

  • has targeted the Uighurs.

  • They're a mostly Turkic Muslim group,

  • so the Party justifies it as a crackdown on terrorists.

  • And it is true some Uighurs from Xinjiang

  • have joined terrorist groups like ISIS.

  • But authorities have detained

  • more than a million Uighurs in concentration camps.

  • So that makes you wonder,

  • do Chinese authorities think all Uighurs are terrorists?

  • Well, that would be taking it too far.

  • Chinese authorities clearly don't think

  • all Uighurs are terrorists.

  • For instance,

  • Uighur women make great wife material.

  • ...since you know, there's about 30 million

  • more men than women in China.

  • It's because of the extremely well-thought-out

  • One Child Policy that resulted in the abortions

  • of tens of millions of unborn girls.

  • Now, many Western countries have spoken out

  • against the persecution of Uighurs.

  • Including the Trump Administration.

  • Because when you think 'defending Muslims,'

  • you think Donald Trump.

  • And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

  • said just last week that she spoke with

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about

  • doing more to help the Uighurs.

  • More proof of how the Chinese Communist Party

  • is bringing Democrats and Republicans together.

  • It's heartwarming, really.

  • But in the upside down world we live in,

  • Muslim countries by and large have remained silent

  • about the Chinese regime's treatment of Muslims.

  • Does that have anything to do with the billions of dollars

  • China is investing in these countries?

  • I'm not saying it's about money.

  • But I'm not *not* saying it's not not about money.

  • Think about *that.*

  • But the Muslim world's silence

  • on the Chinese regime's persecution of Muslims

  • has started to change.

  • And it has started with

  • one of the most unlikely countries:

  • Turkey.

  • Because when you think

  • 'standing up to authoritarian persecution,'

  • you think Turkish dictator President Erdoğan.

  • Turkey has become the first predominantly Muslim country

  • to directly criticize the Chinese regime on the issue.

  • This statement is a from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

  • It specifically calls out theserious human rights violations

  • committed in the Xinjiang region.”

  • The statement was made despite a recent 3.6 billion dollar loan

  • from a Chinese state-owned bank.

  • The statement also grieved the death of

  • a famous Uighur musician and poet, Abdurehim Heyit.

  • He's been detained in China since 2017.

  • Heyit is incredibly popular in the Turkic world for his art.

  • So, what was the Chinese regime's response?

  • The report of his death was greatly exaggerated.

  • China released this video,

  • supposedly of Heyit saying, “Hey I'm fine!”

  • My name is Abdurehim Heyit.

  • Today is February 10, 2019.

  • I'm in the process of being investigated

  • for allegedly violating the national laws.

  • I'm now in good health and have never been abused.”

  • Ohhh, well that was a bit of a snafu.

  • The Chinese Foreign Ministry was quick to gloat.

  • Turkey's ridiculous lie of describing

  • a person who is alive as a dead person

  • and its groundless accusations

  • are terribly wrong and irresponsible.

  • We express resolute opposition to this.”

  • Yeah, how dare Turkey call someone dead

  • when that person is obviously alive

  • but held incommunicado with his whereabouts unknown!

  • Although, if a government has to release

  • a “proof of lifevideo

  • to prove that they haven't killed someone,

  • that's not a good look.

  • It's more of a kidnapper look.

  • But let's go back to why Turkey messed up!

  • Because obviously if that specific fact was wrong,

  • then entire argument that China is persecuting Uighurs

  • must be false too!

  • At least according to this statement

  • from the Chinese embassy in Turkey.

  • The allegations that the Chinese government

  • is trying to 'eliminate' the ethnic,

  • religious and cultural identity of the Uighurs

  • and other Muslim groups are completely untenable.”

  • So please, stop looking into any alleged stories of torture.

  • Like this one.

  • But it was a short-lived victory for the Chinese regime.

  • Because you know what the response

  • from Uighurs around the world has been?

  • Well, if the Chinese authorities are willing to release

  • a video of one Uighur as proof he was alive,

  • why not release one for every Uighur in detention?

  • They started the #MeTooUyghur movement,

  • demanding video proof that their

  • detained friends and relatives are alive.

  • A Uighur Me Too Movement.

  • Look, you know,

  • not all Chinese people imprison Uighurs.

  • In fact, some Uighurs even fake it!

  • Some Uighurs just accidentally fell down the stairs...

  • into concentration camps,

  • while in the process,

  • dropping their children...into...

  • far-away Chinese boarding schools

  • where they're forbidden to speak their native language.

  • Look, what I'm trying to say is,

  • stairs are dangerous and stop asking questions.

  • So what does this mean for Turkey's relationship with China?

  • Turkey hasn't officially responded

  • since China released the video they say is Heyit.

  • But according to the Mercator Institute for China Studies,

  • Turkey is too important for China

  • as an access point to the Middle East.

  • So the long-term blowback will probably be small.

  • And before we go,

  • now is the time when I answer questions from you,

  • my loyal 50-cent army

  • fans of the show who support what we do

  • through the crowd funding website Patreon.

  • David Michael White asks,

  • Chris, in your opinion,

  • what's the greatest love story in Chinese literature?”

  • Oh well, I'm sure the right answer is probably

  • the characters from Dream of Red Chamber,

  • one of the four classics of Chinese literature.

  • It involves two star-crossed lovers bound together

  • by a tragic karmic relationship.

  • And let me just say,

  • what I just said makes it sound

  • way more interesting that it actually is.

  • Now I know I'm going to get some blowback for this,

  • because Dream of Red Chamber

  • is beloved by Chinese people everywhere,

  • but it must lose something in translation

  • because seriously,