The Duality of German Media on Xinjiang

Neue Zurcher Zeitung is both-sidesing the Xinjiang genocide debate

Have you ever noticed how any time anyone, either an individual or an organization, defends China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, someone else tries to ‘debunk’ it by parroting US State Department propaganda? I do, and I wasn’t surprised to find that when Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) posted an opinion piece from two researchers denouncing the western narrative on Xinjiang, another article would soon follow denouncing those researchers’ findings.

This South China Morning Post (SCMP) article popped up on my news feed:

There is more to the Xinjiang story than meets Western media eyes -
According to independent observers who visited the region, Beijing has implemented policies to help Uygurs after crushing terrorist threat

I found it quite interesting considering the SCMP frequently reports on whatever nonsense the US and their puppets are saying about Xinjiang without any pushback. I guess SCMP is also both-sidesing the genocide debate? From the article:

We have all heard the “genocide” narrative from the mainstream news media about Xinjiang. Four independent German sinologists and an international law specialist investigated on site on their own initiative in May and returned with their own report. A summary by two of them has been published in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, a Swiss-German newspaper of record.

Their account may be characterised as a story in three stages: Islamist terrorism and separatism; Chinese state repression and human rights violations; and a return to normality. The two authors are Thomas Heberer, a professor of Chinese politics and society at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, professor of Chinese studies and director of the China Centre at the University of Tübingen. Their view is well worth considering, in contrast to the more sensational narrative about genocide, forced labour and torture.

These German researchers visited Xinjiang and, of course, found no evidence of genocide. Funnily enough, I covered a different German publication (Der Spiegel) who sent journalists to tour Xinjiang. They also saw nothing that would tangibly suggest a genocide, yet they mischaracterized it (lied, exaggerated) to still be ignorantly sinophobic. Here’s where I debunked it:

Back to the SCMP article:

Between 2010 and 2016, there was undoubted extreme Islamist terrorism being carried out in Xinjiang and beyond. This led to fears that the central government was losing control in the region. Undoubtedly harsh measures were introduced to stop the terror and regain control. With national security at stake, Beijing no doubt cracked down ruthlessly, affecting large swathes of the Uygur population. However, the German authors also pointed out that “it should not be overlooked that the population itself suffered from the terror”.
…
However, the authors argue that the harsh anti-terror campaign has been judged successful by the central government and that things have been returning to normal since the end of 2021 when the new Xinjiang leadership – led by party secretary Ma Xingrui – was appointed by Beijing. Ma’s remit was not to continue counterterrorism, but return life to normal.

Western capitalist simps and sinophobes patently refuse to even mention the terrorism problem that China had with Uyghur separatists that prompted the ‘crackdown’ in Xinjiang. I say ‘had’, because like the German researchers and the SCMP article imply; they solved it, and have since returned to relative normality.

There were over 200 terror attacks from Uyghur separatists prior to the crackdown. China’s response was both necessary, and wildly effective. The US’s response to one terrible terror attack from Islamic extremists, however, was to commit one twice as bad. ~3000 people died on 9/11, and over 6000 civilians died during Shock and Awe in Baghdad.

Western capitalists still can’t name a single Uyghur who was murdered during the ‘crackdown’ in Xinjiang. Think about that for a second. This is the most successful large scale non-violent de-radicalization campaign, probably in human history.

Funnily enough, the US knows why actions needed to be taken against Uyghur extremists. They personally detained 22 of them in fucking Guantanamo Bay. They also used to recognize the East Turkestan Islamic Movement/Turkestan Islamic Party as a terrorist organization, until they realized they could use them as a tool to destabilize China.

Here is the article on NZZ, I obviously don’t read German so I ran it through Google Translate:

Beyond hatred and anger - after the successful campaign against terrorism and Islamism, Beijing wants conditions in Xinjiang to return to normal
News from the Xinjiang region in China rarely reaches the world. For fear of terror and secession, Beijing keeps the Uyghur population under control through repression. However, a trip to China's far west suggests that things are taking a turn for the better.

I’m not sure if it’s a slight mistranslation, but despite defending China’s actions these researchers use quite harsh language in reference to the ‘crackdown’. This irks me because they obviously don’t have any evidence of the ‘repression’. Being sent to mandatory vocational schools and re-education centers is not repression. School was mandatory for me here in Canada, was I being repressed?

Sensational reports of strictly managed internment camps, forced labor and cultural oppression of the Uyghurs continue to shape the world's image of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. However, the fact that this region suffered from massive Islamist terror between 2010 and 2016, which almost led to a loss of control by the central government, has been less discussed. Beijing was forced to react with undoubtedly overly harsh measures in order to stop the terror and get the situation back under control. At stake was the internal security of all of China. It should also not be overlooked that the Uyghur population itself suffered from the terror.

I would not call China’s measures overly harsh, at all. Once again, look what the US has done in response to Islamic terrorism. China put them in school. Some of the more radical ones weren’t allowed to leave until they were de-radicalized. That’s nothing. The western narrative about repression has never been true, anyways. But we’ll get to that.

In 2016, extremist Uyghurs said in an IS video that they planned to “drown Han Chinese in a sea of ​​blood.” Accordingly, they began recruiting young Uighurs as fighters in southern Xinjiang from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I know I keep going back to it, but imagine if this was said about Americans. Nearly every American would be thirsting for the US to bomb the hell out of them. They would be upset if the US simply re-educated them like China did.

There are now clear signs of a return to “normality”. In the regions visited by the group, police road checkpoints are clearly no longer in use. With the introduction of fifteen years of free education (kindergarten, school and vocational training) for young Uyghurs, the state has initiated a new development push. In addition, there is state-subsidized health care, initially in the southern part of Xinjiang.
…
In addition to free education, students receive 200 yuan a month to support their parents.

Radlibs are thirsting for the US to do this, but instead of praising China they’ll just parrot more and more CIA talking points. Sigh.

The tour group was unable to detect any general discrimination against the Uyghur language and culture, although in Xinjiang, as in all areas of ethnic minorities with their own language and script, Standard Chinese is the main language of instruction in schools from secondary school onwards. At compulsory school age, your own language is offered as a subject.

Having Mandarin be the main language taught in schools in China is normal, every country does that for their main language. The researchers admit that the Uyghur language can be taken as an elective.

If the human rights situation continues to demonstrably normalize, the EU should start dialogue and reconsider the sanctions imposed on China over Xinjiang.

Ah, a call to action that will be completely ignored by the EU, who needs to keep China as a mortal enemy to fuel the three defence contractors in a trenchcoat that run it.

Obviously there’s some unnecessary demonization of certain actions China has taken in that article, but overall, it’s refreshing to read from western media. Now let’s see the other side, because of course, it must be represented. One simply cannot praise China without also propagandizing against them.

SCMP didn’t link to the above NZZ article, so I had to search for ‘Xinjiang’ on their website to find it. When I did, this little ditty popped up, posted 4 days after the first one:

The Chinese government is committing genocide against the Uighurs
China's ironclad policy against the Uyghurs is not primarily about the fight against terrorism, but about the extermination of the Uyghur people. A replica.

Not pussy-footing around with that headline, hey? They’re clearly triggered by someone defending China’s actions. One of the authors of this article, Dolkun Isa, is the president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). I previously covered some nonsensical propaganda from them and did an in-depth debunk on their entire organization, which you can find here:

As you can see from the title, they are directly funded by a CIA cutout; the National Endowment for Democracy. One of the founders of the NED admitted that they exist to do ‘overtly, what the CIA used to do covertly’. Like, for instance, spreading propaganda about America’s enemies.

The WUC also directly supports and encourages terrorism in China from radicalized Uyghurs. They were involved in the Ürümqi riots in 2009. The President of the WUC at the time, Rebiya Kadeer, prompted Uyghurs to respond to an incident between Han Chinese and Uyghur factory workers with violence. They did. About 200 people died, most of them Han Chinese. Thanks, World Uyghur Congress. You surely are striving for peace.

Isn’t it just hilarious that the response to a report praising China from unbiased researchers is from the President of a CIA-funded, terrorist-supporting organization? Not if you’ve been debunking western lies about China as much as I have. This is entirely expected.

The Chinese government's genocidal policy against Uighurs and other Turkic peoples has been going on for seven years now. We do not know how many people in total were brutally “re-educated” in the internment camps. However, estimates put the number at several million; including many intellectuals and religious figures, such as Sakharov Prize winner Ilham Tohti, Tashpolat Teip, former president of Xinjiang University, Halmurat Opur, president of Xinjiang Medical University, and Gulshan Abbas, doctor and sister of activist Rushan Abbas .

SEVERAL. MILLION. What is several? 3 million? 8 million? Shouldn’t you have a more exact figure? Usually propagandists stick to the tried-and-true 1 million number from Adrian Zenz, who is also on the CIA payroll.

I’m so glad they mentioned Rushan Abbas here. They call her an activist. She isn’t, she’s quite literally a US State Department goon. She was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, translating for those 22 aforementioned Uyghurs that the US probably tortured. She also runs the Campaign for Uyghurs, which is another NED (CIA) funded organization.

To be completely clear, there is no proof of ‘several million’ Uyghurs being detained. They obviously don’t try to provide any. Well, I guess they provided proof of four, above. Just, I don’t know, several million more to go? You can do it, CIA-funded WUC president. I believe in you.

During this period, the Chinese government was also able to reduce the birth rate in the Uighur region by almost half between 2017 and 2019 through forced sterilization and other measures.

Some more Adrian Zenz propaganda here. The Uyghurs were previously not subjected to the One Child/Two Child policy in China. Making them adhere to it isn’t repression, it’s equality. IUDs are not sterilization, by the way. They’re literally designed to be removed. They imply China is using tube-tying or other permanent methods, but there is zero proof of that, and again, none is provided here.

Not to mention what the Chinese government is doing to people's psyches through brainwashing and torture.

No, please mention it. Oh, and be specific. This statement is utterly useless. There is no proof of torture, again, and it is not provided, again. Also, what the CIA-funded WUC president calls brainwashing is literally just teaching Uyghurs Mandarin and vocational skills to enter the workforce. For some, it’s teaching them that radical violence in the name of religion is bad. Oh no, how terrible of China.

The 2022 report by the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, speaks of potential crimes against humanity in this context.

Why even mention this? It goes against your point. The UN couldn’t even conclusively say that crimes against humanity were happening in Xinjiang. They said ‘potential’.

After the publication of the UN report, there is no longer any doubt that Xi Jinping's iron policy is not - as in the guest commentary by Heberer and Schmidt-Glintzer - primarily aimed at fighting terrorism, but rather at eradicating it the Uyghur people.

How did the CIA-funded WUC president come to this conclusion after reading that UN report? How are the Uyghurs being eradicated? Once again, they can’t provide proof of a single Uyghur killed in this crackdown. They only have declining birthrates due to IUD insertions to point to, which, as previously mentioned, is not sterilization and is meant to align the Uyghurs with the rest of China.

If Xi Jinping has his way, the Uyghurs should disappear quietly, without economic or political consequences for China. We don't have long left to prevent this. The people of East Turkistan wait every day for this nightmare to end. Let's act now.

Hey, look at that, is this another call to violence? Sounds like it to me. What actions are you suggesting they take, CIA-funded WUC President? The same actions your predecessor inspired in Ürümqi, where 200 people unnecessarily died?

Nice work, Neue Zurcher Zeitung. In both-sidesing a genocide debate, you platformed the leader of a CIA-funded propaganda organization that seeks to separate ‘East Turkestan’ from China through religious based violence. Will you be happy if, or when, there is a 9/11 style terror attack in China? Will that make you proud? How many bodies would there need to be for you to be satisfied? You platformed a violent call to action here, you spineless fucks.

Now subscribe, or I’ll get CIA funding to propagandize about you: