Newsletter No. 1420
News-Analysis
July 27, 2009

 

CHINESE AMBASSADOR PUSHES TOKYO ABOUT KADEER VISIT

There have been some interesting developments on the Xinjiang issue today as the Chinese ambassador in Tokyo openly criticized Japan’s decision to allow a visit by World Uyghur Congress President Rebiya Kadeer.

Kadeer’s November 2007 visit to Japan was reported in Shingetsu Newsletter No. 823. We present here the report just published by our partner organization, PanOrient News.

Photo: Uighurs Protesting in Tokyo
Source: AFP

Beijing Irate about Rebiya Kadeer’s Planned Visit to Tokyo

PanOrient News -- Kitakyushu, Monday, 27 July 2009

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cui Tiankai told the Japanese media today that his government opposes the upcoming visit to Tokyo of Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, and implied that damage may be done to Japan-China relations as a result of allowing it to proceed.

In a group interview with Kyodo News and public broadcaster NHK, Ambassador Cui declared, "How would the people of Japan feel if a violent crime occurs in Japan and its mastermind is invited by a third country? The matter can be considered easily when you think from the other person's viewpoint... She is a criminal... We must prevent important matters that should be worked on together [between Japan and China] from being disturbed by a criminal or attention to our common interests from being diverted."

Ambassador Cui even compared Kadeer to the leader of the Aum religious cult, noted for the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.

Rebiya Kadeer is president of the World Uyghur Congress, an organization claiming to "promote the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine the political future of East Turkestan." The Chinese government, however, accuses Kadeer of masterminding a campaign of ethnic unrest in Xinjiang.

The sharp criticism of Kadeer's planned visit to Tokyo is unusual: Beijing has rarely commented on Kadeer's travels before, and Kadeer had come to Tokyo as recently as November 2007 without incident. The Japanese government has not prepared any official reception for the Uighur leader.

Beijing's hightened sensitivity to these issues is linked to the ethnic riots that broke out on July 5 in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and which led to the deaths of hundreds of people.

Japanese public opinion has been sympathetic to the view that Han Chinese discrimination and repression lay at the heart of the conflict. On July 12, more than five hundred supporters of Uighur rights rallied in Tokyo near the Chinese Embassy, some of them accusing Beijing of "genocide" and calling for Uighur independence.

On the other hand, the Chinese Students' Association in Japan has condemned the riots in Xinjiang and blamed Uighur separatists for launching violence against ordinary civilians with the objective of undermining the harmony and stability of the Chinese nation.