'My People Look to the United States for Hope'
November 27, 2018 - FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL
The days of herding up people like cattle and sending them away to torture camps were supposed to die with World War II. Unfortunately for the Chinese, they're as real today as ever. In one of the greatest human catastrophes no one is talking about, as many as a million Muslim minorities are living in echoes of the 1940s Germany. And without the West's help, it shows no sign of stopping.
For Kayrat Samarkand, one of the survivors of China's mass internment camps, he can't take a single step without remembering what happened to him. His legs, which had been broken by kidnappers years before, still hurt. He lived through that, only to find himself transferred to one of the country's new "re-education" centers as an adult, along with thousands of other Muslims and people who grew up in Muslim families.
From 6 a.m. every morning, detainees were ordered to sing along to songs played over the camp's PA system, praising China's Communist Party." Kayrat says everyone was "forced to memorize a list of what he calls '126 lies' about religion: 'Religion is opium, religion is bad, you must believe in no religion, you must believe in the Communist Party.' 'Only [the] Communist Party could lead you to the bright future.'" "They made me wear what they called 'iron clothes,' a suit made of metal that weighed over 50 pounds," he told NPR. "It forced my arms and legs into an outstretched position. I couldn't move at all, and my back was in terrible pain." After a half-day of it, he said he would do whatever he was asked. At one point, he tried to kill himself by banging his head against the wall. He woke up in a hospital.
Stories like Kayrat's aren't rare. At a roundtable at the National Press Club yesterday, 278 scholars from 26 countriespleaded with world leaders to intervene. Mihrigul Tursun, a Uyghur woman, talked about being beaten and tortured like other Muslim minorities at a holding center in the Xinjiang region. Although Chinese officials have been silent about their brutal crackdown on hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, satellite images and other paper trails prove the existence of as many as 1,200 camps. Then, of course, there's the supply line. "Authorities in the Hotan prefecture, for instance, ordered 2,768 police batons, 550 electric cattle prods, 1,367 pairs of handcuffs, and 2,792 cans of pepper spray for such centers in 2018."
It's a tragedy of epic proportions – one that Vice President Mike Pence, Ambassador Sam Brownback, and this Congress have been committed to stopping. In the Senate, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)'s Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act has overwhelming Republican and Democratic backing. Together, the parties are calling on President Trump to condemn the abuses and use his leverage to force the closure of these camps. "Chinese government officials should be held accountable for their complicity in this evil, and U.S. businesses should be barred from helping China create a high-tech police state in Xinjiang," said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who's sponsoring the House version of the legislation.
President Trump will have the chance to raise the issue as early as Friday, when he'll be face to face with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Buenos Aires. The White House, which is already considering a hike in tariffs, could make the issue even more painful for China by levying sanctions. Mihrigul Tursun certainly hopes the administration will use whatever means necessary to end the suffering. "My people look to the United States as the beacon of hope for the oppressed people around the world," she said yesterday. "I hope that the U.S. will lead the world community to condemn China's gross violations of universally recognized human rights."
Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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