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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div class=""><div id="divRplyFwdMsg" class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></div></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 2.5rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: bold;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class="">Behind the U.S. anti-China Campaign<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 30pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class=""><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/2019/12/21/behind-the-u-s-anti-china-campaign/" id="LPlnk485165" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://unac.notowar.net/2019/12/21/behind-the-u-s-anti-china-campaign/</a></span></b><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div id="LPBorder_GTaHR0cHM6Ly91bmFjLm5vdG93YXIubmV0LzIwMTkvMTIvMjEvYmVoaW5kLXRoZS11LXMtYW50aS1jaGluYS1jYW1wYWlnbi8." style="margin-top: 12pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; max-width: 800px; min-width: 424px;" class=""><table class="MsoNormalTable" border="1" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="width: 798px; border: 1pt solid rgb(200, 200, 200);"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td width="100%" valign="top" style="width: 746px; border: none; padding: 9pt 27pt 9pt 9pt;" class=""><div id="LPTitle987742" style="margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 9pt;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI Light', sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/2019/12/21/behind-the-u-s-anti-china-campaign/" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="text-decoration: none;" class="">Behind the U.S. anti-China Campaign – Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad!</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div id="LPDescription987742" style="margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 9pt; max-height: 100px; overflow: hidden;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">by Sara Flounders, published on Workers World, December 18, 2018. In order to evaluate the claims of massive human rights violations of the Uyghurs, an ethnic and religious minority in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, it is important to know a few facts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div id="LPMetadata987742" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; color: rgb(166, 166, 166);" class=""><a href="http://unac.notowar.net/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">unac.notowar.net</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin-left: 2.4pt; margin-top: 6pt; margin-right: 2.4pt; font-size: 0.8125rem;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(170, 170, 170); text-transform: uppercase;" class=""><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/2019/12/21/behind-the-u-s-anti-china-campaign/" title="12:06 am" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">DECEMBER 21, 2019</a><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/author/editor/" title="View all posts by UNAC Editor" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">UNAC EDITOR</a><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/category/china/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">CHINA</a>, <a href="https://unac.notowar.net/category/anti-imperialism/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">IMPERIALISM</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">by </span></em><strong class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Sara Flounders</span></i></strong><em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">, published on <a href="https://www.workers.org/2019/12/44963/" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class="">Workers World</span></strong></a>, December 18, 2018</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In order to evaluate the claims of massive human rights violations of the Uyghurs, an ethnic and religious minority in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, it is important to know a few facts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><a href="https://unac.notowar.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/MapOfChinaGeography.gif" title="" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(198, 41, 1); border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;" class=""><img class="" apple-inline="yes" id="80682347-4FA5-4E4C-91AB-75CFF151BAD5" height="243" width="300" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D5C146.36BA53F0"></span></a>Geographic map of China. Notice that Xinjiang province has a large desert in the center and is surrounded by mountains. It borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and India among others.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Xinjiang Province in the far western region of China is an arid, mountainous and still largely underdeveloped region. Xinjiang has significant oil and mineral reserves and is currently China’s largest natural-gas-producing region.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">It is home to a number of diverse ethnic groups, including Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans, Tajiks, Hui and Han peoples.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Xinjiang borders five Central Asian countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, where more than 1 million U.S. troops and even more mercenaries, contractors and secret agents have operated over four decades in an endless U.S. war.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">What is happening in Xinjiang today must be seen in the context of what has been happening throughout Central Asia.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Xinjiang is a major logistics center for China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Xinjiang is the gateway to Central and West Asia, as well as to European markets.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The Southern Xinjiang Railway runs to the city of Kashgar in China’s far west where it is now connected to Pakistan’s rail network under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project of the BRI.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The U.S. government is deeply hostile to this vast economic development project and is doing all it can to sabotage China’s plans. This campaign is part of the U.S. military’s “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Pivot to Asia</span></em>,” along with naval threats in the South China Sea and support for separatist movements in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">No U.N. report on Xinjiang</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The U.S. and its corporate media charge that the Chinese government has rounded up 1 million people, mainly Uyghurs, into concentration camps. News reports cite the United Nations as their source.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">This was disputed in a detailed investigative report by Ben Norton and Ajit Singh titled, “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">No, the UN did not report China has ‘massive internment camps’ for Uighur Muslims</span></em>.” (The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://grayzone.com/" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">Grayzone.com</a>, Aug. 23, 2018) They expose how this widely publicized claim is based entirely on unsourced allegations by a single U.S. member, Gay McDougall, on an “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">independent committee</span></em>” with an official sounding name: U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has confirmed that no U.N. body or official has made such a charge against China.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">CIA/NED-funded ‘human rights’</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">After this fraudulent news story received wide coverage, it was followed by “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">reports</span></em>” from the Washington-based Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders. This group receives most of its funds from U.S. government grants, primarily from the CIA-linked National Endowment for Democracy, a major source of funding for U.S. “regime change” operations around the world.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders shares the same Washington address as Human Rights Watch. The HRW has been a major source of attacks on governments targeted by the U.S., such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Syria and China. The network has long called for sanctions against China.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The CHRD’s sources include Radio Free Asia, a news agency funded for decades by the U.S. government. The World Uighur Congress, another source of sensationalized reports, is also funded by NED. The same U.S. government funding is behind the International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation and the Uyghur American Association.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The authors of the Grayzone article cite years of detailed IRS filing forms to back up their claim. They list millions of dollars in generous government funding — to generate false reports.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">This whole network of supposedly impartial civil society groups, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks and news sources operates under the cover of “human rights” to promote sanctions and war.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">CIA-funded terror</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Central Asia has experienced the worst forms of U.S. military power.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Beginning in 1979, the CIA, operating with the ISI Pakistani Intelligence Service and Saudi money, funded and equipped reactionary Mujahedeen forces in Afghanistan to bring down a revolutionary government there. The U.S. cultivated and promoted extreme religious fanaticism, based in Saudi Arabia, against progressive secular regimes in the region. This reactionary force was also weaponized against the Soviet Union and an anti-imperialist Islamic current represented by the Iranian Revolution.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">For four decades, the CIA and secret Pakistan ISI forces in Afghanistan sought to recruit and train Uyghur mercenaries, planning to use them as a future terror force in China. Chechnyans from Russia’s Caucasus region were recruited for the same reason. Both groups were funneled into Syria in the U.S. regime-change operation there. These fanatical religious forces, along with other small ethnic groups, formed the backbone of the Islamic State group (IS) and Al-Qaida.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">After the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center bombing, the very forces that U.S. secret operations had helped to create became the enemy.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Uyghurs from Xinjiang were among the Al-Qaida prisoners captured in Afghanistan and held in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo for years without charges. Legal appeals exposed that the Uyghur prisoners were being held there under some of the worst conditions in solitary confinement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">U.S. wars dislocate region</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the massive U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 created shock-waves of dislocation. Social progress, education, health care and infrastructure were destroyed. Sectarian and ethnic division was encouraged to divide opposition to U.S. occupations. Despite promises of great progress, the U.S. occupations sowed only destruction.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In this long war, U.S. prisons in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq were notorious. The CIA used “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">enhanced interrogation</span></em>” techniques — torture — and secret rendition to Guantanamo, Bagram and the Salt Pit in Afghanistan. These secret prisons have since been the source of many legal suits.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">According to U.N. investigations, by 2010 the U.S. held more than 27,000 prisoners in over 100 secret facilities around the world. Searing images and reports of systematic torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Bagram airbase in Afghanistan surfaced.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Exposing coverup of war crimes</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In July 2010 WikiLeaks published more than 75,000 classified U.S./NATO reports on the war in Afghanistan.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In October of that year, a massive leak of 400,000 military videos, photos and documents exposed, in harrowing detail, torture, summary executions and other war crimes. Army intelligence analyst former Private Chelsea Manning released this damning material to WikiLeaks.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Based on the leaked documents, the U.N. chief investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, called on U.S. President Barack Obama to order a full investigation of these crimes, including abuse, torture, rape and murder committed against the Iraqi people following the U.S. invasion and occupation.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The leaked reports provided documentary proof of 109,000 deaths — including 66,000 civilians. This is seldom mentioned in the media, in contrast to the highly publicized and unsourced charges now raised against China.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Prosecuting whistle blowers</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The CIA’s National Endowment for Democracy pays handsomely for unsourced documents making claims of torture against China, while those who provided documentary proof of U.S. torture have been treated as criminals.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">John Kiriakou, who worked for the CIA between 1990 and 2004 and confirmed widespread use of systematic torture, was prosecuted by the Obama administration for revealing classified information and sentenced to 30 months in prison.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Chelsea Manning’s release of tens of thousands of government documents confirming torture and abuse, in addition to horrific photos of mass killings, have led to her continued incarceration. Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is imprisoned in Britain and faces deportation to the U.S. for his role in disseminating these documents.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Rewriting history</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">How much of the coverage of Xinjiang is intended to deflect world attention from the continuing crimes of U.S. wars — from Afghanistan to Syria?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In 2014 a Senate CIA Torture Report confirmed that a torture program, called “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">Detention and Interrogation Program</span></em>,” had been approved by top U.S. officials. Only a 525-page Executive Summary of its 6,000 pages was released, but it was enough to confirm that the CIA program was far more brutal and extensive than had previously been released.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Mercenaries flood into Syria</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">The U.S. regime-change effort to overturn the government of Syria funneled more than 100,000 foreign mercenaries and fanatical religious forces into the war. They were well-equipped with advanced weapons, military gear, provisions and paychecks.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">One-third of the Syrian population was uprooted in the war. Millions of refugees flooded into Europe and neighboring countries.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Beginning in 2013, thousands of Uyghur fighters were smuggled into Syria to train with the extremist Uyghur group known as the Turkistan Islamic Party. Fighting alongside Al-Qaida and Al-Nusra terror units, these forces played key roles in several battles.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Reuters, Associated Press and Newsweek all reported that up to 5,000 Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs from Xinjiang were fighting in various “<em class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class="">militant</span></em>” groups in Syria.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">According to Syrian media, a transplanted Uyghur colony transformed the city of al Zanbaka (on the Turkish border) into an entrenched camp of 18,000 people. Many of the Uyghur fighters were smuggled to the Turkish-Syrian border area with their families. Speaking Turkish, rather than Chinese, they relied on the support of the Turkish secret services.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">China follows a different path</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">China is determined to follow a different path in dealing with fanatical groups that are weaponized by religious extremism. China’s action comes after terror attacks and explosives have killed hundreds of civilians in busy shopping areas and crowded train and bus stations since the 1990s.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">China has dealt with the problem of religious extremism by setting up large-scale vocational education and training centers. Rather than creating worse underdevelopment through bombing campaigns, it is seeking to engage the population in education, skill development and rapid economic and infrastructure development.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Terrorist attacks in Xinjiang have stopped since the reeducation campaigns began in 2017.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Two worldviews of Xinjiang</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">In July of this year, 22 countries, most in Europe plus Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, sent a letter to the U.N. Human Rights Council criticizing China for mass arbitrary detentions and other violations against Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. The statement did not include a single signature from a Muslim-majority state.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Days later, a far larger group of 34 countries — now expanded to 54 from Asia, Africa and Latin America — submitted a letter in defense of China’s policies. These countries expressed their firm support of China’s counterterrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">More than a dozen member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the U.N. signed the statement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">A further statement on Oct. 31 to the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly explained that a number of diplomats, international organizations, officials and journalists had traveled to Xinjiang to witness the progress of the human rights cause and the outcomes of counterterrorism and deradicalization.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><blockquote style="border-style: none none none solid; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-width: 3pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.25in; quotes: none; font-size: 1.1875rem;" class="" type="cite"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);" class="">“What they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the [Western] media,”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></p></blockquote><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">said the statement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""><hr size="1" width="100%" align="center" class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class="">Sara Flounders</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);" class=""> is an American political writer who has been active in ‘progressive’ and anti-war organizing since the 1960s. Sara is Co-Director of the<strong class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""> International Action Center (IAC)</span></strong> and a member of the Secretariat of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_World_Party" title="Workers World Party" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class="">Workers World Party</span></strong></a> She also frequently writes for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_World_(newspaper)" title="Workers World (newspaper)" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><strong class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class="">Workers World newspaper</span></strong></a> and publishes articles on the <strong class=""><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://iacenter.org/" target="_blank" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(198, 41, 1);" class="">International Action Center website</span></a></span></strong>.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>