Beijing accused of forcing Uyghur-Han intermarriages
Beijing is bent on ‘racial cleansing’ targeting Uyghurs in the name of social inclusion and assimilation, a rights group claims.
A video clip of a gloomy bride, believed to be a young Uyghur woman, appearing to begrudge marrying her groom, a member of China’s predominant Han race, has been circulating online, with observers and Uyghur human-rights advocacy groups calling it more proof of Beijing’s callous bid to “attenuate” the Uyghur identity in Xinjiang.
The video is believed to have been taken in southern Xinjiang, a vast region that has been highly populated by Uyghurs in small communities since they were hived off in sweeping re-siting programs executed in the region’s capital Urumqi after the Communist Party’s takeover of China in 1949.
Talk to East Turkestan, a Xinjiang human-rights concern group, alleged on its Facebook page that the relatives of this Uyghur woman were held captive at an “ideological remolding camp” set up by local party cadres and she had to marry that Han man she had met just two months ago, for the safety and release of her family members.
The celebration of a marriage that was not at all euphoric was the latest evidence of Beijing’s systematic “racial cleansing” and “genocide,” the group claimed in a post.
The group also indicated that virtually all male Uyghurs would be incarcerated for education programs held at schools and government facilities for varying lengths.
Talk to East Turkestan, a Xinjiang human-rights concern group, alleged on its Facebook page that the relatives of this Uyghur woman were held captive at an “ideological remolding camp” set up by local party cadres and she had to marry that Han man she had met just two months ago, for the safety and release of her family members.
The celebration of a marriage that was not at all euphoric was the latest evidence of Beijing’s systematic “racial cleansing” and “genocide,” the group claimed in a post.
The group also indicated that virtually all male Uyghurs would be incarcerated for education programs held at schools and government facilities for varying lengths.
Asia Times: http://www.atimes.com/article/beijing-accused-of-forcing-uyghur-han-intermarriages/
