Bite-sized alternative political analysis
The facts:
Jacinda Ardern’s trip to China has brought into question the Government’s lack of protest over China’s treatment of its Turkic-Muslim population. The Chinese Government has received international criticism for its treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority in the northwest of China. Uighur are a Turkic ethnic group who are predominately Muslim. A Uighur independence movement has been calling for an independent Uighur state. The Chinese State firmly suppresses any calls for independence.
Currently, up to a million Uighur are interned in what are essentially concentration camps. The Chinese Government is currently imposing forced ideological re-education of Uighur in these camps. What is going on in the detention camps is hard to tell, due to heightened levels of secrecy by the Chinese Government over this issue. However, there have been ongoing reports of Muslims being physically abused and tortured, of being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, and of being heavily pressured to break from their religious beliefs.
The NZ Government has made some very cautious statements of concern regarding the Chinese State’s treatment of Uighur. And NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern has generally shown annoyance at being pressed on the issue by NZ media.
Analysis:
The NZ Government has taken a highly pragmatic approach in regard to the Uighur situation in China. Concerns have been raised, but there is no strong protest coming from the Ardern-led Government over China’s appalling treatment of its Uighur Muslim population. The internment of a million Muslim Uighurs in China is one of the most alarming cases of human rights abuses this century.
The Chinese State certainly seems happy with how the Ardern Government is dealing with this question. The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Government, has praised the New Zealand Government for not following other Western countries in launching "groundless accusations" over China's Uighur policies.
We can expect the Ardern-led Government to continue to remain essentially quiet on the grotesque abuses against the Uighur population by the Chinese Government. Jacinda Ardern has shown that, despite her self-declared values of love and compassion, she can be very selective in who she hands out her love and compassion to.
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This political roundup by John Moore is an extension on the five-minute breakfast political roundup that John gives on Radio One Dunedin, Monday to Thursday at 9am.
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