CHINA: Beijing dismisses genocide accusation in its Muslim northwest and says Rio exec detention is isolated case

Record ID: 1377198

  • Title: CHINA: Beijing dismisses genocide accusation in its Muslim northwest and says Rio exec detention is isolated case
  • Date: 15th July 2009
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 14, 2009) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON QIN GANG ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON QIN GANG SAYING: "For example, the Uighur population 60 years ago, in 1949, was 3.29 million. Now, the Uighur population in Xinjiang has increased to about 10 million. The population grew nearly 3 times compared to 60 years ago. I want to ask what kind of genocide is this? Where in the world can you find this type of genocide?"
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2009 05:26
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA45GDZB97N6WEYVXBTAGF7YEMA
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: China dismisses accusations of genocide in its Muslim northwest where rioting has killed 184 people and says the recent detention of of an Australian Rio executive on spying accusations poses no threat to foreign businesses operating in the country, as long as they follow Chinese laws.
    China on Tuesday (July 14) dismissed Turkey's accusation of genocide in its northwestern region of Xinjiang, where rioting killed 184 people, mostly majority Han Chinese.
    The comments by the Chinese Foreign Ministry came after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week remarked that genocide was being committed in the mainly Muslim region.
    In comments broadcast live on NTV television last Friday (July 10), Erdogan told reporters: "The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise."
    In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked Han Chinese, the country's predominant ethnic group, in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5 after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China.
    Han Chinese launched revenge attacks two days later.
    The death toll included 46 Uighurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia.
    Addressing a regular twice-weekly news conference in Beijing, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang said the accusation of genocide simply did not make sense. Most people who died in the riots were Han and over the past few decades the Uighur population in Xinjiang had shot up, he said.
    "For example, the Uighur population 60 years ago, in 1949, was 3.29 million. Now, the Uighur population in Xinjiang has increased to about 10 million. The population grew nearly 3 times compared to 60 years ago. I want to ask what kind of genocide is this? Where in the world can you find this type of genocide?" Qin said.
    Xinjiang has long been a tightly controlled hotbed of ethnic tensions, fostered by an economic gap between Uighurs and Han, government controls on religion and culture and an influx of Han migrants. Uighurs make up almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people, but are a minority in the regional capital Urumqi.
    More than 1,600 people were wounded and 1,000 detained in an ensuing crackdown.
    Beijing does not want to lose its grip on Xinjiang, a vast desert territory that borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region.
    China has blamed the ethnic unrest on exiled Uighur separatists, who have denied the charges.
    The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also urged foreign companies to have confidence in their operations in China, despite the recent detention of a senior Australian Rio executive on spying accusations.
    Qin said Beijing was not trying to make life difficult for foreign companies, which have poured into China in the past decade to tap into the rapid growth that has transformed the country into the world's third-largest economy.
    Stern Hu, an Australian national, and three Chinese employees of Rio Tinto's iron ore department were detained last week, on what China said was suspicion of stealing state secrets.
    Media reports suggest the Rio Tinto employees are being held at the Shanghai detention centre, however this can not be confirmed.
    Qin said the case was isolated and should cause no concern for foreign businesses operating in China, as long as they obey the country's laws.
    "The Chinese authorities have already taken legal actions, but that doesn't mean that we are restricting foreign companies from doing business in China," he said.
    Qin also said a media report that Chinese president Hu Jintao had signed off on the detentions "did not accord with the facts."
    The detentions came just after Chinese steel mills, led by the China Iron and Steel Association, failed to reach an agreement on 2009 iron ore prices with Rio and rival miners BHP Billiton and Vale by a June 30 deadline.
    At least one senior official at China's eighth largest steel mill, Shougang, has also been detained, media said. The case has stunned the global steel industry, which was already transfixed on the marathon iron ore talks.
    After more than six months of cat-and-mouse, China appeared to be boxed in, forced to accept Rio's price or to abandon long-term deals and risk destroying a decades-old pricing system.
    The shock detentions appear to have left the price talks in limbo and cast a shadow on relations between Beijing and Canberra, whose economies have been welded together in recent years by China's huge demand for metals and minerals.
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