- Title: JAPAN/FILE: Uighur leader Kadeer says 10000 went missing in one night
- Date: 30th July 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 29, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE UIGHUR LEADER REBIYA KADEER IS HOLDING NEWS CONFERENCE PROTESTERS HOLDING UIGHUR FLAGS AND POSING PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS SAYING "STOP GENOCIDE. FREE UYGHUR" MORE OF PROTESTERS HOLDING FLAGS AND BANNERS REBIYA KADEER, EXILED UIGHUR LEADER, WALKING INTO A NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Uighur) REBIYA KADEER, EXILED UIGHUR LEADER, SAYING: "The Chinese government claims 197 people died and 1,000 were injured and most of them were Han Chinese. But we do not believe such numbers. Out sources tell that nearly 10,000 (Uighur) people were at the protest, and almost all of them disappeared from Urumqi in one night. If they are dead, where are their bodies? If they are detained, where are they?" REPORTERS TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Uighur) REBIYA KADEER, EXILED UIGHUR LEADER, SAYING: "We are very disappointed and confused over U.S. reaction towards the violence. We thought it was very cold." CAMERAMAN TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Uighur) REBIYA KADEER, EXILED UIGHUR LEADER, SAYING: "The international community hasn't expressed a clear reaction towards the deadly riots. We've only seen Turkey condemn China while the rest of the world remained silent. I came to Japan to ask the people and the government of Japan to participate in probing the incidents." KADEER SITTING AT A NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 14th August 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA6NI33Q5JZK319K3HCP7DPNMI
- Story Text: Nearly 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China's northwestern Xinjiang region went missing in one night, exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said on Wednesday (July 29), calling for an international investigation.
"The Chinese government claims 197 people died and 1,000 were injured and most of them were Han Chinese. But we do not believe such numbers. Out sources tell that nearly 10,000 (Uighur) people were at the protest, and almost all of them disappeared from Urumqi in one night. If they are dead, where are their bodies? If they are detained, where are they," said Kadeer.
Kadeer said on Wednesday (July 29) she was disappointed over U.S. reaction towards violence in the Xinjiang region as she continued to condemn China saying that an international inquiry is needed to probe the incidents.
Kadeer, who is visiting Japan on a private trip, held a news conference in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday while a group of protesters held banners and flags of Uighur condemning China to free the region.
"We are very disappointed and confused over U.S. reaction towards the violence. We thought it was very cold," Kadeer told a news conference through an interpreter.
In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs on July 5 attacked Han Chinese in the regional capital of Urumqi after police tried to break up a protest against fatal attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China.
The Han Chinese in Urumqi launched revenge attacks later in the week.
The official death toll now stands at 192, most of whom were were Han Chinese, who form the majority of China's 1.3 billion population. Almost all the others dead were Uighurs, Muslim people native to Xinjiang and culturally tied to Central Asia and Turkey.
China says Kadeer, a once successful businesswoman in China but now leader of exile group the World Uyghur Congress, instigated the riots.
Kadeer, who rejects Chinese accusations, once again called on the international community to send an independent investigative team to the site of the riots to uncover details of what had taken place.
"The international community hasn't expressed a clear reaction towards the deadly riots. We've only seen Turkey condemn China while the rest of the world remained silent. I came to Japan to ask the people and the government of Japan to participate in probing the incidents," said Kadeer.
Meanwhile, China on Monday (July 27) strongly condemned Japan for allowing Kadeer to visit, in an apparent escalation of Beijing's campaign against the woman it accuses of instigating deadly ethnic riots.
Japan says Kadeer's visit to Tokyo has nothing to do with China-Japan relations.
"We regard Rebiya Kadeer's visit to Japan as a private visit so the visit itself will not affect Japan-China relations," Takeo Kawamura, Japan's top government spokesperson, told a news conference on Wednesday.
International trips by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, who China also blames for instigating deadly ethnic violence last year, are routinely criticised by Beijing, particularly when he has been received by prominent figures, but China has rarely commented on Kadeer's travels before.
Though Japanese officials do not generally meet with the Dalai Lama and a foreign ministry spokeswoman said there were no plans for official meetings with Kadeer.
Earlier this month, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qing Gang told a news conference that Beijing did not understand why she was being allowed in.
"Everyone knows what kind of person Rebiya Kadeer is, we resolutely oppose any country which supports her separatist activities," said Gang.
Other Chinese officials also warned that Kadeer's visit should not be allowed to damage Japan's working relationship with China which has improved recently, after years of diplomatic spats over wartime history. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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