‘China Covets Xinjiang For Its Resources, It Has No Use For The Uyghurs’

NEW DELHI: Much has been heard and reported on China’s treatment of its ethnic Uyghur population in Xinjiang province. But is it genocide? Omer Kanat believes it is so. In an exclusive chat with StratNews Global from his base in the US, Kanat says the leadership of the Communist Party of China has no use for the Uyghurs but it covets the land they call their home. Xinjiang has an estimated 30 billion tons of oil and over 10,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Then there are huge reserves of coal, copper and gold.

Kanat says China wants to ensure unhindered access to these precious resources and will do anything to ensure that access, even if it has to imprison vast numbers of people. In pursuit of this aim, China has set up an extensive surveillance network, even deploying communist party cadres in the homes of people to ensure compliance. He says the surveillance network is so ubiquitous that resistance has become well nigh impossible. Kanat says China’s aim is to reduce the Uyghurs to a minority, and is relentlessly working to achieve that.

Kanat was critical of the Muslim world for not doing enough to help their brethren in Xinjiang. He also sought help from India, pointing out that India is a neighbour and its civilisational influence resonates among Uyghurs even today.