{"id":1068,"date":"2018-10-17T15:09:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T15:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2018-10-17T15:09:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T15:09:24","slug":"chinas-cultural-genocide-and-the-conscience-of-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=1068","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s Cultural Genocide and the Conscience of Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Diplomat<\/a><\/p>\n

As China does its worst, the world must uphold the best.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s old sicknesses of totalitarian rule and genocide are back. As revealed in the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China\u00a0Annual Report<\/a><\/u>, Beijing has enacted a sweeping program of ethnic cleansing against minority populations in its Xinjiang region. With over 1 million people \u201cdisappeared\u201d as of early 2018, presumably into Xinjiang\u2019s booming re-education centers, it should be clear to all that President Xi Jinping has reclaimed the genocidal heritage of Mao Zedong. Considering Beijing\u2019s prodigious ability to isolate large groups of citizens \u2013 and its history of violence on a genocidal scale \u2013 we must assume this number is far from the whole of the crime.<\/p>\n

Compared to China\u2019s population of 1.4 billion, we may be tempted to dismiss the detention of over 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities in the Xinjiang region as being small in scale. Indeed, Mao\u2019s program of destruction killed and imprisoned many more. The government in Beijing is still mostly pragmatic, basing most of its decisions on risk versus reward rather than a dogmatic program.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Hannah Arendt<\/a><\/u>\u00a0teaches us that the system of totalitarianism is based on relentless expansion\u2026 until utter and catastrophic collapse. This expansion occurs in both scope and cruelty, proving that all \u201ceverything is possible\u201d and \u201ceverything is permitted.\u201d This dehumanization is precisely why we cannot permit China to commit these crimes. Lesser evils today may become insurmountable tomorrow. Indeed, there was little or no reason for China\u2019s rulers to fear trouble from Xinjiang in the first place. It is an act of paranoia, one we cannot lightly dismiss.<\/p>\n

International relations normally call for careful evaluation of interests, risk, and reward and a plan aligning ends, means, and ways. The United States is currently using this process to determine how best to compete with China. But crimes against humanity are different. Ways and means can never substitute for right and wrong. If the right becomes too much easier than the wrong, cool analysis will provide ready justification for inaction. It was only in retrospect that we saw how sacrificing our values bought us nothing at Munich.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0suggests demanding that China\u00a0open Xinjiang to international inspections<\/a><\/u>, but this is a purely symbolic demand. Should we fail to follow up, it would become a tacit recognition of China\u2019s right to commit ethnic cleansing. And if we fail to act in a timely fashion, China\u2019s ethnic cleansing will become a\u00a0fait accomplis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although the United States has never endorsed China\u2019s Communist form of government, when that government concerned itself first with the wellbeing of its people and was not a malicious actor internationally, there was no obstacle to harmonious relations. But now that the People\u2019s Republic has returned to its genocidal foundations, how can the United States or other democratic governments continue their normal commerce?<\/p>\n

For the United States\u2019 part, Congress should impose heavy economic sanctions until China ceases its program of ethnic cleansing. It may be impractical to enact massive restrictions all at once, but that too is a tool, allowing time for China to feel the pain and see more pain ahead. Hopefully, it will move her back to a more normal stance.<\/p>\n

There will always be a thousand reasons to do nothing. Part of China\u2019s strategy is confusing the issue to thwart action on the part of its opponents. The United States has a mixed record on resisting ethnic cleansing. We\u2019ve already let it get this far. We aren\u2019t going to invade China. But none of this is an excuse to forget our friends or what is right.<\/p>\n

If we act decisively to impose steep costs now \u2014 while earnestly and clearly holding out the possibility of rebuilding all that has been lost \u2014 we may yet shock Beijing back into the comity of nations. Fail to do so, and we risk giving license to tyranny, an approval we will later have to claw back at great cost. Democratic peoples in every land and all those who care for freedom\u2019s cause must now make a leap of moral imagination: We are all Uyghurs. We are all Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Hui. China must understand that all those it has targeted for annihilation are our people. It may be we can\u2019t save everyone, but we will not sit idly by while China attacks us.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2018\/10\/chinas-cultural-genocide-and-the-conscience-of-nations\/<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Diplomat As China does its worst, the world must uphold the best. China\u2019s old sicknesses of totalitarian rule and genocide are back. As revealed in the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China\u00a0Annual Report, Beijing has enacted a sweeping program of ethnic cleansing against minority populations in its Xinjiang region. With over 1 million people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uyghur-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1076,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions\/1076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}