Page 149 - Communist Chinas Policy of Oppression in East Turkestan

It has been shown in the preceding
sections that the lands of East Turkestan
have been Muslim for the last 1,000 years.
Yet for more than half a century now, it has been living under
occupation by the Chinese administration. A graffiti on a door at the
University of Urumchi, described by Andrew Higgins (correspondent
of The Independent) as "sheer racial venom" clearly reflects the Chinese
view of the Uighur Turks:
Make Uyghur men our slaves forever and take Uyghur women as
prostitutes for generations. 25

China maintains up to 1 million soldiers under arms in the region,
and controls everything that the Muslims in East Turkestan do. All ve-
hicles are stopped at military checkpoints set up along the roads, the
men are sometimes insulted and slapped about as their cars are
searched, and Muslim women are abused. Chinese pressure is not re-
stricted to stopping vehicles or frequent house searches by the military.
The June 29, 2000 edition of the Japanese Mainichi Daily News described
the oppression in the following terms:
Chinese control [over East Turkestan] grows ever tighter and more in-
tolerable. People's Liberation Army soldiers are everywhere.
Travel and attendance at mosques are restricted.
Communications are primitive and policed. Few farm vil-
lages have telephones, and urban phones are liable to
be tapped. One can be jailed for years on mere
suspicion of subversion. 26
Muslims are arrested on in-
valid grounds and sent off to