Among the 14 grievances the People’s Republic of China holds against Australia were complaints that Australia is “peddling lies about Xinjiang” and “poisoning the atmosphere of bilateral relations” through “unfriendly or antagonistic report[s] on China by media”.
Eighty-four shiploads of coal and hundreds of containers of Australian produce now languish in Chinese ports. Clearly something must be done to remedy this situation.
Zhao Lijian, deputy director of the Chinese foreign ministry, has told us what needs to be done for diplomatic and trade relations to resume: “The Australian side should own up to the crux of the matter, take China’s concerns seriously and adopt concrete actions to correct their mistakes.”
The initial reaction from the Australian government was hostile but it is now our view that a swift resolution to this dispute requires Australians to adopt a more conciliatory tone.
The following statement is made on behalf of the people and government of Australia, wherein we commit to redress these grievances:
“When the families of Uyghur activists in Australia were held hostage to silence dissenting voices abroad, we should have ignored their appeals. Our mistake.
“When Uyghur women were subjected to forced sterilisation and mandatory contraception, we should have regarded these as reasonable precautions. Our mistake.
“When evidence of the dispersion of Uyghurs across the Chinese prison system began to emerge, we should have assumed that documentary video evidence of these events was hostile Western propaganda. Our mistake.
“When Chinese authorities demolished an 800-year-old mosque which has served as a Uyghur place of pilgrimage since the age of the Mongol empire, our thoughts should have turned instead to the fire in Notre Dame. Our mistake.
“When ethnic Uyghurs are punished for praying to their god, wearing traditional dress, growing beards, and banned from using their traditional Islamic greeting of ‘as-salamu alaykum’, we should not have regarded this as systematic religious and ethnic persecution. Our mistake.
“When we permitted Australian Uyghurs to protest and raise awareness about the plight of their families and their people, we should have considered how this would hurt the feelings of the people of China. Our mistake.
“The emergence of a world order dominated by a totalitarian capitalist autocracy under the guise of a one-party Marxist-Leninist state should not concern us. Our mistake.
“When we chose to raise our voice against China’s genocide of ethnic Uyghurs, that was clearly not our choice to make. Our mistake.
“Our condescending response to the cultural genocide of a proud and ancient culture was, we see now, clouded by empathy and emotion, and for that we apologise unreservedly. Our mistake.
“We have learnt our lesson. Australia’s wealth is built upon the genocide of Indigenous people and expropriation of their property and heritage. Who are we to question others doing the same? Our apologies.
“The opportunity to trade away our way of life and sovereignty to reestablish normal trading relations with the PRC is a generous gesture on the part of the government of China. We appreciate this gesture and duly correct our mistakes.”
You missed the apologies about us supporting the heresy of democracy in Hong Kong
Climb down off the moral high horse, mate.Israel’s been doing to its “Uyghurs” far worse and for far longer and has enjoyed not merely our silence but our enthusiastic support. Doesn’t justify what the Chinese are doing, but perhaps we shouldn’t be the ones climbing onto that horse. In our case it’s more like Rocinante than Phar Lap.
In Israel’s case the indigenous Palestinian Arab population was the majority when the territory was colonised and the state founded. After the initial expulsions their numbers gradually grew again and with little population movement on the part of the Palestinians and considerable movement overseas by young Israelis looking for better prospects there is once again an indigenous majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. At the same time land confiscation and settlement in the West Bank region has ensured that a two state, or one state and one postage stamp, solution is no longer possible. A minority holds the majority captive, some as second class citizens (Arab Israelis) and some stateless captives. Yes, we owe the Uyghurs our support, not via megaphone but by whatever means may be actually effective. Our support for them will carry more weight if we also have a record of supporting and defending, by any effective means, oppressed Kashmiris, Assamese and Dalits in India, Rohingya and other non-Burman minorities in Myanmar, captive Palestinians etc.
Looking locally, the feds support Indonesia’s abuses, as well as Sri Lanka.
At the risk of being abused and accused of being disloyal to this great Nation by the Murdoch and Fairfax Press and some journalists here I have to say that I still have problems with this ‘Uighar’ business and perhaps someone could explain. For example is this ‘million’ that is talked about all at the one time (an enormous Camp that would be) or is it over a number of years or how many are in ‘detention’ at any one time? In addition, did Donald Trump give Xi support to these methods and was the US advising on them since 9/11? Have some 20,000 of these “Uighar’ people supported ISIS as claimed and have certain organisations there been ‘declared’ as terrorist by the United Nations? It would also be interesting to know why the ‘Muslim’ Nations (including Turkey) of the region do not seem to protest about the measures being taken by the Chinese as much as we seem to. I would also like to know why our interest in these problems seems only to have come to Media (at least) notice in the last couple of years and whether this had anything to do with Mr Steve Bannon and a Mr Guo and the Falun Gong gang?
One million Uyghurs in detention, that’s a very large number, even so there is still 23 million living out of detention and getting on with life. Does anyone really expect China to give up territory so the Uyghurs can create their own homeland, if so they’re delusional.