{"id":692219,"date":"2023-02-14T20:03:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T04:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=692219"},"modified":"2023-02-24T11:14:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T19:14:48","slug":"intense-pushback-from-activists-forces-xinjiang-governor-to-cancel-europe-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2023\/02\/intense-pushback-from-activists-forces-xinjiang-governor-to-cancel-europe-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Intense Pushback from Activists Forces Xinjiang Governor to Cancel Europe Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what is being lauded as a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/uyghur\/xinjiangeuropecanceled-02142023152428.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">victory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for the Uyghur community, Xinjiang governor Erkin Tuniyaz has reportedly canceled his planned meetings with European officials this week after <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/Politics\/International-relations\/U.K.-lawmakers-want-Xinjiang-governor-arrested-on-London-visit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">intense pushback<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from lawmakers and human rights activists. Tuniyaz has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his role in what the U.N. described as \u201cserious human rights violations\u201d in Xinjiang that \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/09\/un-report-serious-human-rights-violations-in-xinjiang-may-constitute-crimes-against-humanity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">may amount to crimes against humanity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d He was initially expected to visit London, Paris, and Brussels over the next week, as Beijing launches a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/international\/3855721-chinas-newest-attempt-to-divide-the-us-and-europe-over-investment-and-human-rights\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">new charm offensive<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Europe. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/politico.eu\/article\/xinjian-governor-erkin-tuniyaz-cancel-controversial-trip-london-backlash\/\"><strong>Cristina Gallardo from Politico reported on the cancellation of Tuniyaz\u2019s U.K. visit<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Erkin Tuniyaz, who had not been invited by the U.K. government, has decided against traveling to London, according to a U.K. official and campaigners pressing against his visit. Tuniyaz has also cancelled a trip to France and Belgium planned for later this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s official spokesman told reporters on Monday that Tuniyaz would meet with Foreign Office (FCDO) officials who would convey their \u201cabhorrence\u201d about the Chinese government\u2019s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[&#8230;Then on Tuesday a]n FCDO spokesperson said: \u201cWe understand the Governor of Xinjiang has cancelled his visit to the UK. The UK Government will continue to use all opportunities to take action against China\u2019s unacceptable human rights abuses in Xinjiang.\u201d [<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/politico.eu\/article\/xinjian-governor-erkin-tuniyaz-cancel-controversial-trip-london-backlash\/\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A legal filing, a protest, a cross-community letter and countless articles later it&#39;s been confirmed: genocide perpetrator Tuniyaz will not meet with the FCDO. <\/p>\n<p>This is a HUGE win for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Uyghur?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Uyghur<\/a> community and all those who stand beside them. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mdbn0KgU2M\">https:\/\/t.co\/mdbn0KgU2M<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Stop Uyghur Genocide (@UyghurStop) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UyghurStop\/status\/1625536423129407499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Le Monde, Tuniyaz was scheduled to attend a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/international\/article\/2023\/02\/13\/uyghurs-xinjiang-governor-makes-controversial-european-tour_6015507_4.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reception in Paris<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on Friday, organized by the Chinese embassy in France, before visiting Brussels from Sunday to Tuesday of next week. In Brussels, he was also scheduled to meet officials from the European External Action Service and hold a briefing with media and scholars. Invitees to the event in Paris were told it was canceled due to \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/xinjiang-governor-erkin-tuniyaz-cancels-europe-trip-amid-uyghur-abuse-blowback\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">an important domestic agenda<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201d and the Chinese mission to the E.U. stated that the Brussels trip was \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3210201\/xinjiang-chief-cancels-european-tour-amid-pushback-over-human-rights\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">postponed [&#8230;] due to scheduling reasons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prior to the cancellation of the London visit, many Uyghurs had been calling on the British government to cancel its meeting with Tuniyaz. Rahima Mahmut and other activists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MahmutRahima\/status\/1625472011743928345\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">organized protests<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> outside of the U.K. Foreign Office. Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, called the planned visit \u201cshocking and incomprehensible,\u201d adding: \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/xinjiang-governors-planned-visit-to-europe-sparks-anger-170db61d\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Proven complicity in crimes against humanity and genocide must be a clear red line<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and must lead to justice and accountability instead of engagement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond the moral outrage, some leading politicians and activists questioned the strategy behind the original decision to meet with Tuniyaz. \u201cWhile engagement with the People\u2019s Republic of China remains necessary in general, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/eu-uk-receive-erkin-tuniyaz-xinjiang-united-nations-human-rights-abuse-uyghur\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">we strongly question the wisdom of officially meeting with someone personally involved in the persecution of Uyghurs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201d said Reinhard B\u00fctikofer and Miriam Lexmann, members of the European Parliament. In the New Statesman, Rayhan Asat argued that regardless of whether meeting Tuniyaz was a good-faith attempt by the British government to address human rights violations in Xinjiang, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/comment\/2023\/02\/xinjiang-governor-arrested-welcomed-british-government\"><strong>the meeting would only allow Beijing to legitimize its policies in the region<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[T]he Foreign Office in London has attempted to justify meeting Tuniyaz (who is Uyghur himself) on the grounds that officials will press him for change. This is a legitimate goal, but since its inception, the Xinjiang chairman\u2019s office has been purely symbolic, a token gesture of the Chinese Han government towards the \u201cautonomy\u201d and ethnic self-governance of the Uyghur region. Appealing to Tuniyaz for change is pointless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[&#8230;] In response to questions from MPs James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, indicated that he was seeking feedback from civil society groups about Tuniyaz\u2019s visit. However, this invitation looks more like an attempt to legitimise rather than to critically assess Tuniyaz\u2019s visit. None of us who advocate for Uyghur human rights want to lend credibility to this ill-conceived meeting with a genocidal bureaucrat who has no will to change the system he serves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am not dismissing an attempt in good faith at a solution. There is simply no indication that this meeting will be anything other than an empty example of \u201cengagement\u201d for the Chinese government to gesture towards while changing nothing in the Uyghur homeland. It would only serve the Communist Party\u2019s goal of further dehumanising Uyghur people and lying about its genocidal policies. When China finally admitted to imprisoning Uyghurs in \u201cvocational training centres\u201d it used Tuniyaz as its spokesman. He told the world that Uyghurs are radicalised and uneducated, and that in the camps \u201cthey learned basic practical skills and graduated from the centre with a better quality of life\u201d. [<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/comment\/2023\/02\/xinjiang-governor-arrested-welcomed-british-government\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8LIVE NOW\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n<p>We&#39;re outside the FCDO with a group of Uyghur community members, activists and allies to demand a meeting with Foreign Sec <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesCleverly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JamesCleverly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Erkin Tuniyaz should never have been invited to the UK, now the Uyghur community demand engagement of their own.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TuniyazOUT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TuniyazOUT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BRABm4PSjf\">pic.twitter.com\/BRABm4PSjf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Stop Uyghur Genocide (@UyghurStop) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UyghurStop\/status\/1625106494235574273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">While the EU and U.K. officials repeat the importance of engagement [with the oppressors], the CCP propaganda machinery prepares to take a full credit of these visits showing to their population how their policies are endorsed in Europe. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mdpqKKtVwI\">https:\/\/t.co\/mdpqKKtVwI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sari Arho Havr\u00e9n (@SariArhoHavren) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SariArhoHavren\/status\/1625030522110898178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lawyers and lawmakers also mobilized to increase pressure on the British government. Lawyers representing Erbakit Otarbay, a Kazakh man who says he was tortured in Xinjiang, submitted evidence to the London Metropolitan Police\u2019s war crimes team and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3bbac64a-8104-4005-b037-6b8b8a481c29\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">petitioned the attorney-general to arrest Tuniyaz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> upon his arrival in the U.K. Amnesty International\u2019s China Researcher Alkan Akad stated that \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2023\/02\/china-european-states-must-investigate-potential-involvement-in-crimes-against-humanity-by-visiting-xinjiang-governor\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">judicial authorities in European states should launch their own investigations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> into whether Erkin Tuniyaz has responsibility for crimes under international law, including torture, or other serious human rights violations that would warrant a prosecution.\u201d The U.K. Foreign Office said it expected Tuniyaz to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/feb\/09\/lawyer-asks-to-prosecute-xinjiang-governor-in-the-uk\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">travel on a diplomatic passport<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and it was unclear to what extent the threat of arrest played a role in the cancellation of his meeting with the government. BBC political correspondent Damian Grammaticas reported on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-64592374\"><strong>the legal argument for arresting Tuniyaz<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Erbakit Otarbay\u2019s] legal team say Erkin Tuniyaz, as the governor of Xinjiang, is not entitled to diplomatic immunity because he holds a position of &#8220;state responsibility&#8221; and was &#8220;directly responsible for the implementation of policies designed to restrict the basic rights and freedoms of Uyghur people&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They say torture is a &#8220;universal jurisdiction&#8221; offence that can be prosecuted in any country, but the attorney general must approve it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[&#8230;In a letter to the attorney-general, seven MPs wrote:] &#8220;We hope you will give this application serious consideration. In the absence of an international mechanism to hold to account those responsible for Uyghur abuses, we must seize every opportunity to ensure accountability&#8221;. [<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-64592374\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mr Tuniyaz is not welcome in Brussels! He belongs on a sanctions list, not a visitors\u2019 list<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EPPGroup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EPPGroup<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vonderleyen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@vonderleyen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JosepBorrellF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JosepBorrellF<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kE7eBCHeF9\">https:\/\/t.co\/kE7eBCHeF9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Miriam M. Lexmann (@MiriamMLex) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MiriamMLex\/status\/1625524549373640705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the number-two official in Xinjiang, Tuniyaz has played a central role in managing and defending the concentration camps. A leaked internal document from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/05\/xinjiang-police-files-show-the-human-faces-of-mass-detention-raise-stakes-for-bachelets-visit\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Xinjiang Police Files<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> shows that he exhorted the government entity overseeing camp operations and policing to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianzenz\/status\/1623766742894891011\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ensure the \u201cabsolute security\u201d of the camps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and their \u201canti-escape measures,\u201d directly implicating him in the enforcement of the state\u2019s repression. In 2019, Tuniyaz also defended the Chinese government\u2019s policies in Xinjiang before the U.N. Human Rights Council, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterIrwin_\/status\/1623727995608264710\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">touting the amenities in the camps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> just as Xi Jinping was revealed to have ordered the \u201corgans of dictatorship\u201d to show \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/11\/16\/world\/asia\/china-xinjiang-documents.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">absolutely no mercy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d in Xinjiang.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In a stunning move, Erkin Tuniyaz, Xinjiang governor and vocal camp defender, is expected to meet U.K. gov&#39;t officials and EU diplomats.<\/p>\n<p>New evidence from the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/XinjiangPoliceFiles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#XinjiangPoliceFiles<\/a> shows he gave personal orders on &quot;escape prevention&quot; from the camps: \/1<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Rb0j5Kn2CF\">https:\/\/t.co\/Rb0j5Kn2CF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianzenz\/status\/1623764265453723648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The planned visits would have coincided with several other events this week that will put China\u2019s human rights record under international scrutiny. This weekend, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3210075\/chinas-top-diplomat-state-beijings-case-moscow-and-munich-ukraine-war-drags-another-year\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wang Yi is expected to speak<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at the annual Munich Security Conference, where European leaders will discuss regional security against the backdrop of Russian aggression in Ukraine and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2023\/01\/xi-maintains-close-ties-with-russia-as-war-in-ukraine-enters-a-new-year\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">China\u2019s policy of \u201cpro-Russian neutrality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d Prior to that, from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">February 15-16, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">China will defend its record before the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in a test of its compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, for the first time since China\u2019s last review in 2014. Outlining China\u2019s efforts to bamboozle the U.N., William Nee described in The Diplomat how <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2023\/02\/how-china-tries-to-bamboozle-the-united-nations\/\"><strong>China is increasingly employing government-organized NGOs (GONGOs) to stifle criticism of its human rights record<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Deploying GONGOs is an obstructionist tactic the Chinese government increasingly uses when U.N. committees assess China\u2019s performance in implementing the treaties it has ratified. For the upcoming CESCR review, at least 23 GONGOs or other entities tied to the party-state submitted reports to the Committee as \u201ccivil society organizations\u201d \u2013 compared with just four such submissions for the 2014 CESCR review.\u00a0 Like fake Luis Vuitton bags at a bootleg market, these fake NGOs flood the market and diminish the value of the real products. Committee members waste valuable time reading their reports, listening to their interventions, and trying to decipher which NGOs are real and which are fake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not only does the Chinese government have multiple opportunities to bombard the CESCR with its \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digichina.stanford.edu\/work\/lexicon-discourse-power-or-the-right-to-speak-huayu-quan\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">discourse power<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d using its army of GONGOs, but it also benefits from a Trojan Horse inside: a veteran Chinese diplomat, Shen Yongxiang, is actually a Committee member. While Shen is experienced and well educated, according to U.N. rules, members serving on U.N. treaty bodies should be independent and impartial. But, as a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ishr.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/202212_China_influence_UNTBS_ISHR_2023.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">new report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the International Service for Human Rights points out, individuals from the PRC serving on United Nations treaty bodies often have deep, long-standing affiliations with the Chinese government, or even official roles in the Communist Party. [<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2023\/02\/how-china-tries-to-bamboozle-the-united-nations\/\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is proof of the effectiveness of Xinjiang targeted sanctions. EU is considering a law like US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.  Tuniyaz\u2019 trip is meant to fend that off.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; James Millward \u7c73\u83ef\u5065 (@JimMillward) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimMillward\/status\/1623830374844452864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finbarr Bermingham from the South China Morning Post reported on another major event this week, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/3209844\/eu-and-china-resume-human-rights-dialogue-next-week-days-xinjiang-chief-visits-brussels\"><strong>the resumption of the EU-China human rights dialogue<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">EU sources confirmed that talks would take place in Brussels at the end of [this] week, following a pledge to resume them during the EU-China summit last April.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Chinese delegation will be led by a deputy director general from Beijing\u2019s Department of International Organisations and Conferences under the country\u2019s foreign ministry, separate sources confirmed, while the EU will be represented by human rights staff in its External Action Service (EEAS).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The dialogue will be the 38th edition of the prickly discussions, which were suspended after the EU sanctioned four Chinese government officials for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in March 2021. [<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/3209844\/eu-and-china-resume-human-rights-dialogue-next-week-days-xinjiang-chief-visits-brussels\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, it is unlikely that these dialogues will allow the E.U. to persuade the Chinese government to reverse course on its human rights policies in Xinjiang. In an interview with the Global Times on Monday, Chinese ambassador to France and Monaco Lu Shaye said, \u201c[T]he reality is that neither side can change the other. So why can&#8217;t we put it aside and not let such differences hinder the cooperation between the two sides on common interests? I think <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202302\/1285365.shtml\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Europe should not try to \u2018hit China with an ideological club\u2019 and expect cooperation in return<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d Andrew Stroehlein, European Media and Editorial Director at Human Rights Watch, sharply criticized the dialogues, characterizing them as<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/the-day-in-human-rights\/2023\/02\/14\"><strong>pointless, and even counterproductive to the pursuit of real improvements in human rights<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These bilateral meetings have been a recurring exercise in pointlessness for decades. There have been 37 previous rounds of such dialogues, and they\u2019ve contributed zero to human rights progress in China. In fact, the human rights situation in China has only deteriorated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The EU\u2019s human rights dialogues with China are actually worse than pointless, because they give EU leaders an excuse to avoid discussing China\u2019s abuses at the highest levels, where it matters most.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They can brush it off with, \u201cWell, we discussed that elsewhere already,\u201d and human rights are thus disconnected from issues Beijing actually cares about, like trade. With no EU leverage points or benchmarks in the mix, the dialogues are simply a box-ticking exercise, held with no ambition to secure positive change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Worst of all, perhaps, the dialogues give Beijing a propaganda coup. Chinese officials can say they\u2019re open to talking about human rights. It helps Beijing look good internationally \u2013 while committing crimes against humanity back home. [<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/the-day-in-human-rights\/2023\/02\/14\"><strong>Source<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Human Rights Watch +other civil society groups have made clear, for years, that these dialogues\u2014which had no benchmarks for progress, and which exclude independent voices from China \u2014should not continue unless the two sides make them a meaningful exercise. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ec6CAhqFMg\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ec6CAhqFMg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Maya Wang \u738b\u677e\u84ee (@wang_maya) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wang_maya\/status\/1624190801931542528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 10, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As the European Union resumes its human rights dialogue with the Chinese government, it should resist Beijing&#39;s usual efforts to treat dialogue as a substitute for public condemnation and targeted sanctions. Pressure is more important than quiet dialogue. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VePwYzZCEt\">https:\/\/t.co\/VePwYzZCEt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KenRoth\/status\/1625118106447233026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In what is being lauded as a victory for the Uyghur community, Xinjiang governor Erkin Tuniyaz has reportedly canceled his planned meetings with European officials this week after intense pushback from lawmakers and human rights activists. Tuniyaz has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his role in what the U.N. described as \u201cserious human [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1099,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,34,10,14744,100,17753],"tags":[2255,7526,7069,18012,1369,396,16088,7076,17623,8561,18007,5953,15000,5824,1033,18000,15460,5921,17998],"class_list":["post-692219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-human-rights","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-politics","category-recent-news","tag-activists","tag-chinas-image","tag-chinese-diplomacy","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-diplomacy","tag-eu","tag-europe-relations","tag-genocide","tag-human-rights","tag-human-rights-activists","tag-human-rights-violations","tag-ngos","tag-sanctions","tag-us-sanctions","tag-united-nations","tag-uyghur-detentions","tag-uyghurs","tag-xinjiang","tag-xinjiang-internment-camps","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Intense Pushback from Activists Forces Xinjiang Governor to Cancel Europe Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2023\/02\/intense-pushback-from-activists-forces-xinjiang-governor-to-cancel-europe-trip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Intense Pushback from Activists Forces Xinjiang Governor to Cancel Europe Trip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In what is being lauded as a victory for the Uyghur community, Xinjiang governor Erkin Tuniyaz has reportedly canceled his planned meetings with European officials this week after intense pushback from lawmakers and human rights activists. 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