Ethnic Minorities Oppressed in China
Although there are many other questions to be asked when it comes to one of the eight great powers and its current trade war with the United States. There is now growing concerned with people that live in China. China has the biggest population in the world housing over 1.3 billion people and over 50 ethnic groups and the violation of human rights has been a cause for concern with some groups. Though various countries such as the United States have expressed concern over the violation of human rights in China in this essay I will be focusing specifically on ethnic minorities and coming to conclusion as to whether they are oppressed.
It could be argued that Muslims in China are oppressed. Recently The Independent reported that one million Muslims were being kept in what the Chinese government called ‘re-education camps. According to the article written by The Independent that people in these camps are pressured to reject their beliefs and swear loyalty to the communist party of China in order to survive these camps. The independent also reported an encounter with One Chinese Muslim named Mr Bekasi who spent time in a ‘re-education camp’ and remembers being detained without breaking any laws and was unable to notify a lawyer that he was being detained and was tortured and made to sing the Chinese national anthem which was seen by the Chinese as an effective method to fight ‘extremism and separatism’
However, it could still be argued that the US are no different from China despite their criticisms of China. Recently the Guardian reported that the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Donald Trumps Muslim ban which barred or limited non-native citizens from Countries with a major Muslim population such as: Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen from entering the United States. Although it may seem over the top to compare the Us to china some may still argue that what China and the Us are doing is not very different as they are both looking to stop the spread of extremism and looking to keep the number of terrorist attacks to a minimum some could say that the Chinese are looking to do the same thing but are just being more efficient and that Us are hypocrites for its criticisms and that ethnic minorities are not being oppressed that false propaganda is being spread as a side effect of the current economic war between them and the US.
There is also an argument that the Chinese suppress the idea of ethnic minorities being oppressed. However, this does not just come from the Chinese government but from its people as well, as The Globe and Mail published an article about one blogger who was a branded ‘a crazy dog’ who is an advocate of terrorism that should be put to executed. The globe and mail had reported as the blogger had become aware of the horrible treatment towards ethnic minorities and decided to express her perspective online. This blogger would then be cast out of society in China and was treated as a criminal not being able to attend social events and being labelled a pariah. This shows how even groups in China are aware of how minorities are treated through examples provided from the blogger’s eyewitness account such as some ethnic minorities not being able to enter hotels. However, the reaction from China both its government and its people was to silence voices who wish to speak out for minorities causing the injustices towards ethnic minorities to be treated as a natural occurrence not be spoken of as many fear the severe backlash and dire consequences that would come of voicing their objections in the same capacity as this particular blogger did. An article published by BBC took quote from a Chinese literary magazine editor who stated that “There is really no genuine public discussion about China’s ethnic minorities and their place in the larger society, much less a discussion that includes the voice of the minorities themselves,”
There is a specific reason as to why many ethnic minorities choose to not live in the cities of China and prefer to stay on the outskirts. This is due to the prejudice faced when entering the cities leading to them being unable to find a job making life for them in the city extremely hard. Many minorities have argued that they haven’t reaped the benefits of China’s economic success as the Han Chinese ethnic group (which represents 90 percent of China’s population) has. The Economist reported that minorities that have the best educational backgrounds were struggling to find good jobs. Adding that minorities such as Uighurs look very different from the traditional Han Chinese ethnic group and thus will unlikely receive calls back from employers. This sort of prejudice makes it difficult for Chinese ethnic minorities to move up the social ladder showing that despite ticking all the write boxes of skill and experience minorities will be cast aside for traditional Han Chinese nationals.
There have been many attempts by the Chinese government to promote interethnic marriages by offering cash the Guardian reported. This is another attempt by the Chinese government to fight separatism in China offering £980 a year to interethnic couples after five years of marriage. Chinese interethnic marriages have grown since then. Though it could be argued that these marriages are superficial, most of these marriages are not, and China is moving closer to a racially united nation
In conclusion, although there is not much data to be analysed when it comes to ethnic minorities due to the tight lid the Chinese government has on its people not to mention the tight lid the Chinese people have on themselves I think some of the information on China is quite harsh and that we do not enough about China to accurately judgements not to mention the limited information and vague responses that are given by Chinese Government officials. Testimony given by those who suffer from discrimination and oppression and those who have try to speak out against it is enough for me to say that I do strongly believe that ethnic minorities are oppressed
Bibliography:
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-re-education-muslims-ramadan-xinjiang-eat-pork-alcohol-communist-xi-jinping-a8357966.html
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-in-china-sympathy-for-treatment-of-ethnic-minority-prompts-death/
- https://www.economist.com/china/2015/01/15/dont-make-yourself-at-home
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/chinese-authorties-cash-inter-ethnic-marriages-uighur-minority
- http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131215-how-china-portrays-its-minorities
