Washington, Sep 22 (IANS) The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) urged US President Donald Trump to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping during their upcoming meeting in Washington over Beijing’s “ongoing genocide” against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will be on a State Visit to the US from September 23-25. During his visit, Xi will hold a meeting with Trump, during which they will discuss major issues related to bilateral ties, world peace and development, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.
The ETGE urged the Trump administration to ensure that any agreement with Beijing does not come at the expense of the East Turkistani people, as trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals are expected to feature prominently in the talks.
“East Turkistan is not a peripheral issue. It is central to China’s economic, energy, and strategic power. Chinese government figures place approximately 30 percent of China’s onshore petroleum resources, 34 percent of its natural-gas resources, and more than 40 percent of its coal resources in East Turkistan. Beijing itself describes the occupied country as a ‘core area’ and gateway of the Belt and Road Initiative linking China with Central Asia and wider Eurasia,” the exiled authorities stated.
“It is also central to China’s military and technological infrastructure. Near Qumul, the Chinese military has constructed a field containing approximately 110 intercontinental ballistic-missile silos, while Lop Nur served as China’s nuclear-testing ground. Chinese authorities are expanding large-scale computing and AI infrastructure across the territory,” it added, highlighting the significance of Xinjiang to China’s military and technological capabilities.
The ETGE stressed that China’s “occupation” enables Beijing to exploit the region’s resources, strategic geography, and people while strengthening the power underpinning its competition with the US.
Calling on Trump to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Xinjiang with the Chinese President, Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile, said that the US President should make clear to Xi that “genocide, colonial occupation, and the exploitation” of the region cannot be separated from the strategic challenge China poses to the US.
“The critical minerals, energy resources, trade routes, and military infrastructure Beijing controls through Occupied East Turkistan are pillars of Chinese strategic power. East Turkistan’s independence is therefore not only essential to the survival of our people, but also directly relevant to America’s long-term strategic interests,” said Salih Hudayar, Foreign Minister of the ETGE and President of the East Turkistan National Movement.
The ETGE called on the US President to reject agreements with Beijing that weaken accountability or forced-labor restrictions, press Chinese authorities to release arbitrarily detained East Turkistanis, and support the East Turkistani people’s “right to decolonisation and the restoration of national independence and sovereignty”.
–IANS
scor/rs