PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE)
East-Turkistan.Net
contact@East-Turkistan.Net
11 June 2025
Washington, D.C. – The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) strongly condemns the proposed U.S.-China rare earth trade framework announced on Wednesday by U.S. President Donald J. Trump. The proposed framework would permit the continued import of critical minerals and magnets sourced, in part, from the occupied nation of East Turkistan, despite overwhelming evidence of genocide and state-imposed forced labor.
“This is not diplomacy—it is complicity,” said Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the ETGE. “These minerals are soaked in the blood of enslaved Uyghurs. There is no neutral ground when dealing with China: either you stand against the Uyghur genocide, or you enable it.”
The announcement stands in direct contradiction to the United States’ own genocide designation from January 2021 and its legal obligations under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. While the deal has yet to be signed, its intent alone signals a dangerous willingness to normalize trade with a genocidal regime.
A report by Global Rights Compliance exposes dozens of Chinese state-linked companies in East Turkistan’s mining and rare earth sectors operating under so-called “labor transfer” programs, a euphemism for state-enforced forced labor targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. These practices are central to China’s ongoing campaign of genocide, colonization, and industrial exploitation.
“This proposed deal is a license for China to keep looting our homeland and enslaving our people,” said Salih Hudayar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ETGE. “If America still claims to stand for liberty and human dignity, it must stand with East Turkistan, not China.”
It is estimated that some 15 to 20 percent of China’s rare earth and strategic mineral output originates from East Turkistan. Under Chinese occupation, these resources are extracted without consent, transparency, or environmental safeguards, and are linked to forced labor, surveillance, and destruction.
“East Turkistan is not China. It is an occupied country. Our people are oppressed, our lands are exploited, and our wealth is stolen,” said Dr. Ala. “Every ton of rare earth exported under China’s boot tightens the chains on our nation and stains the hands of those who trade in it.”
The ETGE emphasizes that there is an alternative.
“An independent East Turkistan, free from Chinese occupation, would be prepared to supply the United States and other democratic nations with critical minerals at competitive, and potentially discounted, rates,” added Foreign Minister Hudayar. “Our vision is to build a transparent, ethical, and secure supply chain that supports freedom and global stability, not dictatorship and genocide.”
The East Turkistan Government in Exile urges the United States to abandon this proposed framework and instead lead an international effort to isolate the genocidal Chinese regime, hold it accountable for its crimes, and support the rightful aspirations of the East Turkistani people to recover their independence and liberty.