The statement below is attributed to the East Turkistan Government in Exile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Security
On this International Day Against Nuclear Tests, the East Turkistan Government in Exile solemnly honors the memory of the hundreds of thousands of our people who perished as a result of China’s nuclear testing at Lop Nur between 1964 and 1996. Over the course of 47 nuclear tests, equal to more than 1,600 Hiroshima bombs, China unleashed devastation that killed an estimated 750,000 East Turkistanis and left more than one million suffering from cancers, birth defects, and radiation-related diseases.
By using East Turkistan as its nuclear testing ground, China inflicted mass death and lasting destruction on our nation. This was not only a grave violation of human rights but a deliberate act of nuclear genocide, carried out as part of Beijing’s broader campaign of colonization and extermination against the people of East Turkistan. And this genocide has not ended.
Evidence indicates that China continues to conduct underground nuclear tests in East Turkistan, further endangering our people, poisoning our land, and expanding its arsenal of mass destruction. Today, China possesses more than 600 nuclear warheads and is building hundreds of new missile silos across the deserts of East Turkistan. This escalation, combined with its ongoing campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation, poses a grave and growing threat not only to the people of East Turkistan but to peace and security across the entire world.
The genocide being committed against the people of East Turkistan has already been recognized by many governments and parliaments across the free world. Recognition, however, is not enough.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile demands that governments and international institutions act decisively: to end China’s ongoing genocide, including nuclear genocide, in East Turkistan, to halt its campaign of colonization and occupation, and to support the people of East Turkistan in their just struggle to restore their sovereignty and independence.
— Salih Hudayar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security of the East Turkistan Government in Exile