The below article was originally published by Muslim Network TV, photo credit: Muslim Network TV
As Sweden holds talks with Beijing, the East Turkistan Government in Exile calls for strong condemnation of China’s colonial occupation and forced labor abuses
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (MNTV) — The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) has urged Sweden to take a firm and principled stance against what it describes as China’s ongoing genocide and colonial occupation of Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples, as Stockholm holds high-level diplomatic talks with Beijing this week.
In a statement released ahead of the discussions, the ETGE appealed to the Swedish government to uphold its long-standing commitment to human rights and decolonization. The group warned that “dialogue with a regime committing genocide and crimes against humanity must never come at the expense of justice and accountability.”
The appeal coincides with 76 years since China’s invasion of East Turkistan and 70 years since Beijing rebranded the region as the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.’ According to the ETGE, these anniversaries highlight decades of systematic repression, forced assimilation, and cultural erasure targeting Turkic Muslim communities.
The exiled administration urged Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard to confront Chinese officials over the forced sterilisation of Uyghur women, state abduction of more than one million Turkic children, and mass internment in camps marked by torture, indoctrination, and forced labour.
The ETGE also raised alarm over reports of organ harvesting, religious suppression, and Chinese espionage targeting Uyghur and East Turkistani activists abroad, including those living in Sweden. The group said such actions amount to “systematic ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide” under Beijing’s rule.
“Sweden has a historic and moral responsibility to confront colonial oppression and genocide,” said Sayragul Sautybay, Vice President of the ETGE and a Swedish citizen. “Minister Malmer Stenergard must condemn these crimes, demand an end to forced sterilizations, child abductions, mass internment, and forced labour, and support accountability through the International Criminal Court. Silence in the face of colonial genocide is complicity.”
The ETGE called on Sweden to formally recognise East Turkistan as an occupied country, condemn China’s ongoing human rights abuses, and support international justice efforts at the upcoming Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute in December.
It also urged the government to address the use of forced Uyghur labour in global supply chains and curb Chinese transnational repression against diaspora activists.
The group said Sweden’s response will reflect its credibility as a defender of human rights. A clear, public stance, it added, would send a powerful message that genocide, forced sterilization, mass internment, and colonial domination cannot be legitimised through diplomacy.