PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE)
East-Turkistan.Net
contact@East-Turkistan.Net
17 June 2025
The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) vehemently condemns the signing of the “Astana Declaration” and the “Treaty on Eternal Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship, and Cooperation” at the Second China–Central Asia Summit. These documents do not represent genuine regional diplomacy; they mark a turning point in which Central Asia is being structurally absorbed into China’s authoritarian imperial system.
The governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have formally pledged “eternal friendship and cooperation” and deep integration with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), aligning their economic, political, technological, and security institutions with Beijing’s expanding sphere of control.
“These signed instruments do not uphold Central Asia’s sovereignty, they surrender it,” said Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “By signing this treacherous declaration and treaty, the Central Asian governments are relinquishing their own independence in a display of strategic submission to Chinese imperialism.”
By adopting Beijing’s ideological language, including the so-called “One-China Principle” and joint opposition to so-called “terrorism, separatism, and extremism,” the Central Asian governments are not just echoing China’s justification for its campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation of East Turkistan. They are embracing the very narrative China uses to criminalize East Turkistani identity, resistance, and the legitimate struggle to restore East Turkistan’s independence. In doing so, they are laying the ideological foundation for China to gradually erode the sovereignty of the Central Asian republics under the pretext of regional security and stability.
Since its occupation of East Turkistan in 1949, China has gradually transformed the nation into a colony. Since 2014, the PRC has been waging a campaign of wholesale genocide, including the mass internment of millions of Turkic peoples, the operation of a vast network of concentration camps, widespread forced labor and sterilization, systematic destruction of religious and cultural heritage, and the mass murder of 25,000 to 50,000 Uyghur, Kazakh, and other Turkic youth for their organs. Through this brutal campaign, China has not only colonized East Turkistan but is now using it as a strategic base to stage its future expansion into and occupation of neighboring Central Asian countries.
The so-called “Eternal Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation “is the legal anchor of this realignment, solidifying what the Astana Declaration signals: an irreversible shift toward dependency on China for economic resources, digital infrastructure, internal security, and regional relevance. By signing the declaration and committing to the treaty, the Central Asian republics are effectively relinquishing their sovereignty. They no longer operate as fully independent states, but increasingly resemble de facto “autonomous” regions within a rising Chinese empire, subordinate in function, direction, and strategic alignment.
“Central Asia’s leaders are not securing their nations’ future, they’re surrendering them,” said Salih Hudayar, Foreign and Security Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile. “The governments of the Central Asian republics are trading sovereignty for infrastructure, freedom for favor, and national dignity for dependence. What happened to East Turkistan is not an isolated tragedy, it’s the blueprint for all of Central Asia.”
The East Turkistan Government in Exile categorically rejects the legitimacy of both the “Astana Declaration” and the treaty. These are geopolitical instruments designed to entrench Chinese imperialist domination under the false banner of regional harmony.
The ETGE calls upon democratic nations, international institutions, and civil societies to recognize this arrangement for what it is: a renewed form of Chinese imperialism, masked in developmental language. This is not diplomacy; it is a carefully managed imperial expansion, executed with the complicity of local regimes, who put their selfish interests above those of their nations.
At this critical juncture, the ETGE issues an urgent appeal:
To the governments and peoples of Central Asia: Do not become the next East Turkistan. Learn from our case. Resist the erosion of your sovereignty and independence. Reject the trade of sovereignty for economic promises. Stand with your Turkic brothers and sisters who are fighting not only for their nation’s independence but also for the independence and freedom of all Central Asian nations from Chinese domination.
The independence of East Turkistan is not only a national necessity, it is the frontline of Central Asia’s collective security and identity. Only a free and sovereign East Turkistan can serve as a barrier to Chinese imperialism and a guarantor of the sovereignty, identity, and independence of the nations of Central Asia.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile stands ready to work with all partners, governments, institutions, and civil societies committed to resisting and defeating Chinese imperialism in East Turkistan, Central Asia, and beyond.