Beijing continues to parade the language of “autonomy,” “unity”, “stability”, and “modernization” across East Turkistan. Let no free nation be deceived. These are nothing but instruments of propaganda devised to mask occupation, whitewash genocide, and advance a colonial project that seeks to eradicate a nation.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile unequivocally condemns the staged “grand gathering” in Occupied East Turkistan marking the 70th year of Beijing’s imposition of the so‑called “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” overseen by Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and a high‑level delegation of senior CCP officials. There is nothing to celebrate. In 1955, Beijing unilaterally and illegally rebranded East Turkistan to conceal its military occupation and colonization designed to dismantle our nation.

The people of East Turkistan have never accepted Chinese rule in any form and reject it absolutely. Twice in the twentieth century, our nation reestablished its independence as the East Turkistan Republic, asserting sovereign will and national self‑determination. Our lawful state, the East Turkistan Republic, was overthrown by Chinese occupation forces on December 22, 1949. From that day to this, our nation has neither yielded its sovereignty nor its duty. The people of East Turkistan do not want, seek, or accept any “autonomy” under foreign occupation. Our single objective is the full restoration of independence and sovereignty.

China’s propaganda slogans of “unity,” “stability,” and “modernization” are propaganda terms used to whitewash and disguise China’s campaign of colonization, genocide, and occupation: mass surveillance, mass internment, enslavement through coerced labor, forced indoctrination and assimilation, and the criminalization and destruction of faith and language. Meanwhile, demographic engineering remains central to colonization: Chinese colonist settlers, organized and shielded by military garrisons and paramilitary occupation forces under the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, have expanded from under 4 percent in 1949 to over 40 percent today, pushing the native Turkic population towards becoming a minority in their own homeland.

Xi Jinping’s spectacle alters neither law nor fact. The East Turkistan Government in Exile reiterates: the East Turkistani people are not a “minority” within China, but a distinct nation under Chinese occupation. The East Turkistani people’s struggle is not for so-called autonomy, but for the full restoration of our independence and sovereignty. We call upon states and international institutions to reject Beijing’s lies, recognize East Turkistan’s right to national self‑determination and decolonization, and hold China accountable for decades of colonial rule, genocide, and crimes against humanity.