Washington, January 22, 2020
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE)’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday pushed back against a joint statement made between Beijing and Myanmar that said East Turkistan (what China calls “Xinjiang”) was undisputedly part of China’s territory.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile resolutely protest the joint statement issued by China and Myanmar on January 19, in which Myanmar reaffirmed the so called ‘One-China Principle’ and categorized “Xinjiang”, the name China uses when referring to East Turkistan, along with Tibet, and Taiwan as an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China’s territory.
The joint statement was published on the websites of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of both China and Myanmar.
Myanmar also expressed support for China’s efforts to resolve issues relating to East Turkistan, Taiwan, and Tibet. China’s efforts in East Turkistan is nothing less than colonization and genocide.
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile’s Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Foreign Minister, Adil Abbas, called the joint declaration a “deliberate distortion of East Turkistan’s historical status and an open support of China’s policies of genocide and colonization in East Turkistan by Myanmar.”
He decried the joint statement and called on Myanmar and other nations across the world to not fall for China’s revisionist claims. He stated that, “East Turkistan was an independent state known as the East Turkistan Republic and existed long before the People’s Republic of China was even founded in October 1949.” The East Turkistan Republic was overthrown by the People’s Republic of China on December 22, 1949 and East Turkistan has been an occupied country since then. He also stated that “the name “Xinjiang” (which translates as the “New Territory”) used by China to refer to East Turkistan clearly shows that East Turkistan was never a part of China.”
He also made it clear that the ETGE is firmly committed to ending Chinese occupation and restoring East Turkistan’s independence as a pluralistic and secular Republic that guarantees human rights and freedom for all of East Turkistan’s people.
