For Immediate Release – Thursday, December 4, 2019
Media Contact:
East Turkistan Government-in-Exile
contact@East-Turkistan.Net
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ETGE Commends the Passage of the UIGHUR Act by the US Congress
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) commends the United States House of Representatives for passing the Uighur Intervention Global Humanitarian Unified Response (UIGHUR) Act on Tuesday. We thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her leadership in bringing both sides of the political stream to support this bill. We especially thank Congressman Christopher Smith and Congressman Jim McGovern, both who are great supporters of our cause and champions of human rights.
Although the bill has yet to pass the Senate and be signed by President Trump (which we hope will happen very soon), it has already created a huge impact by sending a direct message to China. China’s Foreign Ministry released a statement warning the US not to “meddle in China’s internal affairs” and claimed that its brutal policies of Genocide in East Turkistan were “anti-terrorism & anti separatism.”
We would like to clarify that East Turkistan is NOT a part of China, it is an Occupied country. Therefore, it is not a part of “China’s internal affairs” nor are the people of East Turkistan “separatists” for wanting to end Chinese foreign occupation of East Turkistan. Furthermore, China has been engaging in colonialism, state terrorism, and genocide in East Turkistan for decades using the pretexts of “combating separatism and terrorism.” Genocide is a crime against humanity and the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and punish those engaging in genocide.
We view the passage of the UIGHUR ACT as gesture of solidarity by the United States and the American people to the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of Occupied East Turkistan who are suffering under Chinese colonial occupation and oppression. We hope that this is only the beginning of many bills and actions that will be taken by the US Congress for the Uyghur and other Turkic people of East Turkistan.
We again call on the United States Congress and the whole of the United States Government to follow up on the UIGHUR Act by recognizing China’s crimes against humanity in East Turkistan as a genocide and to use all methods allowed in international law to help us stop these atrocities save our country. We also ask that the United States Government treat the East Turkistan issue on par with the issue of Tibet by recognizing East Turkistan as an Occupied Country and referring to our country by its proper name ‘East Turkistan’ and not by the Chinese colonial imposed term “Xinjiang” meaning the “New Territory.”
On behalf of all the people of East Turkistan, we are truly grateful for the support shown by United States Government and the American people. God bless America!
