The below article was published by Republic World, photo credit: @salihhudayar/Twitter/AP
East Turkestan has urged governments across the world to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics in light of alleged human rights abuses on Uyghurs by China.
The exiled government of East Turkestan has hailed France’s National Assembly and French citizens for recognising the Chinese Government’s atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic people in East Turkestan (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) as ‘genocide’. East Turkestan’s government further urged for a full boycott of the Beijing Olympics 2022. According to the press release, Prime Minister of the exiled East Turkestan government, Salih Hudayar, expressed gratitude to the French National Assembly.
“We thank the French National Assembly for recognising China’s ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkestan,” Hudayar said.
– ETGE / Salih Hudayar
Hudayar’s remarks come after France’s National Assembly, on Thursday, lashed out at China for the genocide of its Muslim ethnic minority of Uyghurs in a resolution that could further strain relations between Paris and Beijing. It should be mentioned here that the French National Assembly’s move came just weeks before China is set to organise the Winter Olympics from 4 February. READ | HRW raises concerns over China’s veiled threats to athletes ahead of Winter Olympics
The resolution also called on the French President Emmanuel Macron-led government to protect Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang and take “the necessary measures within the international community and in its foreign policy towards the People’s Republic of China”. The non-binding resolution in France was adopted with 169 votes in favour and just one against it. The resolution was proposed by the opposition Socialists in the Lower House of French Parliament. READ | University in Netherlands hit by funding scandal, stops accepting donations from China
France’s Parliament becomes 9th body to recognise Uyghur genocide
It is pertinent to note that the French Parliament has now become the ninth Parliament in the world to recognise human rights abuses by China in its Xinjiang region as genocide. Meanwhile, the exiled East Turkestan government is calling on governments across the globe to take categoric actions that would end the ongoing humanitarian abuses in China by boycotting the Beijing Olympics 2022.READ | Tesla’s expansion in China’s Xinjiang misguided & ‘sets a poor example’, say US lawmakers
Hudayar’s government is also seeking support from other governments and parliaments to grant refuge to Uyghurs as well as other Turkic people who fled the genocide and to support East Turkestan’s case against China at the International Criminal Court.
However, after French National Assembly adopted the resolution on Thursday, China rejected the accusations. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “The French National Assembly’s resolution on Xinjiang ignores facts and legal knowledge and grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs…China firmly opposes it.”
