CHINA> Newsmaker
![]() |
Rebiya not entitled to represent Uygur people: former Xinjiang chief
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-11 16:41 URUMQI: A former chairman of the Xinjiang regional government said here Saturday that Rebiya Kadeer was "not entitled to represent the Uygur people."
"It's widely known that Kadeer sold intelligence information to foreigners and she herself pled guilty in jail," he said. "How can such a person represent the Uygur people?" Ismail Amat, who was also a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top lawmaking body, said that by referring to Xinjiang as "East Turkestan" in her bylined article on the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, Kadeer exposed her separatist mentality as well as her ignorance, or rather, vicious distortion of Xinjiang's history.
Xinjiang has been under the jurisdiction of China's central government since 60 B.C. and the Uygur people have always taken pride in their Chinese nationality, he added. "In the 19th century, the Xinjiang people fought courageously against the Tsarist Russian invaders and foiled the British attempt to colonize the region," he said. "They contributed greatly to China's unification and prosperity." "It's grieving indeed to see a handful of mobs damaged the reputation of the Uygur people in last Sunday's riot, but they do not represent all the Uygurs either," he said. "These people blaspheme Islam, which insists killing is a crime." The riot has so far caused 184 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries, left hundreds of vehicles burnt, shops looted and other public facilities destroyed. "If Kadeer and the separatist 'World Uygur Congress' wanted to take ethnic relations as an excuse to sabotage China's unification, we must be vigilant and firmly crush their plot," he said. Kadeer was jailed in 1999 on charges of harming national security. She left for the United States shortly after she was released on bail in 2005. She is now leader of the World Uygur Congress, which has close contact with terrorist organizations. She was once the richest woman in Xinjiang and was named by Forbes in 1995 as the eighth richest on the Chinese mainland. |
主站蜘蛛池模板: 芜湖市| 金华市| 陆川县| 册亨县| 密云县| 沧源| 玉环县| 繁峙县| 棋牌| 泽州县| 延长县| 福安市| 图木舒克市| 慈溪市| 台中县| 永顺县| 临汾市| 云安县| 金秀| 黄冈市| 张掖市| 团风县| 华宁县| 彰武县| 慈利县| 新乐市| 沂源县| 刚察县| 绿春县| 梨树县| 宁阳县| 察隅县| 定州市| 明光市| 甘孜县| 台南市| 永和县| 垦利县| 襄城县| 蓬溪县| 富民县|