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China Says Ethnic Violence In Check Amid Heavy Troop Presence

Reading Time: 4 minutesChina, Urumqi, Xinjiang, Uyghur, Uyghurs, Han Chinese

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Reports from northwestern China say thousands of troops and police are patrolling the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, with riot shields, batons, and firearms.

The heavy deployments of security forces follow official media reports said 156 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in violent ethnic clashes in the city on July 5. Officials say more than 1,400 people also have been detained since then amid continued violence.

Germany’s dpa news agency has quoted Dolkun Isa, the secretary-general of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, as saying that the Uyghur death toll is now between 600 and 800 — based on eyewitness reports by phone. Isa said many Uyghurs have been lynched by angry mobs of Han Chinese.

Another congress official, Vice President Asgar Can, warned at a news conference in Munich that the Chinese government should be careful how it responds to the trouble.

"If the government does not come to its senses, if it continues to try to suppress everything with violence, then it is possible that the situation will spread," Can said. "Han Chinese, armed with sticks and big knives, were running in the streets yesterday, chasing after Uyghurs. Anything can happen."

In an address in Urumqi, Chinese Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu blamed the violence on Uyghur separatists and told security forces not to let their guard down:

"You all know that this incident was caused by people who want to incite conflict, and its roots are deeply political," Meng said. "This conflict is between separatists and antiseparatist forces, and is an ongoing political struggle."

Meanwhile, Urumqi’s Communist Party boss says the government will seek the death penalty for anyone found to be behind the deaths. Li Zhi said many people accused of murder have already been detained and that most were students.

There have also been reports of fresh violence in Urumqi. France’s AFP news agency said Han Chinese mobs attacked two Muslim Uyghurs in separate incidents. Reuters reported that riot police tried to disperse a crowd of hundreds of Han Chinese protesters.

Official media say many shops were closed and that some had run out of stocks of food and water. Meanwhile, Internet access remains blocked in Urumqi and in at least two other cities of Xinjiang — – Kashgar and Turpan.

"If you go to work, you will have to carry a stick or a knife," said Jiang, a 50-year-old resident of Urumqi. "If you don’t carry anything like that, that will not work. We will have to carry something for our own safety."

The authorities imposed a nighttime curfew in Urumqi on July 7 to prevent what they described as further "chaos."

The decision was made as hundreds of members of China’s predominant Han ethnic group marched through the city carrying metal pipes and other weapons, smashing shops owned by Uyghurs.

Reports said Internet access continues to be blocked in Urumqi and at least two other Xinjiang cities, Kashgar and Turpan.

Mob Rule

Authorities said two Uyghurs were killed and 118 people were injured in June clashes that have been blamed for heightening anger ahead of last weekend’s violence.

Several Uyghurs — now under Chinese government protection — described the scene to Radio Free Asia when Han Chinese laborers stormed the dormitories of Uyghur acquaintances and beat them with clubs, iron bars, and machetes.

"We were taking our meal break after the night shift, when the day shifters [Uyghurs] were sleeping in their dorms," said one, a factory worker who witnessed the violence. "We saw them [Han Chinese] storm into their dorms, pull them out from their beds, and start beating them, hacking and burning. It was around 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. Thousands of Chinese, and 800 Uyghurs were there."

The violence at the toy factory was sparked by an online report that Uyghur migrant workers at the factory had raped two Chinese women. Two men have been detained for fabricating that report.

…Or Provocateurs?

But Chinese officials are blaming the latest riots on foreign influence, including the World Uyghur Congress, although the group’s president, Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in exile in the United States, has denied the allegations.

Writing in the "Asian Wall Street Journal," Kadeer repeated her insistence that her group was not involved and condemned the violence by both sides.

"Years of Chinese repression of Uyghurs topped by a confirmation that Chinese officials have no interest in observing the rule of law when Uyghurs are concerned is the cause of the current Uighur discontent," she wrote in the "Wall Street Journal" piece.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Kadeer claimed more than 400 people had been killed across China — not the officially reported figure of 156.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said Chinese President Hu Jintao was cutting short a visit to Italy and returning to China to deal with the situation in Xinjiang. Hu had been scheduled to join the Group of Eight summit that was to open later in the day.

Restraint Urged

The Russian Foreign Ministry says the violence in Xinjiang is exclusively an internal affair of China, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on all sides to exercize restraint.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government is closely monitoring reports of violence against the ethnic-Turkic Muslim Uyghurs with "concern and regret." Erdogan urged China to bring to justice those responsible for the violence.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has advised its citizens not to visit Xinjiang. It said on July 7 that tourist visas were being denied for Kazakh citizens who want to visit the region.

In a statement from the European Union’s Swedish presidency, the bloc called for "restraint on all sides" to bring a peaceful end to the unrest and for "the rights of all those in detention [to be] fully respected."

Human rights groups have expressed concerns that detainees could be tortured or mistreated. They also have warned that a harsh crackdown on Uyghurs could exacerbate grievances that have fueled ethnic tensions.

Urumqi is a city of 2.3 million people about 3,000 kilometers of Beijing. Its population is comprised mostly of Han Chinese — an exception from the rest of Xinjiang, where Muslim Uyghurs make up roughly half the population.

Analysts say the unrest — the region’s worst in years — underscores ethnic tensions that have accompanied Beijing’s growing economic and political stake in China’s autonomous western region.

written by RFE/RL correspondent Antoine Blua from Radio Free Asia, RFE/RL, and agency reports

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FC Sheriff Tiraspol victory: can national pride go hand in hand with political separatism?

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A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.

International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.

Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.

Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.

Is it Moldova?

First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.

At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”

What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.

“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.

Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.

Is it a victory?

In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.

Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.

“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”

Is it only about football?

FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.

The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.

Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.

Photo: unknown

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Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita meets high-ranking EU officials in Brussels

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Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.

Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.

“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.

Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.

A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.

“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”

The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.

Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

Photo: gov.md

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Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria

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The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.

In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.

“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”

“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”

The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.

They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur  to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

**

The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.

The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”

Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”

Photo: peacekeeping.un.org

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