The CIA programs in Tibet, which were very effective in destabilizing it, did not succeed in Xinjiang. There were similar efforts made with the Uyghurs during the Cold War that never really got off the ground. In both cases you had religion waved as a banner in support of a desire for independence or autonomy which is, of course, anathema to any state. US Ambassador Chas. H. Freeman, Director for Chinese Affairs, US Department of State, 1979-1981
The Western Narrative
Several years ago, America–responsible for twenty-million civilian war deaths since 1950–claimed that China was keeping millions of democratic, God-fearing Uyghurs in concentration camps.
They offered no credible evidence, and the testimony of expat Uyghurs turned out to be as unreliable as expat testimony always is.
Like the Kuwait War Incubator Babies narrative, the gossamer-thin Uyghur yarn was professionally spun, and anchored by a couple of real Uyghur villains who were jailed, Western virtue-signaling, and lazy journalists who repeated variations of the narrative, added clickbait headlines, and garnered billions of impressions.
Generous scholarships, grants, conferences, papers, promotions, and photo ops with Nancy Pelosi, gave the story legs. Congress, faced with the humiliation of having to remove tariffs from Chinese goods in order to reduce inflation, sees ‘human rights’ as China's remaining vulnerability.
But who knows even one of the thirty human rights? One percent of Western college grads knows one of the thirty. Which puts us one down to China.
The Chinese Narrative
All Chinese encounter the thirty Human Rights during their 12-year Civics course and, perhaps naively, think their government honors them. They also know we’ve been stirring up trouble with the Uyghurs for seventy years and that, after a particularly horrific massacre, a handful went to prison and two were executed after exemplary trials.
They know that Beijing has built them new homes, provided literacy training, and created millions of jobs in the hospitality industry by attracting 160 million tourists to the province annually, while shifting new industries like international transportation (Xinjiang is China’s westernmost road, rail and air hub, and has the fastest growing provincial economy) and solar power to the region. China’s top entertainers are disproportionately Uyghur.
Next, Beijing invited Mecca’s World Muslim Council to investigate the Uyghurs’ plight. A dozen inspectors chatted with passersby, visited some of the 27,000 local mosques, talked to their Imams, spent hours at the literacy and vocational centers, and came away openly envious of the resources Beijing had devoted to the problem. One ambassador discussed her visit with the Times of India.
Which Xinjiang Will Ms Bachelet See?
If the experienced, perceptive, knowledgeable Ms Bachelet sees America’s Xinjiang, she will criticize it, our media will praise her, and Narrative will become Gospel.
If the experienced, perceptive, knowledgeable Ms. Bachelet sees China’s Xinjiang, she must justify her findings to an openly hostile audience and placate a notoriously vindictive State Department and venomous press.
Ms. Bachelet is a general's daughter who studied military strategy at university, attended school in Bethesda, Md., graduated from the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, D.C., and became Chile's Defense Minister. Three weeks after Washington launched the Uyghur Human Rights Narrative, Ms Bachelet condemned China for human rights violations of which she had no reliable evidence whatever.
Has anything changed since then?
Godfree wrote Why China Leads the World: Talent at the Top, Data in the Middle, Democracy at the Bottom, and publishes the newsletter, Here Comes China.
Thank you Godfree, I really appreciate your perspectives and your posts.
As a young man I escaped being drafted into the US war on Vietnam by enrolling in a US Quaker sponsored international college that had programs around the world. We studied everything in those regions, saw how
people lived and learned the effects of history, culture, religion and government.
I wish more Americans could see the effects of US policies. And though my brother went to the same school, he took the blue pill and doesn’t see and won’t read alternative ideas.
Unfortunately, most people are just trying to get ahead or keep their head above water. I’m divesting dollars, worried about digital IDs and Central Bank Digital Currencies. No place is safe.
Your posts keep me informed and I’m impressed and appreciative. Ben