21 Mar '21 00:55>2 edits
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-muslim-countries-arent-criticizing-china-uighur-repression-2018-8
Why the Muslim world isn't saying anything about China’s repression and 'cultural cleansing' of its downtrodden Muslim minority
Muslim countries have been silent over China's crackdown on its Uighurs, a Muslim-majority ethnic minority in the country's west.
Experts and activists say it is because countries fear economic retribution from China.
Many also say it's because many Arab states also have poor human rights records, and don't want to draw attention to themselves.
Turkey has tried standing up to China in the past — and Beijing has not forgotten it.
So why hasn't anyone said anything about China's Uighur issue?
Money, money, money
Many Muslim-majority countries aren't speaking out because they don't want to jeopardize their economic relationships in China, experts say.
Several states in Central Asia and the Middle East are part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive project launched in 2013 linking 78 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania through a network of railroads, shipping lanes, and other infrastructure projects.
Many of these deals entail China giving hefty loans to economies with a bad credit rating, which countries such as Pakistan are already finding difficult to repay. And it appears that these economic partnerships are stopping these countries from speaking out about Xinjiang.
Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, a Chinese politics researcher at University of Technology Sydney, told Business Insider: "Like most states, many Muslim-majority countries have increasingly close economic relations with China.
"There is a general consensus that speaking out about the situation in Xinjiang might jeopardize the development of economic ties, and it is therefore not in their interests to do so."
Alip Erkin, an activist in Australia who runs the Uyghur Bulletin network, specifically cited BRI as a hindrance. He told BI: "Enormous trade and investment opportunities, as well as debt burden from China, through the BRI not only result in the tight lips of Muslim states but also an active cooperation with China in Uighur crackdown."
Egypt, a BRI partner country, has even appeared to help China with its Uighur crackdown.
Last summer, Egypt detained dozens of Uighur students in the country without giving a reason, denied them access to lawyers and their families, Human Rights Watch reported.
Cairo also deported at least 12 Chinese Uighurs back to China around the same time, according to The New York Times.
Peter Irwin, the program manager at the World Uyghur Congress, told BI: "There is a certain expectation that Muslim-majority countries would naturally lend support to Uighurs and criticize China, but we just haven’t seen this, and I don’t expect we’ll see this given China’s economic ambitions with the Belt and Road Initiative, however successful the plan may or may not be."
China's Uighur treatment may not offend Arab states
It may be too simplistic to cite economic dependence on China as the only reason why Muslim countries aren't standing up to China over the Uighurs.
Many Middle Eastern states also have a poor human rights record, and prioritize social stability over individual rights, much like China does, van Nieuwenhuizen said.
China justifies its crackdown on Xinjiang as protecting the peace and preventing terrorism. Militant Uighurs have been accused of starting deadly ethnic riots in Xinjiang and terrorist attacks across the country from 2009 to 2014.
Many Arab countries "exhibit a similar understanding" of prioritizing social stability over human rights, van Nieuwenhuizen said.
She told BI: "Many Middle Eastern states have a poor human rights record themselves — including when it comes to the treatment of religious minorities. Many exhibit a similar understanding of human rights to China's — that is, that social stability trumps individual rights.
"This is how the Chinese government has framed the presence of re-education camps and other repressive measures."