When an Islamic fundamentalist is killed or arrested anywhere in the world but China, they are labeled a terrorist in the Western media but when the same forces do something similar in China they are called activists. China’s Xinjiang province is located east of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. All of these Central Asian countries share a border with China’s Xinjiang region.
Here are two examples from the Western media that were published in July 2009. Time printed a news piece Afghanistan’s Deadly Export: How the War is Spilling Over into Central Asia, by John Wendle/Moscow
The lead paragraph starts, “When five militants, all Russian citizens, were shot and killed in a gun battle at a remote military checkpoint near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, the Tajik government was quick to label the dead as “members of an organized terrorist group.” The group has not been named, but the shootings highlight the grim irony of the struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan.”
A few days later, Chisa Fujioka wrote for Reuters, Uighur leader says 10,000 went missing in one night. The lead said, “Nearly 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China’s northwestern Xingjian region went missing on one night, exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation.”
See What is the Truth about Tiananmen Square?
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the author of the award winning novels My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. He also Blogs at The Soulful Veteran and Crazy Normal.
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