[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            CLASHES IN CHINA

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, this week, bloody clashes have erupted 
between the minority Uighur community and the majority Han ethnic group 
in the Xinjiang region of western China. Reports indicate that the 
Chinese Government has responded with a heavy hand--deploying police 
and paramilitary troops, establishing a curfew, closing mosques, 
cutting off Internet and mobile phone access, and rounding up and 
arresting innocent civilians.
  The state-controlled media reported that at least 156 Chinese 
citizens have been killed, more than 1,000 have been injured, and 
approximately 1,400 have been arrested since the clashes began earlier 
this week.
  I am deeply concerned about ongoing tension in Xinjiang and believe 
the senseless loss of life, suppression of press freedom, and 
violations of basic human rights is unconscionable in China, and 
anywhere else in the world.
  Today, I call on all parties to demonstrate restraint, end the 
violence, cease persecution of minorities, and protect fundamental 
human rights. I also call on the Chinese Government to open Internet 
and mobile phone access, end jamming of international broadcasting, and 
lift the grave and growing restrictions on the press.
  We all know independent journalists have been censored for decades in 
China--a fact that is painfully evident as we try to understand how 
recent demonstrations metastasized into violence in western China.
  According to the State Department Report on Human Rights for 2009, 
the Chinese Government has increased cultural and religious repression 
of ethnic minorities, including on the Muslim Uighurs. It appears that 
as ethnic tensions rose, members of the Uighur community took to the 
streets, resulting in an aggressive crackdown by the Chinese security 
forces on Sunday.
  The exact circumstances by which violence transpired remains unclear, 
largely because the government censors information including the 
official number of casualties.
  In what can only be described as questionable, these numbers have 
remained stagnant in the past two days despite ongoing violence and 
civil unrest.
  In recent years, the Chinese Government has demonstrated great 
efficiency in monitoring the Internet and restricting Web sites such as 
Facebook, My Space, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and other outlets of 
information to monitor the free exchange of ideas among its people and 
the press.
  It has also used advanced technology to jam international satellite 
and radio broadcasting including the U.S.-funded Voice of America and 
Radio Free Asia.
  In Xinjiang specifically, it has shut down more than 50 Uighur 
language Internet forums, jammed Radio Free Asia's Uighur-language 
service, and cut off Internet and mobile phone access in the past week.
  In fact, Li Zhi, a top Communist Party official in Urumqi, the 
capital of Xinjiang, Province, confirmed yesterday that the government 
cut off Internet access to the region.
  Because of such limitations, the Han population now believes that the 
Uighurs are solely responsible for ongoing unrest, and such 
misperceptions have elevated the level of ethnic tension. By creating a 
vacuum of information in and out of Xinjiang, the Chinese Government 
has exacerbated the crisis.
  While the casualty numbers remain uncertain, it is clear that recent 
developments have incurred an immeasurable human toll, including--but 
not limited to--the loss of innocent lives.
  There have been pictures of children in hospitals, who have been 
forced to witness violence perpetrated against their parents. The 
Washington Post today reported emotional stories of women demanding the 
return of their missing husbands.
  And the UK's Guardian reveals an image of an elderly woman on 
crutches standing defiantly in front of a police riot bus, an image 
which is eerily reminiscent of the bravery and defiance demonstrated 20 
years ago in Tiananmen.
  These glimpses of ongoing developments stir great empathy and anger, 
and it is essential that the whole story be told, among the 
international community and also within China. This is why I call on 
the Chinese Government to provide unimpeded press coverage and Internet 
access, allow journalists to report without restrictions. I condemn the 
continued repression of Uighurs and violence perpetrated against all 
innocent civilians in China and hope the ongoing unrest will soon be 
brought to an end.

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