Webinar: US Committee for a Sane China Policy Tuesday January 25 4:00-5:30 PM

THE UYGHURS OF CHINA:
WHO THEY ARE, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY

A Panel Discussion with:

·       Garner Bovington, author of The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land and professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University
·       Kate Kizer, human rights advocate and columnist at Responsible Statecraft
·       Alkan Akad, China Specialist, Amnesty International

Tuesday, January 25, 4:00-5:30 PM EST

The Chinese government’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority has become one of the most contentious issues in U.S.-China relations. American officials regularly denounce the Chinese leadership for what it claims is the “genocide” of the Uyghurs, while Chinese leaders deny the claims and say Washington’s obsession with the issue is obstructing normal bilateral relations.

What is the truth of the matter? Obtaining accurate, unbiased information on the treatment of the Uyghurs in China’s far-western Xinjiang Autonomous Region is difficult. Nevertheless, international human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights groups have found evidence of mass detentions and other severe abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. But does this constitute genocide? The evidence for this remains contested.

And granted the evidence of widespread abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, how should the U.S. government and the American public respond? Investigating and condemning China’s abysmal human rights record is one thing, but making it the centerpiece of U.S. policy at the expense of other critical issues, like war avoidance and climate change, is another. Besides, as Chinese leaders have regularly pointed out, America’s human rights record is hardly unblemished either.

The Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy has organized this webinar with experts on the Uyghur situation to address these questions and discuss appropriate U.S. responses.