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Updated March 18th, 2021 at 18:52 IST

Tibetans, Uyghurs and Hong Kongers hold protest outside White House ahead of US-China meet

The representatives of Tibet, Uyghur communities and Hong Kongers based in the US staged an anti-China protest outside White House before US-China meet.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Tibet
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Ahead of the United States and China’s first high-level face-to-face meeting under US President Joe Biden administration in Alaska, the representatives of Tibet, Uyghur communities and Hong Kongers based in the United States staged an anti-China protest outside White House. As per the news agency ANI report, people gathered outside the White House on Wednesday and called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to mount pressure on his Chinese counterparts over the suppression of religious as well as other freedoms in China. 

Blinken alongside US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with Chinese counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18 and 19 that will provide both sides with enough time to relay their respective priorities and cover a range of divisive issues impacting the bilateral ties. Reportedly, Beijing plans on pressing Washington to reverse several policies that target China and were introduced by former US President Donald Trump administration in the high-level meeting. But earlier, Blinken had said that the US would speak out forcefully and raise the issue of “egregious violations of human rights” by China. 

Protests highlighted HKong, Tibet, Xinjiang

Ahead of the meeting in which both delegations are convening with dramatically different demands, the protests outside the White House by former detainees, survivors and activists was organised to highlight the repression in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. Recalling the struggles of the past at the demonstration, the survivor of the secretive Chinese camps where the United Nations (UN) has estimated that over one million Muslim Uyghurs are ‘detained’, Tursenay Ziawudun told reporters the atrocities that she was subjected to. 

“First, they stripped off my clothing. Then they tore out my earrings, so my ears were bleeding. What came next was worse -- nine months of gang rape, violent beatings and torture with cattle prods," said Ziawudun as per ANI. 

"I was very lucky because my husband saved me... People are suffering, being pushed into forced laboUr, sexual abuse, rape and I want the world to take notice of that and take action against China," a teary-eyed Ziawudun added.

Another protester Rushan Abbas also raised China’s sprawling network of re-education camps and program of forced labour. On September 11, 2018, the Chinese authorities reportedly took away Rushan’s sister Gulshan Abbas and in 2020, their family learnt that she was sentenced to two decades in prison in a sham trial. Gulshan’s imprisonment is reported to be a direct retaliation of Rushan’s activism who is also the executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, an organization based in the US. 

"Knowing President Biden was the first person to recognize the genocide in China, knowing Secretary Blinken is a hero in human rights, I'm sure he will raise harshly Chinas genocide actions. And also, personally, I would like him (Blinken) to raise my sister's case with his counterparts. And also, my husband's entire family," Abbas told ANI.

Further, resonating the plight of the Tibetans and China’s long-standing oppression of their religion, Pema Doma, campaigns director at students for Free Tibet told ANI, “There is no scenario there is no place in the world for a country that legitimizes violent crimes. There is no sidestepping and soft approach to this.” The protest concluded with a unified call to “Boycott Beijing 2022, The Genocide Games.”
 

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Published March 18th, 2021 at 18:52 IST

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