“2. Also because a lady with her personal history can hardly be accepted by radical islamists as a leader (and have you ever seen any such group led by a woman?)”

Kadeer is definitely not fundamental enough, not covered from head to toe in burqa, and she appears to have some Chinese features in her looks, thanks no doubt to some distant ancestor.

Actually, your tongue in cheek argument kinda reminded me of the same argument about bringing people to court in China. Rulings aren’t made per the law, they’re made per the party. My friends in China all acknowledged this, though I think many outside China just assume that it’s the law that matters and not the party decision.

When Kadeer was convicted for revealing state secrets, it wasn’t really for revealing state secrets but actually for being in violation of party discipline. As long as you stay away from certain subjects, the amount of freedom in China right now is pretty decent. But if you cross certain boundaries, you’re going to jail regardless of the law.

It’s almost like a play where the actors all play their parts, recite their lines and the script goes according to plan. Conviction rate is almost 100% and when it’s not, it’s because the party decided not to convict. I’m not trying to be critical, just acknowledge that their system is different from our system and so when in Rome, it’s wisest to play by Rome’s rules, just as the media rules are different from ours. I read Chinese media so I know the official government position on various issues.

BTW, why are you a commie panda hugger????

I completely agree the Chinese media’s reporting was not good reporting. Actually that is the point: it was not even Reporting, and it was not even Media. In times of crisis the Chinese media goes completely under control and becomes a mere instrument of the State.

It is only from THIS point of view that I think they did a very good job.

I can feel it coming now, very soon I am going to be accused of commy-panda-hugger again…

My personal opinion about media reporters is that they are trained and knowledgeable in how to write, but not in what they report. They don’t have much theoretical knowledge of their subjects and I think they get most of their information talking to fellow reporters in pubs over beers. One question I always ask friends is whether the news articles about their own professions are accurate, and the answer is always the same: No, not at all. That’s also been my experience.

I’m not as positive as you are concerning Chinese media. We should be able to expect more from them. For western media, they have the opportunity to report on what actually happened but are obligated to actually research it and know their subject material. The ones who fail, fail because of their own laziness, incompetence and bias. Chinese media has no opportunity to report the truth, only the truth as the party sees it. That to me is more of a mindless kind of reporting since your story is essentially pre-written before you even start it. As a reporter, you just take what you’re given and spice it up a bit to make it more readable. You don’t actually investigate since you’re using the investigation as supplied by the government. I think that’d be a frustrating job to hold. If a government creates restrictive rules and then follows those rules to the letter, I’m not sure that can qualify in my book as good reporting.

@ Huaren: I’d think someone could develop scan technology that could look at a photo and trace its authenticity, even if it’s been altered. I find it inexcusable with today’s technology for these photos to be misused by any media. It’s comparable to using manual Royal typewriters to write your articles. Oops, that might be true with a few of these guys!

To be fair, China should be more interested in Chinese news than foreign countries would be. Typically, most media report foreign events when they happen but forget about the follow up in favor of national or local news. Foreigners should not care about Xinjiang as much as the Chinese people, since this riot was Chinese against Chinese. It’s a big deal to us since we all care about China, but we’re a small minority in today’s world.

I concur.

Hi Uln, #251,

Thx for your article and link to it. Its a great article and I would encourage FM readers to visit your blog. And thx for your plug at the end of your article for FM.

I agree with your characterization of the “Western” media. That London Evening Standard article claiming the Han Chinese woman with bloody nose as a victim of the police brutality – insanity! A lot of people take swipes at anti-CNN, but facts are facts and thx to anti-CNN for exposing it.

I recall CNN actually doctor’ed an image during their 3.14 reporting – they cropped an image to remove rioters with bricks on hand – resulting picture was a vacant street with two police trucks and debris all over the road. The meaning of the image got altered completely, by 180 degrees.

Btw – as you have noted, at least the XJTV is sticking with their long term goal of harmony. Can you count on “Western” media to think about society first? I think the “Western” media (not all, but many) have failed their societies miserably on many fronts. I think China’s media is vastly superior today – until if they change for the worse, of course.

The thing now is that, with the facts we have in hand, I can only imagine 1 of 2 possible positions for RK, and neither of them is very flattering: 1- She is actually in contact with the radical islamist groups that organized the killings, 2- She is just an opportunist who jumped at the chance to get a name for herself after she saw the radical Uyghurs on TV go berserk (which was perhaps a surprise even for her).

Sincerely, from the way she spoke I fancy it is more like number 2. Also because a lady with her personal history can hardly be accepted by radical islamists as a leader (and have you ever seen any such group led by a woman?)

I have no new facts in my hands and I openly admit that this is speculation. But really there is something weird about this new Dalai Lama who is not Dalai and is not Lama.

By the way, I just wrote a bit about the media and the Xinjiang conflict. I try to look at it from a different point of view, check it out here:

Excuse the self-promotion.

Chops, those “illegally disclosing state secrets” were, if I remember correctly, her mailing of newspaper articles out of the country. If they were state secrets, why did they appear in newspapers? Let’s face it, the “state secrets” charge is the catch-all phrase the government uses to arrest dissidents they don’t like. Having said that, I still don’t think it’s wise for a country to base its foreign policy decisions on the internal matters of other countries short of something atrocious like Jewish genocide or the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

Needless to say, at the time the Chinese government felt that what they were getting in return was worth the release of Kadeer from prison and her subsequent deportation.

If you look at all the U.N. votes related to “human rights” – the U.S./U.K looses basically most of the time. The world knows such votes are always politically motivated. I am sure the Chinese government is aware of this.

Washington needs to win political points domestically, so my guess is such releases are to trade for something else. When you are in your 50’s or 60’s, you will certainly always be sick of something. Anyways, we will just never know what the trade was for.

HRW etc needs to claim victory, and if you are to ask them directly, they’d tell you its their awesome work which allowed Kadeer to be set free.

“She was sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment in 2000 on charges of illegally disclosing state secrets, and was released on bail in 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.”

But the govt was responsible for her release to go for “medical treatment”, knowing full well she will not return to China. It appeared to be a US political deal and PR stunt ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44393-2005Mar17.html

Thanks for the link, I went there and found their most recent article about urumqi riots
http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/news-watch/muslim-countries/is-ethnicity-a-threat-to-chinese-society.html

@Uln,
I fully agree with you. I think no matter what the external factors are, the most important thing for Chinese government is to re-examine its own policies, which are clearly not working well.

Very interesting interview. How credible is this Heyrat Niyaz? At any rate, most of what he says makes sense. Actually it is not surprising at all that islamist groups like that one had a role in the violence. Like in neighbouring refions, young muslim Uygurs become frustrated and turn to radical islam. This is happening already in Xinjiang for a long time, no doubt.

When the Chinese governent have decided to focus all their attacks on Kadeer, I think this is just part of their image war against the Western media. Behind the scenes, I am sure the CCP is aware that the real danger are the islamists. The question of whether Kadeer is in contact and financing these groups, or whether she is just completely clueless about them, is certainly important – if contact is proven it might lead to discrediting once and for all the American NED.

But in the long term, the really important question for China is not to beat Kadeer (that should be easy!) but rather to understand why those Uygurs turn to radical Islam, and what can be done to control the situation from the roots now that it is still not completely out of control. Perhaps simple things like not destroying the old buildings of Kashgar, or like ensuring that there is no job discrimination, can go a long way to achieve this.

Finally, China should be very careful now. I have heard many opinions from proud Han saying that radical Uygurs are a tiny fraction of the total population, and they can never beat China. This is true, but still, if things turn really bad, the potential they have to harm China is enormous, just look at Chechenya, Palestina etc. where the strongest armies in the World cannot control the situation for decades. (China is still far from these examples, but worst case scenarios need to be considered).

I always thought that China has been very clever in the international scene, not getting mixed up in the whole crusade against islamism and managing to be the only Security Council country that was untouched by large-scale terrorism. If the CCP leaders are intelligent (and i think they are) they will manage to sort thngs out in away to avoid Al Qaeda complications.

http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/index.php

Of course, most of the people above only seem to be interested in this Rebiya Kadeer… Sigh.

Explain that, Kadeer!