{"id":924,"date":"2022-07-22T00:15:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/?p=924"},"modified":"2022-07-22T00:15:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:15:40","slug":"abe-shinzo-the-best-friend-of-the-uyghurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/?p=924","title":{"rendered":"Abe Shinzo: The Best Friend of the Uyghurs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abe Shinzo: The Best Friend of the Uyghurs<\/h1>\n

\n

A Uyghur activist remembers how much the assassinated Japanese ex-Prime Minister did for the case of the oppressed and persecuted minority.<\/p>\n

by Kok Bayraq<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Abe<\/picture>
Shinzo Abe with Rebiya Kadeer. From Twitter.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Istanbul and Washington are seen as the centers of the\u00a0Uyghur National Movement<\/a>\u00a0in exile. But Abe Shinzo, the late former Prime Minister of Japan, was the most supportive leader in the world for\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbe Shinzo was a friend of the oppressed and an enemy of injustice,\u201d said Uyghur leader\u00a0Rebiya Kadeer\u00a0<\/a>in a\u00a0condolence message<\/a>. \u201cHe mentioned the Uyghur issue in a meeting with former Chinese President Hu Jintao\u00a0in 2008, when the Uyghur situation was not internationally known,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cHe also expressed concern about the Uyghur situation when he met with bloodthirsty\u00a0Xi Jinping<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, siding with the world\u2019s most oppressed nation requires a strong sense of justice from a country\u2019s leader. It also takes\u00a0great courage to speak out against one of the world\u2019s most violent national leaders\u2014Xi Jinping<\/a>\u2014and tell it as it is to his face. Kadeer rightly believes that Abe Shinzo cultivated these qualities in himself and contributed not only to the prosperity of Japan but also to international peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbe Shinzo was a wise, courageous, far-sighted statesman,\u201d she\u00a0said<\/a>. This is not an emotional comment; it is based on a long and bitter political reality.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the Central Asian countries to which\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0trace their ancestry have\u00a0deported,<\/a>\u00a0and even\u00a0murdered<\/a>, Uyghur activists at China\u2019s request. Leaders of countries where Muslim brothers of the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0live, such as Egypt and Pakistan, have\u00a0handed over<\/a>\u00a0thousands of\u00a0Uyghur students<\/a>\u00a0to China. Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia have also\u00a0competed<\/a>\u00a0for Chinese money by\u00a0deporting<\/a>\u00a0Uyghur refugees.<\/p>\n

In a written\u00a0statement,<\/a>\u00a0World Uyghur Congress<\/a>\u00a0(WUC) President\u00a0Dolkun Isa<\/a>\u00a0said of Abe, \u201cI am utterly shocked by the news of his death. Abe Shinzo was a genuine ally of the Uyghur people\u2026 When he was in the Parliament, he helped create the Uyghur Friendship Group in the Japanese Parliament, which is one of the largest parliamentary groups for the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abe Shinzo was noted for his frequent meetings with Uyghur activists around the world. News archives include photos of Abe Shinzo with dozens of prominent Uyghur activists, including\u00a0Rebiya Kadeer,\u00a0<\/a>Dolkun Isa<\/a>,\u00a0Omer Qanat,\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Seyit Tumturuk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to official Chinese statements issued various times in past decades, Kadeer is\u00a0number one\u00a0<\/a>among China\u2019s \u201cenemy forces\u201d abroad, and she has been\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0of being a provocateur of the\u00a0July 5 Urumqi incident<\/a>. Dolqun Isa was on\u00a0Interpol\u2019s red alert<\/a>\u00a0for two decades due to Chinese demand; Seyit Tumturuk was considered a \u201creligious extremist\u201d in Turkey,\u00a0disturbing<\/a>\u00a0China\u2013Turkey relations. Because of these labels, Kadeer\u2019s visa was\u00a0canceled<\/a>\u00a0twice by Taiwan, and Dolqun Isa was\u00a0expelled<\/a>\u00a0from the borders of thirteen countries, including Italy, India, and South Korea during pro-Uyghur activities.<\/p>\n

\"Dolkun<\/picture>
Dolkun Isa with Shinzo Abe. From Twitter.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How did Abe Shinzo find the courage to embrace \u201cdangerous\u201d activists that leaders in other countries did not accept? I think the answer is clear. He fully understood what China is, and the threat it poses to the world. Abe Shinzo had not forgotten that the Chinese Communist Party, which leads China, was a force that retained its power by suppressing the country\u2019s citizens with tanks in the 1989\u00a0Tiananmen Square Massacre.<\/a>\u00a0Abe also foresaw and predicted the signs of the Uyghur genocide tragedy that has been going on for the last five years.<\/p>\n

More importantly, he was able to perceive the genocidal and murderous Chinese threat to the Japanese people. He may have imagined what a bandit government, with no mercy on its own citizens, could do to its neighbors, especially those\u00a0introduced<\/a>\u00a0as historical enemies in Chinese state textbooks.<\/p>\n

Experts commonly believe that the Uyghur region has been one of the worst in the world in terms of\u00a0human rights<\/a>\u00a0for the last twenty years. Abe was the leader who noticed this the earliest, and who was most concerned about the situation. One of the major events of the\u00a0World Uyghur Congress<\/a>, the 4th<\/sup>\u00a0General Assembly, was\u00a0held<\/a>\u00a0in Tokyo in 2011, with more than 120 delegates from 20 countries around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina expresses strong dissatisfaction with Japan for letting the congress orchestrate its anti-China separatist activities,\u201d Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese\u00a0Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a>,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0at a press conference in Beijing that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cXinjiang<\/a>-related affairs are an exclusively internal matter, and China does not tolerate any interference from external powers. We require Japan to eliminate any negative impact and make efforts to safeguard Sino-Japanese relations,\u201d Hong Lei\u00a0added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world needs more intelligent and courageous statesmen like Abe Shinzo if it is to become more beautiful,\u00a0prosperous, peaceful, and just,\u201d said Kadeer in her condolence letter.<\/p>\n

Kutluk Kadeer<\/a>, who teaches English literature in the Department of Economics and Humanities at the International University of Kagoshima, Japan, mentioned the strategic aspect of Abe Shinzo\u2019s closeness to Uyghur activists in addition to the humanitarian point. \u201cWe know from China\u2019s propaganda and policies that its two most dangerous enemies at home are the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0and the Tibetans; the two most dangerous enemies abroad are the United States and Japan,\u201d said Kutluk Kadeer. \u201cBecause it has power, China is committing genocide and assimilation of the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0and Tibetans; because it lacks power, China is grinding its teeth and waiting to take action against the US and Japan; Abe Shinzo [was] a statesman who [was] fully aware of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abe was unusually active in the field of foreign affairs for a Japanese Prime Minister, making visits to 49 countries between December 2012 and September 2014, a number described as\u00a0\u201cunprecedented<\/a>\u201d in contrast with the foreign activity of his two immediate predecessors. Abe\u2019s meetings with Uyghur activists were also unprecedented compared to those of fellow world leaders of the period.<\/p>\n

According to Kutluk Kadeer, Abe Shinzo\u2019s rapprochement with the United States was one of the measures he took against China, and his support for the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0was part of the same strategy, seizing China at its weakest point.<\/p>\n

\"Abe<\/picture>
Abe wearing a Uyghur doppa (traditional skullcap) when visiting the Japan Uyghur Association. From Twitter.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 200 Uyghur activists from various organizations gathered on nearly fifty occasions in Japan over the past decade, Rebiya Kadeer estimated. She has visited Japan dozens of times and has delivered more than 100 lectures in more than thirty cities there.<\/p>\n

In my view, Abe Shinzo\u2019s legacy is that he created a balanced military position between Japan\u2019s World War II militarism and post-war pacifism. To create this balance, Abe formed the\u00a0Quadrilateral Security Dialogue,<\/a>\u00a0set up the Japanese National Security Council,\u00a0and changed the words and tone of the\u00a0Murayama Statement<\/a>. He also upheld the value of\u00a0human rights<\/a>\u00a0by supporting the Uyghur cause.<\/p>\n

Abe\u2019s special efforts not to ignore the Uyghur situation and to encourage Uyghur activists to take their case to the international stage was part of an attempt to create balance between China and the captured nations within China.<\/p>\n

Abe did not speak critically or aggressively against China; nor did he surrender to China\u2019s unreasonable demands to stop supporting Uyghur \u201cseparatists.\u201d He did not point Japan\u2019s weapons at China, but he remained in a strong defensive position against the Chinese threat by helping to establish QUAD, \u201cAsia\u2019s NATO.\u201d Abe did not call the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0to act against China, but he did help the Uyghur activists who suffered from the Chinese crackdown.<\/p>\n

That is to say, Abe Shinzo was a leader of balance and a role model for shaping the world power balance. His closeness to and support for the\u00a0Uyghurs<\/a>\u00a0will be another manifestation of this legacy.<\/p>\n

According to Rebiya Kadeer, Abe Shinzo\u2019s death is a loss not only for the Japanese people but also for the oppressed\u00a0Uyghur people; there is now a huge void in the fight for peace and justice. Her message ends with the following: \u201cFinally, I would like to wish for the birth and growth of thousands of Abe Shinzos in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abe Shinzo: The Best Friend of the Uyghurs 07\/21\/2022KOK BAYRAQ A Uyghur activist remembers how much the assassinated Japanese ex-Prime Minister did for the case of the oppressed and persecuted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":925,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uyghurmovement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}