Chinese government urges ABC not to broadcast expose about Beijing’s brutal crackdown on Muslim minority Uighurs
Daily Mail, 1 October 2014
The Chinese government has threatened a diplomatic row with Australia if the ABC goes ahead on Tuesday with broadcasting a programme about China’s escalating crackdown on the persecuted ethnic minority group, the Uighurs.
The ABC’s Foreign Correspondent is due to air at 8pm on Tuesday with a report by Beijing-based reporter Stephen McDonell on the small Muslim community in the autonomous far-western region of Xianjing in China.
The report, which is due to air on the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program on Tuesday night, deals with the Chinese government’s increasingly harsh crackdown on the Uighurs, a small Muslim community who live in the far-western province.
During his attempts to film in Xinjiang, McDonell is aggressively challenged to present a journalist’s card and an ‘interviewing permit’ without which, he is told, interviews are illegal.
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ABC TV journalist Stephen McDonell (pictured above on location in Xinjiang, western China) is challenged while trying to film in far-western China and told to produce a journalists’s card, which he does, and then an ‘interviewing permit’ without which, he is told, interviews are ‘illegal’
ABC TV journalist Stephen McDonell (pictured above on location in Xinjiang, western China) is challenged while trying to film in far-western China and told to produce a journalists’s card, which he does, and then an ‘interviewing permit’ without which, he is told, interviews are ‘illegal’
Stephen McDonell was questioned by Chinese officials as he tried to film a story about the oppressed Muslim minority, the Uighurs in far western China
Stephen McDonell was questioned by Chinese officials as he tried to film a story about the oppressed Muslim minority, the Uighurs in far western China
Stephen McDonell’s attempts to cover the situation in the Uighur autonomous region of Xinjiang just get more complicated as he is challenged by a Chinese man
Stephen McDonell’s attempts to cover the situation in the Uighur autonomous region of Xinjiang just get more complicated as he is challenged by a Chinese man
ABC TV Beijing correspondent Stephen McDonell (pictured, in China) travelled to the far-western Chinese province of Xinjiang to film and interview members of the persecuted Muslim minority, the Uighurs. Chinese embassy officials in Canberra set up a meeting with ABC executives to try and stop Mc Donnell’s report going to air in tonight’s edition of Foreign Correspondent at 8pm
ABC TV Beijing correspondent Stephen McDonell (pictured, in China) travelled to the far-western Chinese province of Xinjiang to film and interview members of the persecuted Muslim minority, the Uighurs. Chinese embassy officials in Canberra set up a meeting with ABC executives to try and stop Mc Donnell’s report going to air in tonight’s edition of Foreign Correspondent at 8pm
Uighur women, pictured in a market in the Xinjiang autonomous province in 2012, are no longer able to travel on buses wearing Muslim-style scarves and headdresses, nor display the Islamic crescent moon anbd star on their clothing
Uighur women, pictured in a market in the Xinjiang autonomous province in 2012, are no longer able to travel on buses wearing Muslim-style scarves and headdresses, nor display the Islamic crescent moon anbd star on their clothing
The Uighurs: ABC investigates China’s persecuted ethnic minority
The Uighurs, who the Chinese blame for a campaign of violence in their quest to have an independent homeland, have fallen prey to increasing restrictions which include bans on people with head scarves, veils and long beards from boarding buses.
Women who wear traditional veils cannot enter petrol stations, banks or hospitals and are also barred from taking government jobs.
Uighur people in Xinjiang, who speak a Turkic language, have been beset for years by violence that the government blames on Islamist militants or separatists.
Crackdown: Chinese authorities introduced rules banning people dressed in an Islamic style from boarding buses amid violent unrest linked to extremist Muslims. Pictured are Chinese soldiers securing an area outside a mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, after an Imam was killed by assailants in late July
Crackdown: Chinese authorities introduced rules banning people dressed in an Islamic style from boarding buses amid violent unrest linked to extremist Muslims. Pictured are Chinese soldiers securing an area outside a mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, after an Imam was killed by assailants in late July
A Uighur woman in Opal Village Market in Xinjiang province, far western China
Uighur people have defied Chinese Communist rules banning ethnic clothing, with women wearing colourful veils (pictured), men sporting beards and tiny Taipak hats declared illegal by China’s government
Uighur people have defied Chinese Communist rules banning ethnic clothing, with women wearing colourful veils (pictured), men sporting beards and tiny Taipak hats declared illegal by China’s government
Following Stephen McDonell’s visit to Xinjiang earlier this month to film the report, the Chinese embassy in Canberra set up a meeting with ABC managing director, Mark Scott, and requested that the programme not go to air.
The ABC has confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that embassy officials had gathered intelligence on McDonnell and his film crew’s assignment and suggested if the programme was broadcast it would have wider ramifications.
The embassy officials first sent a letter to Mr Scott, then held an hour-long meeting with ABC director of corporate affairs, Michael Millett.
McDonell attempts to find out what has happened in Xinjiang, where hundreds of people have died during unrest and conflict with the Chinese government
McDonell attempts to find out what has happened in Xinjiang, where hundreds of people have died during unrest and conflict with the Chinese government
Uyghur men leave the Id Kah Mosque following the Eid prayers on July 29 in old Kashgar, Xinjiang Province. Hundreds have died in unrest in Xinjiang in the past 18 months
Uyghur men leave the Id Kah Mosque following the Eid prayers on July 29 in old Kashgar, Xinjiang Province. Hundreds have died in unrest in Xinjiang in the past 18 months
Policemen investigate the scene outside the train station after a deadly attack by a group of knife-wielding men in Kunming, in southwest China’s Yunnan province on March 2. At least 29 were stabbed to death in the attack. An official investigation found that the more than 10 attackers were separatist Uighurs
Policemen investigate the scene outside the train station after a deadly attack by a group of knife-wielding men in Kunming, in southwest China’s Yunnan province on March 2. At least 29 were stabbed to death in the attack. An official investigation found that the more than 10 attackers were separatist Uighurs
Mr Millett told Daily Mail Australia: ‘The Chinese government has expressed concern about this week’s Foreign Correspondent program about the Uighur’s campaign for an independent homeland.
‘Representatives from the Chinese embassy made it clear that they didn’t want the program shown.’
Mr Millett said the Chinese officials were polite but forceful.
Women who wear traditional veils cannot enter petrol stations, banks or hospitals and are also barred from taking government jobs
Women who wear traditional veils cannot enter petrol stations, banks or hospitals and are also barred from taking government jobs
‘The ABC can confirm however the programme, by Beijing correspondent Stephen McDonell, will be broadcast as scheduled tonight,’ he said.
McDonell braved Chinese restrictions on filming Uighurs in Xianjing, which has been beset with unrest over the last 18 months, but where the government’s tight security makes it almost impossible for journalists to make independent assessments of the violence.
About 100 people were killed when knife-wielding attackers staged assaults in two towns in the region’s south in late July, state media said, including 59 ‘terrorists’ shot dead by police. A suicide bombing killed 39 people at a market in Urumqi in May.
Human rights activists say the Chinese government’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, have provoked the unrest.
‘Officials in Karamay city are endorsing an openly racist and discriminatory policy aimed at ordinary Uighur people,’ Alim Seytoff, the president of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association, said in an emailed statement.
While many Uighur women dress in much the same casual style as those elsewhere in China, some have begun to wear the full veil, a garment more common in Pakistan or Afghanistan, two of the eight countries which border Xinjiang province.