Paramilitary policemen stand in formation as they take part in an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally, in Kashgar, East Turkistan (Uyghur Autonomous Region), China, on 27 February 2017.Reuters/Stringer
Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will “flow in rivers”, a new video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uyghur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious threat.
China is worried that Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim people from East Turkistan (western China’s Xinjiang) region, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for militant groups there, having travel led illegally via Southeast Asia and Turkey.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese hostage in 2015, demonstrating China’s concern about Uyghurs it says are fighting in the Middle East.
Hundreds of people have been killed in East Turkistan in the past few years, most in unrest between Uyghurs and the ethnic majority Han Chinese [settlers]. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants.
The Iraqi arm of Islamic State has released a half-hour long video purportedly showing Uyghurs training, as well as some images from inside East Turkistan, including Chinese police on the streets.
One shot that shows Chinese President Xi Jinping gives way to flames in front of a Chinese flag.
“Hey, brothers! Today, we are fighting with infidels across the world! I’m telling you this: ‘Come and live here! Stay strong!’,” one of the fighters says, according to Uyghur speakers who analysed the video for Reuters but who asked not to be identified.
“We will certainly plant our flag over America, China, Russia, and all the infidels of the world,” it says.
In another scene, a chant in Uyghur says: “Our land of sharia has been constructed with spilt blood.” It then shows pictures of martyrs indicated as “al-Turkistānī”, or men from Turkistan, the name many Uyghurs use for Xinjiang.
One of the men speaking has an accent from Yarkand, close to the old Silk Road city of Kashgar in East Turkistan’s southern Uyghur heartland, one of the people who reviewed the video said.
Another fighter refers to the “evil Chinese Communist infidel lackeys”.
“In retaliation for the tears that flow from the eyes of the oppressed, we will make your blood flow in rivers, by the will of God!” he says.
The video was released this week by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant groups online. Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday he was not aware of the video and had not seen it.
“But one point is very clear. We oppose any form of terrorism and proactively participate in international cooperation to crack down on terrorism,” Geng told a daily news briefing.
“We have long said that East Turkistan forces are a serious threat to China’s security and we are willing to work with the international community to jointly crack down on East Turkistan separatist and terrorist forces,” he said.
The government says foreign militants have stirred up tensions in East Turkistan, where it says it faces a determined campaign by separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkistan.
However, many rights groups and exiles doubt the existence of a coherent militant group in East Turkistan and say Uyghur anger at repressive Chinese policies is more to blame for the unrest.
China denies any repression in East Turkistan.
