Global IssuesPOLITICS: China Seen as Flaunting Growing Clout in Asia
If Asia, already unsettled by China’s economic rise, needed a reminder that economic power would be followed by more political assertiveness, then none was more compelling than Beijing’s unconcealed sway on Cambodia to expel 20 Uyghur asylum seekers over the weekend.
The Uyghurs — a predominantly Muslim minority concentrated in Xinjiang province, an autonomous region in western China — had sought asylum in Cambodia after fleeing Chinese security forces’ crackdown on the region in July. Their forced deportation — at night, on a specially chartered flight to China — came hours before Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday carrying promises for nearly 900 million U.S. dollars in foreign investment and aid.
'When a member of the Security Council so flagrantly pressures another country to violate its international legal obligations, it’s a matter of concern not just for a handful of asylum seekers but for the world,' said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement.
'How to deal with these people is an internal Chinese affair which the outside world has no right to make irresponsible comments about,' China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a press briefing this week.
The forced repatriation drew heavy criticism, not least because of Cambodia’s history of political terror under the Khmer Rouge when thousands of people fled persecution and were given protection as refugees.
'Hun Sen’s action makes a mockery of Cambodia’s commitment to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to protect people who have a justified fear of persecution or torture upon return,' Adams said referring to Cambodia’s prime minister.
Human rights organisations have called on the U.N. to challenge China over the 'shocking violations' of international legal obligations. China however, has defended its actions, labeling the asylum seekers suspected criminals. Beijing has also flatly rejected accusations that the deportation was linked to the generous package of aid and investment inked by vice-president Xi Jinping during his visit to Phnom Penh. The total of deals for economic development signed reportedly rivaled the cumulative economic aid offered to Cambodia by Beijing over the past 17 years.
Vice-president Xi Jinping — the anointed heir designate to succeed party chief Hu Jintao — arrived in Phnom Penh fresh from his visits to three other Asia countries, where China’s economic ascent and diplomatic clout was continuously on display.
In Japan Xi was granted an audience with the emperor despite objections by the Imperial Household Agency, which initially turned down the request due to its short notice. In Cambodia he arrived to a lavish welcome and was also granted an audience with the Cambodian king, Norodom Sihamoni.
Appraising Xi’s achievements during his Asian tour, the state-news agency Xinhua said it was a testimony of China’s rising international profile. 'With a rising global status and increasing participation in international affairs, China has been producing continuous diplomatic highlights,' it said. 'It is going forward with more confidence and proficiency, and is playing an ‘indispensable major role’ on the world stage.'
Some Cambodia watchers, though, saw the deportation ahead of Xi’s visit as a blatant display of Beijing’s increasingly assertive control of the region.
'China is becoming more aggressive in shaping its ‘sphere of influence’ and considers South-east Asia region as its backyard,' said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. 'This is where they feel that they should be and where they will have most political influence.' He also said the aid extended to Cambodia shows China 'understands autocratic governments well.'
'For Cambodia, China represents a counter-balance to western pressure on Phnom Penh’s human rights record,' Ou said. 'The west, including the U.S., has been critical of Cambodia’s record and has made aid conditional on Phnom Penh meeting its human rights obligations. But all this is now challenged by China’s ‘no strings attached aid’.'
During Xi’s visit China agreed to offer economic grants and soft loans for the construction of roads, transport infrastructure, communication equipment and irrigation projects. Other deals to be financed by Chinese soft loans include the construction of an electricity transmission loop line around Phnom Penh and various economic and technical cooperation projects.
Xi Jinping thanked Phnom Penh for deporting the Uyghur asylum seekers and described the Sino-Cambodian relations as 'model'. China is Cambodia’s largest source of foreign investment, its most generous donor and is believed to be the biggest recipient of land concessions granted by Phnom Penh.
Exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, scorned by Beijing as a separatist, warned China was using its rising economic and diplomatic clout to pressure neighbouring countries to condone its human rights abuses. 'The deportation of the Uyghurs in Cambodia is a sign of China’s increasing ability to resist international pressure regarding its human rights violations,' she wrote in the ‘Wall Street Journal’ this week.
In July the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs got caught up in China’s worst unrest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The fighting between the Uyghurs and the Han — the ethnic group that makes up 92 percent of China’s population — left some 200 people dead and more than 1,000 injured.
The killings were the culmination of long-standing ethnic tensions between the two groups, extending back to about 1760 in the Qing Dynasty, when imperial China annexed Xinjiang. In 1944, the Uyghurs declared independence for Xinjiang, renaming it East Turkestan — a name many Uyghurs still use.
But when Mao Zedong’s communists took power in 1949, they regained control of Xinjiang and began resettling large numbers of soldiers there. Violence has flared every few years since then, with Beijing cracking down hard each time. After the September 2001 terror attacks on the United States, Beijing has branded dissident Uyghurs as terrorists and traitors.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service