No Exact Figure on Uighurs Fighting in Syria: China Envoy
Xie Xiaoyan told a news briefing in Beijing that China talks with all countries, including Syria, about the fight against terror.
“As for how many Uighur terrorists there are, I’ve seen all sorts of figures. Some say 1,000 or 2,000; 2,000 or 3,000; 4,000 or 5,000, and some say even more,” Xie said, speaking after a visit to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Israel last month, Reuters reported.
“I hope that next time I have the opportunity to go to Idlib to have a look,” he added, referring to the last big swathe of territory still held by Syrian rebels.
China is worried that Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language and hail from China’s far western region of Xinjiang, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for militants, having traveled illegally via Southeast Asia and Turkey.
The Syrian ambassador to China said last year that up to 5,000 Uighurs are fighting in various militant groups in Syria.
Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese hostage in 2015, highlighting China’s concern about Uighurs it says are fighting in the Middle East and fears they may return to China to carry out attacks.
Beijing has blamed a group called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, for many of the attacks in recent years in Xinjiang, though some experts have questioned whether the group exists in any coherent form.
Xie cited a United Nations report that there were 20,000 or 30,000 people fighting with terror groups in Syria and Iraq.
“Certainly in those areas there are rather a concentration of ETIM terrorists. This is certain,” he added.
It is not possible to independently verify the number of Uighurs in Syria, or Iraq. Rights groups and Uighur exiles say many Uighurs have fled to Turkey simply to escape Chinese repression at home, accusations Beijing denies.
Xinjiang is a highly sensitive issue for China.
Earlier this month, a United Nations human rights panel said it had received many credible reports that 1 million Uighurs in China are held in what resembles a “massive internment camp”. China has accused “anti-China” forces of being behind the criticism of its record and policies in Xinjiang.
