Communist Chinese Premier, Hu Jintao, his hands covered in the blood of countless Tibetans Uyghurs, Mongolians and Manchu, will stand before the United Nations General Assembly later today and issue snake-like assurances on China’s supposed commitment to global peace, economic stability and environmental cooperation. His audience will applaud enthusiastically, and much will be said of China’s growing international role, yet in that marbelled talking-shop there will be little thought given to the suffering of the Tibetan and Uyghur people, nor to Premier’s Hu’s disturbing record on human rights.
His appointment in 1988, as communist party chief in so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region ( a truncated region of Tibet proper) witnessed the implementation of a series of brutal crackdowns, human rights violations and the killings of untold numbers of Tibetans. He enforced a series of repressive measures against Tibetans in 1989, and his hand was seen behind the unexpected death of the 51-year-old Panchen Lama that same year.
Hu Jintao has masterminded a number of policies aimed at eroding Tibetan and Uyghur culture, and the eventual assimilation of Tibet and East Turkestan. Faced with protests demanding independence from communist China the communist Chinese government has responded by encouraging a program of colonization by ethnic Han Chinese to Tibetan and East Turkestan. Endorsing the continuing programs of forced sterilization of Tibetan and Uyghur women he has also ordered numerous military actions against peaceful protests, resulting in the deaths of Tibetans and Uyghurs. Thousands more have been arrested and tortured, never to be seen again, facing re-education through forced labor, or extrajudicial execution.
In light of this catalogue of violence, injustice and oppression Hu Jintao’s presence at the United Nations casts an outrageous shadow across the ethical principles and integrity of that body, and undermines public confidence regarding its commitment to values of human rights, political and cultural freedoms.
