Kyrgyzstan refrained from signing a letter in support of Chinese policy in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Last week, the ambassadors of 22 countries signed a letter condemning China’s policy towards Xinjiang’s ethnic minorities — the Uyghurs, the Kazakhs, the Tatars, the Kyrgyz and others. Representatives of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria, Ireland, and Spain have signed the document.
The ambassadors sent a corresponding letter to the UN Human Rights Council, asking to include it in the list of official documents of the 41st session of the Council, which completed its work in Geneva on Friday, July 12.
The message also calls on China to end this policy and ensure the «freedom of movement» of ethnic groups in the region.
On the same day, as Reuters reports, Saudi Arabia, Russia and 37 more states signed a letter in support of China’s policy in Xinjiang.
«Having faced with the serious problem of terrorism and extremism, China has taken a number of measures to combat terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang, including the creation of vocational education and training centers,» the letter says.
In addition to Saudi Arabia and Russia, the document was signed by the ambassadors of many African countries, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Belarus, Myanmar, the Philippines, Syria, Pakistan, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
It is interesting that Kyrgyzstan did not sign the letter either against China’s policy in XUAR or in its support.
At the same time, just a month ago, during a meeting with PRC leader Xi Jinping, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov clearly expressed his position on this issue.
«The issue concerning the national minorities of the PRC is a purely personal internal affair of the republic. I would like to once again stress our position on this issue,» Sooronbai Jeenbekov said then.
