Dan Blumenthal writes on the latest crackdown on Chinese dissidents, this time ethnic Uighurs:
The death count is at 156, while the Chinese security forces have arrested more than a thousand protesters. Beijing’s response has been true to form: block Internet access, keep reporters out, put down the protests by any means, and blame foreign forces such as D.C.-based Uighur human rights activist Rebiya Kabeer. This is about the same game plan that China followed last year when Tibetans protested their maltreatment. In the short term, China’s approach works. Thanks to China’s propaganda machine, many if not most Chinese people believe that foreign forces are busily at work trying to “split” and humiliate China. China thus maintains the support of its own citizens. Moreover, for now Beijing does not have Washington to worry about. The Obama administration’s China policy seems to be focused on begging China to keep buying our ever expanding debt. And, the Politburo can count on President Obama to downplay human rights concerns, lest they stand in the way of his “can’t we all just get along” foreign policy. But what about the long term? There are tens of millions of Muslims in China who are fed up with religious persecution and second-class citizenship. If China does have a terror problem, continuing to anger its Muslim population is not the way to confront it. And, with a violent uprising last year in Tibet, scores of weekly protests within China, and now the Uighur demonstrations, can we really call China a stable country?
