I am very honored to speak today at the Third General Assembly of the World Uighur Congress. It is so seldom that citizens of our respective backgrounds can come together to discuss such important issues. Thank you kindly for the invitation.
The relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the Uighur population at the present time is most certainly an ironic one. Since the Opium war in 1840, the Chinese have greatly feared the influence of foreign powers. Perhaps the greatest psychological stigma suffered by Chinese to the present day is a fear of being divided and annexed by the western "imperialist countries¡". This inferiority complex mutates into a blind patriotism and nationalism which results in a so-called Han-chauvinism. China must be "powerful and large.Chinese territory is holy and cannot be violated." Those who read Chinese can find these kinds of phrases not only in the official government texts but also in school books.

For most Chinese, their knowledge about Xinjiang, or East Turkistan, is influenced only by the CCP propaganda. For them Xingjiang is a remote region full of exotic nostalgia. Few Chinese people have noticed that this region was once the turning point of East and West in the ancient history. Located at the heart of Asia, East Turkistan has played a pivotal role in the social, cultural, and political development of the continent and the world in the past two thousand years. It was once the Silk Road and the pass through which the three world religions Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam along with western ideas, products and food entered China. Here was the crossroads at which may ethnic groups, different cultures and languages mingled with one another in there this rich and colorful civilization. The average Chinese does not have the knowledge that the Uighur people have fought against the Manchus again and again, and it was only in the late 19th century, the Qing dynasty could nominally claim this region as its territory.

In his democratic revolution in 1911, the founding father Dr. Sun Yat-sen claimed in his three principles theory the new republic is a republic of five main nationalities ¨C Han, Manchus, Mongols, Hui-Islam and Tibetan. With the ascendance to power of the Chinese Communist Party, a new emperor, betrayed this concept of peaceful co-existence and sent the army to invade Tibet and XinJiang and declare these far-flung lands as autonomous regions of China.

Today, the Uyghur people of East Turkistan are facing daily harassment and the control and surveillance of the Chinese authorities. Their identity and culture are suppressed. For decades, the Chinese government has promoted the mass in-migration of Han Chinese to this region to take over privileged positions in the government and in the industrial and commerce fields. At present the educational system is totally in the grip of the Han Chinese. Nowadays the Han-Chinese are over 40% of this population, in fact, in bigger cities like Urumqi, Kelamayi or Hami, the Han populations are over 70 %, soon the Uighurs will become minority in their own backyard.

Aside from the atrocities of losing control of their own homes, the Uighurs have had to endure many violations of their basic human rights. Religious freedom is continually violated . People go to the mosques under the gun of armed Chinese soldiers. Uighur women are mocked and censured for wearing their headscarves. Uighurs are the only group in China to be routinely executed for so-called political offences.

The longing of self-determination for your own nation has been labeled as separatism. The Chinese government used the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to draw a parallel between the Uyghurs' independence movement and radical terrorism. According to the AI report, "tens of thousands of Uighurs have been detained for investigation, and hundreds, possibly thousands, have been charged or sentenced under the Criminal Law; many Uighurs have been sentenced to death and executed for alleged "separatist¡"or "terrorist offences."

Some would liken the plight of the Uighurs to that of the Tibetans. But, although you are not forced to go exile like Dalai Lama and his people, you are forced into exile in your own homeland. Because of your love of your own culture, your language and religion have become barriers which the Chinese communist party seeks to stamp out. What can we do as an international community and what can you do as the Uighurs living outside China in freedom? You must celebrate your own history and culture, and share it with the world. Do not let the Chinese government interpret your history, they distort the facts and the truth, we know the Chinese officials are masters of manipulation. Let the world know, and especially the average Chinese know, that you have been an independent kingdom centuries for before the Chinese came arrived on your doorstep. The international community will support you in this. In seeking allies in your movement, do not forget the Han Chinese who have been just as much victims of the Communist Party as you have. Although justice in China is not blind, Tyranny is. It is only with solidarity among all victims of Communist oppression that a victory over the evils of injustice can be won.

Tienchi Martin-Liao,
speech at the Third General Assembly of the World Uighur Congress Washington DC, 5/29/2009