In the dispute over China's genocide of the Uyghurs, absurd constellations have emerged - also in Europe. The magazine column.
The evidence is overwhelming. The Chinese central government's treatment of its Uighur and Kazakh minorities in the border region of Xinjiang meets all UN criteria of genocide - except for the direct mass killing. Western associations of concentration camps and gulags may not quite fit the brutal Sinicization measures of the Han majority. But as a systematically organized attempt, using means that are as high-tech as they are archaic, to eradicate a Muslim-influenced culture that stands in the way of Beijing's great power plans, they capture the totalitarian character of what is happening.
It is all the more astonishing that as the number of witnesses grows, so does the number of deniers. It is no wonder that China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for example, rejects all accusations: Even many Han Chinese would not support the genocide - if they were aware of it. What is stranger is that Wang finds willing supporters in Europe. In the March newsletter of the Chinese Embassy (de.china-embassy.org/det/zt/Newsletter), he points to Maxime Vivas as a key witness. read more