The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority

Sean R. Roberts

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

The War on the Uyghurs

China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority

Sean R. Roberts

Volume 76 in the series Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691202211

Overview
Contents

About this book

How China is using the US-led war on terror to erase the cultural identity of its Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region

Within weeks of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the Chinese government warned that it faced a serious terrorist threat from its Uyghur ethnic minority, who are largely Muslim. In this explosive book, Sean Roberts reveals how China has been using the US-led global war on terror as international cover for its increasingly brutal suppression of the Uyghurs, and how the war's targeting of an undefined enemy has emboldened states around the globe to persecute ethnic minorities and severely repress domestic opposition in the name of combatting terrorism.

Of the eleven million Uyghurs living in China today, more than one million are now being held in so-called reeducation camps, victims of what has become the largest program of mass detention and surveillance in the world. Roberts describes how the Chinese government successfully implicated the Uyghurs in the global terror war—despite a complete lack of evidence—and branded them as a dangerous terrorist threat with links to al-Qaeda. He argues that the reframing of Uyghur domestic dissent as international terrorism provided justification and inspiration for a systematic campaign to erase Uyghur identity, and that a nominal Uyghur militant threat only emerged after more than a decade of Chinese suppression in the name of counterterrorism—which has served to justify further state repression.

A gripping and moving account of the humanitarian catastrophe that China does not want you to know about, The War on the Uyghurs draws on Roberts's own in-depth interviews with the Uyghurs, enabling their voices to be heard.

Author / Editor information

Sean R. Roberts is associate professor of the practice of international affairs and director of the International Development Studies Program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He lives in Washington, DC. Twitter @robertsreport

Reviews

"Sophisticated, nuanced, and deeply informed. Roberts offers broad insights into the ways the global war on terror has enabled authoritarian regimes around the world to repress minority populations."—Michael E. Clarke, author of Xinjiang and China's Rise in Central Asia—A History

"Roberts provides a comprehensive explanation for the current arbitrary mass detention of Uyghurs in China, an issue of global geopolitical significance. His book will likely become a standard reference for students on this topic."—Max Oidtmann, author of Forging the Golden Urn: The Qing Empire and the Politics of Reincarnation in Tibet

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
About the author Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Colonialism, 1759–2001 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
2. How the Uyghurs became a ‘terrorist threat’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
3. Myths and realities of the alleged ‘terrorist threat’ associated with Uyghurs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
4. Colonialism meets counterterrorism, 2002–2012 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
5. The self-fulfilling prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013–2016 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
6. Cultural genocide, 2017–2020 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
A note on methodology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
Transliteration and place names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
List of figures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
List of abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301