Uighurs tell Australian inquiry of ‘harassment’ from China

Police officers patrolling Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region

Credit: GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

Uighurs living in Australia say that Chinese authorities intimidate and harass them over WeChat to stop them speaking out against the Communist Party. 

The accounts were contained in submissions by Uighur community representatives to an Australian parliamentary committee hearing on Friday. 

Alim Osman, president of the Uyghur Association of Victoria, said that Uighurs in Australia feared for the safety of their family members in China because of “intimidation and harassment… by local authorities in China”.

He said this typically takes the form of WeChat calls from family members back in China, who are often in the presence of local police, warning Uighurs in Australia “not to say anything unfavourable to the Chinese government lest something happen to these family members.”

China stands accused of forcing more than 1 million people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, into ideological re-education camps in its western region of Xinjiang.

China initially denied that such camps existed, but later said they were vocational and necessary to rehabilitate would-be terrorists.  

The Australian parliamentary committee is looking at issues facing diaspora communities in the country. The hearing comes at a time of high tension between Australia and China. Bilateral relations have plummeted over trade disputes, Australia’s call for an international inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, and Australian accusations of Chinese meddling in its domestic affairs. 

Mr Osman said that the actions of the Chinese government in Xinjiang are “increasingly being understood to meet the UN definition of genocide,” and also have “flow-on effects on the safety, wellbeing and full participation of the Uyghur diaspora in Australia.”

He said that Uighurs in Australia also faced pressure from United Front organisations to “either tow the Chinese Communist Party line or keep their heads down and their mouths shut.” Chinese United Front organisations aim to promote the Communist Party’s legitimacy within China and boost its influence abroad.  

Ramila Chanisheff, president of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association, said that Uighurs wanting answers to the whereabouts of their families back home were “harassed by phone calls and intimidation over social media”.  

“People are scared to call their families for fear of them being prosecuted and or used as pawn to silence Uyghurs living in the diaspora speaking up against the CCP,” Ms Chanisheff wrote in her submission to the committee.