Mick Hartley

From the Times:

Uighurs in the UK are being intimidated into silence by Chinese authorities as the “long arm” of the repressive regime reaches exiles in Europe, a report has found.

Thousands of members of the minority group who left China to live in western democracies are feared to be censoring themselves out of concern for the safety of their families. Those who dare to speak out about human rights abuses in their home country say they face threats from officials as well as pressure to inform on their expatriate communities.

Interviews with the diaspora, conducted by the civil liberties group Index on Censorship, have revealed details of how the Chinese state allegedly operates beyond its borders to coerce exiles.

Some accounts include Uighurs receiving intimidating phone calls from party agents who try to discourage them from attending protests and warn that their loved ones in China will suffer. Others revealed online messages and emails telling them to “live a quiet life” and “not do any anti-CCP activities”, adding: “Stay put or else”.

Some Uighurs reported that Chinese officials tried to coerce them into espionage, encouraging them to steal sensitive documents and gather personal information on other exiles, amid party-led efforts to build a “global registry”….

Chinese embassy officials in the UK told The Times the detentions were needed to combat extremism and have “improved wellbeing and ethnic unity” in Xinjiang.

Stories of human rights abuses, leaked by Uighur whistleblowers from inside the region, have prompted an international outcry but also an apparent drive from the CCP to regain control of the narrative overseas….

In a report titled China’s Long Arm, Index on Censorship researchers documented some of these incidents in interviews with 15 Uighurs from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and France who are representatives of their communities.

Rahima Mahmut, the UK director of the World Uyghur Congress, told the group that her brothers and sisters are effectively being “held hostage by the Chinese authorities”.

“I am fully aware that if they are being left alone and living in their own home, if they answer my phone call that will put them at risk of being detained,” she said, adding that many Uighurs stay quiet to protect their families.

Nijat Turghan, another Uighur in the report, was planning a demonstration outside the Swedish parliament when he received intimidating correspondence from Chinese authorities.

“I got many calls from the Chinese police,” he said, adding that “they tried to destroy my psychology and my willingness [to engage]” by telling him it “wouldn’t be good” for his family if he participated.

Researchers said that interviewees repeatedly mentioned that Chinese officials used financial incentives or threats to coerce Uighurs in Europe to act as informants.

One Uighur man was persuaded to meet Chinese officials who gave him a USB stick and told him to steal documents from his ex-wife’s computer. The job was reportedly in exchange for money and free travel to meet his elderly mother in Xinjiang. He did not carry out the request and was later sent chilling videos of his mother by officials.

Other Uighurs said their family members in China have been forced to become “mouthpieces for CCP propaganda” and featured in state-sponsored videos aimed at discrediting their relatives who live abroad.

Jessica Ní Mhainín, policy and campaigns manager at Index on Censorship, said: “Most of the approximately 12,500 Uighurs that reside in the UK and EU still have friends or family members in Xinjiang. Speaking out or reporting CCP-backed threats could put their loved ones at an increased risk of internment, torture or worse.”

Meanwhile the world watches all the latest action from the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and happily forgets all about the Uighurs.