Kazakh, Russian, Tatar and Uzbek rights activists have denounced Chinese oppression of Uyghurs
Many were blindfolded and handcuffed Uyghurs who were lined up at train stations for transportation under the watchful eye of armed Chinese police.
In recent years, as the international criticism of the Uyghur region has been raised, the Chinese government's statements in the form of "the problems in Xinjiang are our internal affairs, there is no need for external forces to interfere" have started to appear in response to this. In particular, it is self-evident that it is illogical to justify the massacres and other crimes against Uyghurs by insisting that the Uyghur land "has been a part of the Chinese state since time immemorial", but the repeated repetition of this ruling is also known to cause some bias in this regard.
Definition of the term "colony" in dictionaries
It is not a secret to science that the Uyghur region was an important part of the vast geographical unit known as the "western land" in ancient Chinese chronicles, and the "western land" refers to a wide area from the present-day Uyghur region in the west to Iran and Italy. However, in works currently being published in China, the narrative that the so-called "Western Land" was originally Chinese territory is becoming more and more dominant.
James A. Millward, professor of history at Georgetown University, is speaking via video at the conference about his research and views on the Uyghurs. February 14, 2021.
James A. Millward, professor of history at Georgetown University, is speaking via video at the conference about his research and views on the Uyghurs. February 14, 2021.
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies | Harvard University
However, even though it has gained a place in the press under the influence of the regime to call a region that has nothing in common with China either in terms of language or culture, it is self-evident that there is no basis for this from the point of view of history. According to James Millward, a history professor at Georgetown University, the time when the ambitions of the ancient Chinese dynasties to expand to the west reached their limit was the Tang Dynasty (618- 907), when the mixed-blood Li family was established. During this period, the Tang Empire reached its "golden age" in history, and in 751 it met the Arab Empire expanding eastward in the Talas Valley in Central Asia. In that historic war between the two great empires, the Tang Empire suffered a serious defeat, retreated from Central Asia, and was unable to set foot in the region until 1759. This point was succinctly expressed by Vladimír Bartold, a Russian orientalist, who said that "the Battle of Talas essentially shaped the foundation of Central Asia on Oriental-style Chinese culture or Islamic culture coming from the West." Speaking about this, Professor James Millward says:
"False historical statements such as ``Xinjiang region has been a part of China since the Han Dynasty'' are being repeated frequently. Such statements against international criticism can never confirm that what the Chinese government is doing is right. Didn't the mayor of Urumqi write an article trying to prove that Uyghurs are not Turkic people? Now the "scientists" in the scientific field are also making similar statements and even looking for the origin of the Uyghur language from the Chinese. All this, in turn, is nothing more than a denial of the Central Asian characteristics of the region. Just because they say ``Xinjiang belongs to China'' in this way, these things will not happen. Because that doesn't solve the fundamental problem at all."
At that age, the Manchus established the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. In 1759, they ended a long war with the Dzunggar Empire and occupied a large area including the present Dzungaria Valley. At this time, the descendants of Hojis living in Junggar Palace in the Ili Valley were sent to the south as the dependent rulers of the Tarim Valley, which is called "Six Cities" after falling into the hands of the Qing Empire. However, they soon started the independence movement of the "Six Cities" region after they were released from the residence. Uyghur authors and folk poems often mention such descriptions as "blood flows as rivers" or "wheels turn in human blood" which are the most concise and vivid statements about the process of suppression of independence aspirations that came out at this time. This continued until 1864, when the "Seven City States" established by Muhammad Yaqab Bagh ended with the expulsion of Chinese influence once again from the Tarim Valley. This kind of reality lasted until the fall of the Jacob Beg regime in 1884, and the region was officially named "Xinjiang". Speaking of which, Professor James Millward says:
"But after that great rebellion that started in Gansu province and spread to present-day Xinjiang region, Zhou Zhongtang came here. He defeated the local Muslim regime with a large army and completely occupied the region. Liu Jintang was appointed as the new ruler of the region. Those people came up with the idea that we must conquer and hold onto this region. At the same time, they began to take steps to bring the region closer to the empire politically, economically, transportationally, and culturally. As a first step, they set out to resettle Chinese in the area."
Interestingly, printed materials published around the time the Qing Empire reoccupied the Tarim Valley and renamed it Xinjiang suggest that the name Xinjiang was a portmanteau of "colony" in addition to "new frontier". will do "Revised and Expanded English-Chinese Dictionary" (1884) compiled by famous Japanese Chinese scholar Inoue Tetsujiro, "Chinese-English Dictionary" (1899) compiled by Menqing Chinese intellectual Guang Chizhao (邝其府), Yin Huiqing, the president of Ming Dynasty China (Yan 惠庆) compiled the "Great English-Chinese Dictionary" in 1908 and used the word "新疆" for the Chinese translation of the word "colony" and "新疆人" for the term "colonial people". . This, in turn, shows that the original meaning of the word "Xinjang" is "colony", and that the word "Xinjang" was not created after the occupation of the Uyghur region, but it was originally in the vocabulary of the Chinese language as a word meaning "colony". More importantly, it was not a coincidence that the Qing Empire gave the newly occupied region the ambiguous name "Xinjiang", but rather it was a "colony" in the eyes of the empire.
"Chinese rulers are making history!"
The "Xinhai Revolution" started by Sun Zhongshan, who is known as the leader of Chinese nationalism, with the public slogan of "expelling the foreigners and restoring Zhonghua" in 1912, finally overthrew the Qing Empire, which had ruled the Chinese country for nearly three centuries, and replaced it with the national state of the Chinese, "China". created Mingo. Sun Zhongshan, who assumed the supreme leadership of the newly established country, published a large-volume English article entitled "China's International Development" at that time, explaining in detail the goals and steps of how to make the newly established country an advanced country at the international level.
In this development project published under the name of "Chinese Mingo Information Ministry", Sun Zhongshan gave an example of the historical reality at that time: "Our neighbor, the Russian Empire, moved a large number of people to the areas adjacent to the northwest of our country. Their reputation in this regard is very high. We are neighbors with them, and since ancient times we have a history of cultivating wasteland in these places, why should we lag behind them? asked the question. Also, he put forward the guiding idea of "developing the colonial areas in the northwest" as one of the important measures to "strengthen the country of China".
Son Zhongshan's plan shows that the development of the northwest is not only an important step in the development of the Chinese nation, but also an important measure to ensure the country's stability and existence. Among the steps of "developing the northwest region", Sun Zhongshan first invested in transportation and thus closely connected the northwest and Chinese provinces, resettled a large number of people to the northwest, turned the northwest region into China's agricultural and livestock base, and Proposed a series of chain measures, including large-scale development of underground resources in the north. These measures proposed by Sun Zhongshan are essentially similar to the so-called "Xinjiang Policy" implemented by the Chinese government since 1949, which prompts people to wonder how the Communist Party 'borrowed' these experiences from Sun Zhongshan. During our conversation about this, one of the Chinese opposition intellectuals, the president of the Shanghai Independents Organization, He Anchuan, emphasizes that this is not actually the creation of the Communist Party or Sun Zhongshan, but that it originates from the ruling model of the Chinese dynasties, which are described as "feudal kingdoms" in the Chinese press.
"These measures, such as opening up the northwest or building Bintuan, are the dominant measures that Chinese kings have always carried out in history, in which the military first deploys soldiers to cultivate in a certain place in the form of opening up wasteland. After they have solved their food problem in this way, the second step is to move through this army to the area behind it. So this is the only method that all dynasties in history have used to claim lands that did not belong to them. The Communist Party continued to reform and take it to a higher level. Their construction of roads or the increase of airports in Xinjiang is aimed at this goal. But this is by no means the creation of the Communist Party or of Sun Jong-Shan."
With the popularization of the Chinese government's theory of "belonging to China since ancient times", a common public opinion that "Chinese people are being bullied by Uyghurs" is gradually forming among Chinese citizens.
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The PUPR Ministry targets the Margatiga Lampung Dam to be completed in 2024
Jakarta - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is targeting completion of the construction of the Margatiga Dam in Lampung next year.
"The construction of the dam aims to increase the volume of water storage so that the supply of irrigation water to agricultural land continues to be maintained, providing raw water and controlling floods," said PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono in his statement in Jakarta, Tuesday.
Basuki added that the construction of the dam was followed by the construction of an irrigation network, so that with a continuous water supply from the dam, farmers who previously only planted once a year, could increase their planting to 2-3 times.
The PUPR Ministry is accelerating the completion of the Margatiga Dam in East Lampung Regency, Lampung Province. The dam, which began construction in 2017, can increase the amount of water storage and support the national food storage in Lampung Province.
Margatiga Dam has a capacity of 42.31 million m3 with a pool area of 2,217 hectares and a dam height of 22.5 m. The construction was carried out by PT Waskita Karya - PT Adhi Karya (KSO) with a total budget of IDR 850 billion.
This dam has the benefit of irrigating the Irrigation Area (DI) in Lampung Province covering an area of 16,588 hectares, namely the left Jabung DI area of 5,638 hectares and the potential of the right Jabung DI area of 10,950 hectares. Apart from that, it also increases the raw water supply by 0.8 m3/second for East Lampung Regency.
This dam can also reduce flooding by 83.10 m3/second for some areas in Bandar Lampung and East Lampung.