The terrorism label doesn’t really mean anything. Authoritarian states label all opposition as terrorism. In Tajikistan for example they used to have the Islamic Renaissance Party until 2015, which was the only political movement in the country. Their position was moderate and subordinate to the constitution, so they only campaigned for democracy and civil rights, but the authoritarian state one day outlawed the party on the very flimsy grounds “terrorism” and “extremism”. They think if you call anything that has to do with Islam extreme or terrorist the rest of the world will just accept it and be like, “Oh yeah, Muslims are like that.” It’s a very convenient ploy to stifle a population.
I would just reiterate that China’s policies in Xinjiang are often reprehensible. Not every single one of their policies are bad, and China is very good at spinning the situation with a combination of truths and lies to whitewash the situation. My position is that China’s involvement in Xinjiang is unfortunate and undesirable, but it’s also a fact that we have to live with.
The terrorism label doesn’t really mean anything. Authoritarian states label all opposition as terrorism. In Tajikistan for example they used to have the Islamic Renaissance Party until 2015, which was the only political movement in the country. Their position was moderate and subordinate to the constitution, so they only campaigned for democracy and civil rights, but the authoritarian state one day outlawed the party on the very flimsy grounds “terrorism” and “extremism”. They think if you call anything that has to do with Islam extreme or terrorist the rest of the world will just accept it and be like, “Oh yeah, Muslims are like that.” It’s a very convenient ploy to stifle a population.
I would just reiterate that China’s policies in Xinjiang are often reprehensible. Not every single one of their policies are bad, and China is very good at spinning the situation with a combination of truths and lies to whitewash the situation. My position is that China’s involvement in Xinjiang is unfortunate and undesirable, but it’s also a fact that we have to live with.