Joining a growing number of Western nations, Canada’s House of Commons voted Feb. 22 266-0 calling China’s treatment of its ancient, Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang Province in Western China genocide. Torturing definitions of genocide to the breaking point, there’s no doubt the Uighur population along China’s historic Silk Road ending in Istanbul have been subject to discrimination, mistreatment, possible slave labor, false imprisonment, re-education camps and maybe torture and death. Stretching the definition of genocide beyond its conventional use, Canada’s House of Commons does a disservice to the label genocide. Genocide involves a state-sanctioned systematic extermination of any racial, religious, ethnic or political group. Coined by Polish Attorney Rahpael Lemkin in 1943, the meaning of the terms was an orderly, systematic attempt to wipeout a race, ethnic group, tribe or extended family.
Whatever’s happened to the Uighurs under Chinese Communist rule cannot, by any definition, be considered genocide. Lemkin’s had in mind the Ottoman Turks death marches in 1915-1917 of Armenians, where some 1.5 million were killed in forced relocation, starvation and slaughter. Lemkin cited the Nazi Holocaust of Jews in WW II, where some 6 million Jews were systematically slaughtered by Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, the best example of genocide. Unless Canada’s House of Commons has evidence that China’s attempting the deliberate, orderly slaughter of Xinjiang’s Uighur population, the have no case for genocide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote, knowing the repercussions for Canadian business and industry that does business in China. Canadian lawmakers called on Trudeau to ask the International Olympic Committee to change the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing.
Trudeau has been reluctant to call what’s happening the Uighurs in Xinjiang genocide, because it does not fit conventional definitions. If it involves human rights issues related to wages, working conditions, incidents of rape or torture, poor living conditions, exploitation in various multinational corporate factories, then that’s a different story that must be addressed by the Chinese government. Calling those things “genocide,’ breaks down the communication with Beijing, because it accuses the Chinese government of participating in a highly criminal activity, something not supported by the facts. Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau said he abstained from the vote “on behalf of the government of Canada,” letting Beijing know that Canada’s official government does not endorse the vote in the House of Commons. Trudeau called genocide “extremely loaded,” calling for more study.
China’s ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu told the Canadian press that the House of Commons motion was “interfering in [China’s] domestic affairs,” denying that any genocide took place in Xinjiang against the Uighur population. Banning the BBC’s John Sudworth from filming in Xinjiang reflects the fact that the Chinese government believes that reporting on the Uighurs has painted China in an unfavorable light. Sudworth’s works showed that Uighurs were used by China in forced labor camps, detaining a million more in re-education camps. Whatever Sudworth recorded in his documentary films, it was not genocide but mistreatment, the same type goes on in every continent around the planet. When you hear African American complaints in the United States, it doesn’t sound that much different in terms of discrimination, forced incarcerations and unequal treatment.
Only in office a little over a month, the Biden administration looks like their going after Russia and China with a vengeance. All that you heard for Secretary of State Tony Blinken or National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is about how the White House is preparing to slap Russia and China with sanctions for human rights abuses. Today’s announcement that Saudi Arabia, because of the Jamal Khashoggi affair, are also subject to sanctions. What does the Biden administration hope to gain by accusing sovereign states of human rights abuses? If the Biden team slaps Russia, China and Saudi Arabia with sanctions, how does that help U.S. national security? Human rights abuse occur all over the world, including in the United States, at least as articulated by the African American community. Breaking off diplomatic relations or ratcheting up tensions does not serve U.S. interests.
Canada’s House of Commons played fast-and-lose with the definition of genocide, accusing China to systematic extermination of the Uighur population in Xinjiang Province. While there’s plenty of evidence of discrimination, unequal treatment, slave labor, re-education camps, that’s not genocide, a term that must be preserved to reflect the systematic attempt to exterminate a race, religious, ethnic group or creed for political reasons. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agree that Chinese government treatment of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constitute genocide, even if it doesn’t fit conventional definitions. If the Biden administration wants to improve human rights in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia or any other place, it need to stop hitting sovereign states with sanctions and spend more time listening.
