dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

The Role of the International Community in East Turkestan / Prof Dru C. Gladneyeast through China to the Pacific. All the routes pass through vast, remote, andperhaps politically unstable regions, and those involving Iran face difficulties ingaining Western financing.China’s international relations with its neighbours and with internal regionssuch as Xinjiang and Tibet have become increasingly important not only for theeconomic reasons discussed above, but also for China’s desire to participate ininternational organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Council. Though Tibet is no longer of any real strategic orsubstantial economic value to China, it is politically important to China’s currentleadership to indicate that they will not submit to foreign pressure and withdrawfrom Tibet. Uighurs have begun to work closely with Tibetans internationallyto put political pressure on China in international fora. In a 7 April 1997interview in Istanbul with Ahmet Türköz, vice-director of the Eastern TurkestanFoundation, which works for an independent Uighur homeland, he noted thatsince 1981, meetings had been taking place between the Dalai Lama and Uighurleaders, initiated by the deceased Uighur nationalist Isa Yusuf Alptekin. Aspreviously mentioned, the elected leader of UNPO (the Unrepresented Nationsand People’s Organization based in The Hague), an organization originally builtaround Tibetan issues, is Erkin Alptekin, the son of the late Isa Alptekin. Theseinternational fora cannot force China to change its policy, any more than theformer annual debate in the U.S. over the renewal of China’s Most-FavouredNation status can. Nevertheless, they continue to influence China’s ability to cooperateinternationally. As a result, China has sought to respond rapidly, and oftenmilitarily, to domestic ethnic affairs that might have international implications.Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Chinese government fearedthat the new independence of the neighbouring Central Asian Republics mightinspire separatist goals in Xinjiang. It also worried that promoting regionaleconomic development could fuel ethnic separatism by resurrecting old alliances.China, however, was reassured by an agreement reached in April 1996 withRussia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that would avoid military conflicton common borders. It is also resting easier after assertions from Muslim statesthat they would not become involved in China’s internal affairs. Thus, China’spolicy of encouraging economic development while keeping a tight lid on political479