How clear is the resemblance between the story of Turkestan and that of Palestine!

The Palestinian cause is that of a land usurped from its natives, which is also the case with Turkestan.

It is also a cause of Muslims whose inviolabilities are desecrated and whose lives are taken, which is also the case with Turkestan.

Moreover, it is an issue of history distortion and facts counterfeit, which is the same with Turkestan. Furthermore, it is a cause of a conflict between Muslims and those showing the bitterest enmity to believers (a conflict with Jews), which is the case with Turkestan (a conflict with polytheists).

Amazingly, the Jews state was declared in Palestine in 1948 A.D. and the Chinese dominance over Turkestan was declared in 1949 A.D.

How extremely close and significant are the two causes!

Certainly, Turkestan does not contain Al-Aqsa Mosque and is not the cradle of prophets. However, it is a Muslim country consisting of a land that is violated, believers who are seduced to forsake their religion, tremendous treasures are wasted and Islamic dignity that is violated.

No doubt, it is a serious issue ignorance about which is unwarranted. Actually, we overlooked it out of our heedlessness, disinclination to concern for the issues  of our Ummah and unawareness of our roles and of the inviolability of Muslims were they Arabs or non-Arabs, far or nearby, known or unknown to us.

Unfortunately, most Muslims know more about the history of art and sports than about Turkestan or any other forgotten Islamic issues. Lacking even essential information, I wonder how we should then seek solutions!

I expect that readers of this article will ask for a practical program to support Turkestan. I say in this regard, the first step is to be filled with love for the Muslim Ummah passionately loving all those who belong to it, feeling sorry for its calamities and feeling panic for desecrating its inviolabilities. In brief, one should feel, without feigning, as if an organ of a great body; when any organ of it aches, the whole body aches because of sleeplessness and fever.

Without having such a passion, all solutions will be no more than theoretical and we will not be able to see our way even if as clear as daylight.

In my previous article "The Story of Islam in China", I talked about the history of East Turkestan and stated that it has been a Muslim country since the first century A.H.

We came to know that although many successive Chinese and Mongol governments ruled it, the country could preserve its identity. Undoubtedly, a land that was one day ruled by Islam is a Muslim land liberating which is as obligatory as performing prayers and paying Zakat (poor-dues), a cause for which souls and money must be sacrificed. Actually, there is a unanimous agreement of scholars in this regard.

The last thing we spoke about in the previous article was the disastrous Communist invasion of East Turkestan in 1949 A.D. We certainly know the blood-thirsty nature of Communists, which was obvious in the behavior of Soviets and Yugoslavs. However, Chinese Communists were not different from them in the least. They had the same evil-loving, humanity-hating and life-destroying passion. Having no perception of the god of the universe, what else can be expected from them?!

Bloody Communist oppression

Communists practiced oppression in the most heinous form against the Chinese as a whole and East Turkestan in particular. Out of the eight hundred thousand persons killed by Mao Zedong during the first three years of his rule of China, one hundred thousand Muslims in East Turkestan were killed. Actually, this is a big number taking into consideration the relatively few number of Muslims.

Chinese ruled Turkestan with an iron hand making no attempt to reach a mutual understanding with the Muslim people. Although they declared the Turkestan region to be autonomous, yet it was only theoretical and had no implications on the actual fact. I think it would have been much better that Turkestan would share China's fortunes with the Chinese. However, the latter took it over exclusively leaving the Muslim people poor, needy and persecuted.

Reasons why China considers Muslim Turkestan crucial to it

A Question may rise, why does China, in spite of its tremendous capacities and capabilities, consider taking control of this Muslim territory crucial? What does this land known to many Muslims worth?

Actually, East Turkestan is so important as to China. Let us proceed to speak in detail about this point in order to properly estimate the problem and, consequently, have higher degree of sympathy with our fellow Muslims there.

First: This region is of a significant size of about 1.6 Million sq km equaling threefold the size of France, threefold the size of Iraq and sixty times the size of Palestine. Moreover, it constitutes 17% of the total area of China. Accordingly, China may not that easily cede a part constituting more than one-sixth of it.

Second: Population density in East Turkestan is very low. In spite of large-scale immigration of Han Chinese, Turkestan total population is 20 Million, according to 2008 census. Accordingly, population density in the territory is 12.5 persons per sq km. On the other hand, China's population density is so high that it amounts to 165 persons per sq km as China's total population in 2008 was 1.3 BN. It should be taken into account that China occupies the Tibet territory whose area is 1.2 Million sq km with a total population of only 3 million. Setting Tibet aside, population density in China's mainland will be 193 persons per sq km, which is a very high population density. The abovementioned facts oblige China to stick to the territory of East Turkestan in order to alleviate the high population density, bearing in mind the warm weather of Turkestan if compared to the severe cold weather of the occupied Tibet territory. Actually, China has already taken such facts into consideration while solving its population problem during the last
three decades.

Resource-rich Turkestan

Third: Allah endowed the territory of East Turkestan with enormous resources including oil, gas, and coal. It thus represents an extremely important energy store for China.

Now, it is the second largest producer of oil in China producing 27.4 million tons annually ranking second after the province of Heilongjiang, which produces 40.2 million tons annually. However, Turkestan is expected to be the largest oil producer in China by 2010 as it will then produce 60 million tons annually. Anyway, experts expect that by 2020 it will produce 100 million tons annually and thus be of a high rank. Please, bear in mind that Turkestan has an oil reserve of 8.2 BN tons!

Furthermore, Turkestan has as huge gas reserve as 10.8 trillion cubic meters. In addition, it has a coal reserve
of 2.19 trillion tons representing 40% of the total China production. Turkestan's coal is also characterized by a wide variety and super quality. In this regard, China has the ambition of turning huge coal production into a large base for electricity production.

Fourth: Although China produces such huge quantities of oil and natural gas, yet industrial China could not reach the stage of self-sufficiency, bearing in mind that China ranks second as to energy consumption after the USA. Therefore, China relies mainly on oil imported from such middle Asian countries as those of the Caucasus region. Unfortunately, it was Turkestan's fate that oil pipelines pass through its lands! Thus, China's dominance over Turkestan represents a serious strategic dimension, for the whole industrial activity could be paralyzed if such pipelines are endangered.

Uranium mining and Takla Makan Desert

Fifth: Turkestan is a deposit of something more precious than oil and coal. Turkestan is rich in uranium necessary for nuclear industries. It contains six mines producing the highest quality uranium and is, therefore, a potential nuclear country in case it separates from China. With this in mind, Turkestan is bordering Russia which might back it as it does with Iran in order to make a balance of powers in the region with the Chinese monster.

Actually, Turkestan's lands has other more precious treasures than oil, coal and uranium; it contains many other metals foremost among which is gold!

Sixth: Takla Makan is a vast desert located in Turkestan that is used by China for conducting many nuclear experiments. Unarguably, China is a first class nuclear country and thus needs such a vast desert in order to conduct more experiments, which is much less costly than carrying out experiments in the depths of seas. Moreover, negative effects of experiments will affect a Muslim people whom China has no objection to harm. To the same effect, most China's nuclear ballistic missiles are kept there, which raises its strategic value.

Agricultural areas and strategic significance

Seventh: Agriculturally speaking, Turkestan has vast arable lands, the most fertile in China. The chief Chinese interior river, Tarim river, flows in Turkestan in addition to Lake Bosten, the largest freshwater lake in China. Furthermore, Turkestan enjoys a warm sunny weather nearly along the year, which makes it apt to a distinguished agricultural production. Besides, it is one of the largest agricultural producers in and outside China. In this regard, it constitutes the largest base for producing the long-staple high quality cotton in China. In addition, it produces the highest quality grapes, melons, maize, rice, apples, pears, apricot and cherry as well as many other excellent vegetables.

Eighth: The more than 5600-km-long borders of Turkestan represent a highly important strategic dimension for China. It borders 8 Asian countries each of which constitutes a problem for China. Turkestan borders five Muslim states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the west. These states represent a contingent peril to China as they contain a good number of Muslims, who are called, according to Chinese, "terrorists".

Hence, China considers Turkestan a firewall to prevent "terrorists" form entering China's mainland. Moreover, Turkestan borders two other dangerous nuclear countries, Russia and India, which explains China's keeping Ballistic missiles in the Turkestan region.

The eighth country bordering Turkestan is Mongolia, the history of whose conflict with China and mutual
occupation is well-known. Actually, the Great Wall of China was constructed specifically with the purpose of protection against Mongolia. Because of such hot borders, it is very difficult for China to give up East Turkestan.

Islamic awakening: A Chinese panic

Ninth: The ever-shining Islamic spirit enjoyed by Turks in general and Uighurs in particular terrifies the Chinese state. Having suffered many crises along their history that was expected to annul their creed and have them give up their fundamentals, Uighurs kept sticking to and proud of their religion and of their Islamic orientation.

You may refer to the history of the great people which was the first target of the Tartaric attack. However, through their patience, forbearance and application of Islamic rules, Mongols turned from weightless pagans into Muslims worshipping Allah and following the example of His honorable Messenger (peace be upon him). In this respect, repeated crusade occupation and blood-thirsty Communism may not be forgotten. Although Turkestan was also restricted between the greatest two criminal Communist axes in the word, i.e. the USSR and China and is bordered to the south with a Hindu state that persecutes Muslims, i.e. India, it did not change its beliefs.

In fact, steadfast commitment to religion terrifies China, taking into account that Chinese official census states that Chinese Muslims are about 60 Muslims. However, Muslims census state that there are more that 100 million Chinese Muslims but China tries to diminish the number purposely seeking to marginalize Muslims role and lower their morale. No doubt, China takes into consideration the peril of the spread of the spirit committing to Islam in the massive Muslim population in China. Furthermore, it is very likely that Islam spreads among non-Muslim Chinese as they suffer from a large-scale spiritual vacuity having no creed to stick to. Therefore, they might possibly embrace Islam once it is properly preached to them, which stands for an ideological danger on China that is still adopting atheistic socialist ideology.

Such and like considerations make China have no choice but to take control of Turkestan in order to suppress its people in the hope that it can prevent the spread of Islam to the Chinese.

Imperial ambitions

Tenth: Imperial countries cannot help expanding. Actually, empires ambitions to annex more lands and be extensive are limitless. Thus, China's ambitions are not limited to East Turkestan; rather, it is considered a gate leading to some weak countries liberated from Russian occupation less than twenty years ago, such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and, later, Uzbekistan. This is in addition to currently Russian-occupied countries that are likely to liberate, such as the Muslim countries Tatarstan, Chechnya and Dagestan.

Regarding itself the heir to the USSR, which preceded by Cesarean Orthodox Russia had occupied such Muslim countries for three centuries, the Chinese empire waits for its turn. China thus thinks of expanding into such weak countries, bearing in mind the unjustified case of unconsciousness and heedlessness the Muslim world experiences.

Some people might think this is a pessimistic approach of predicting events. However, in my point of view, it is the scenario most likely to take place, taking into account that great imperial entities cannot consent to the existence of neighboring weak states.

I have so far stated ten reasons why China deems it crucial to take control of the Muslim state East Turkestan.

In view of the abovementioned reasons, and may be for others, Wenran Jiang, the Chinese researcher in the University of Alberta, while commenting on the oppressive approach the Chinese government adopted regarding the July 6 Uighur crisis, noted that the strategic importance of Xinjiang (East Turkestan) meant any long-term unrest would not be tolerated.

Actually, it is a very realistic analysis of such a Chinese researcher. Having known about the resource-rich Turkestan, it is meaningless to think that China might tolerantly give it up. On the contrary, we have to grasp the fact that the Chinese government will do its best and will make use of legal and illegal means to subjugate the great Muslim territory.

In fact, China has already employed several devilish methods in its way to achieve its objectives. Killing became no more than one method to dominate peoples; there is a variety of methods and ways all of which lead to one end.

In your opinion, what did China do during the last three decades to completely take control of East Turkestan? What are the duties of Muslims regarding this disaster?

Answers to these question will be the scope of our next article, if Allah so wills.

I ask Allah to glorify Islam and Muslims.

Dr. Ragheb ElSergany

https://en.islamstory.com/en/artical/3407499