Broken glass crunched under the Uighur man’s feet as he sneaked up a dim stairwell, careful not to be seen in a building that could become the next flashpoint in China’s restive Xinjiang region.
The building, part of the Rebiya Trade Center complex of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, has loomed for years in this regional capital as a reminder of the support she commands among her restive Muslim ethnic minority.
But following repeated recent ethnic unrest here, China has targeted the buildings for demolition in an apparent bid to banish Kadeer’s shadow, say local Uighurs, who warn that such a move could spark a new round of violence.
PHOTO: AFP
“The [Chinese] Communist Party [CCP] is rotten to the core,” said the man, whose name was withheld to avoid possible police reprisals.
Along with many other Uighurs, he had lived in this decrepit and now-deserted building until an eviction notice last month. He had returned to salvage some meager belongings.
Crouching in front of a window to hide from a heavy Chinese police presence outside, he traced the name “Rebiya” on the dusty floor, then abruptly wiped it away.
“They are trying to erase her name entirely!” he whispered angrily in Mandarin.
Kadeer is a former retail magnate and philanthropist who was once China’s richest woman. She was held up by the CCP as proof of the success of its ethnic minorities and was even named a delegate to parliament.
But Beijing quickly turned on Kadeer after she dared to question China’s policies toward its 8 million Uighurs, who have long complained of Chinese religious and political oppression.
Jailed for six years in 1999, she was then sent into exile.
China blames Kadeer for instigating July 5 unrest in Urumqi that left nearly 200 people dead, mostly members of the country’s ethnic Han majority.
The city was seized anew in recent days by mass Han protests against a wave of mysterious syringe attacks blamed on Uighurs. Five people died in the violence.
Reports have circulated for years about plans to demolish Kadeer’s buildings — still topped by large Chinese characters reading “Rebiya Trade Center” — and evict residents, including at least 30 of her relatives.
But the plans have been fast-tracked following the July violence, Uighurs say.
Tenants of the main Trade Center, many of them female Uighur merchants doing business under a women’s empowerment program launched by Kadeer, were told to leave by Saturday, a timetable delayed by this past week’s unrest.
“Tenants are all moving out. Soon the building will fall,” said a Uighur security guard at the building.
Local Uighurs said the three buildings would be replaced by an open square.
“Uighurs will be very angry,” an elderly Uighur man interjected as others murmured quietly in agreement.
The Washington-based Uighur American Association (UAA) revealed the new demolition plan last month, warning it could spark a new round of bloodletting.
“Uighurs are likely to be dismayed over the destruction of the Kadeer buildings, and UAA fears that public expression of discontent ... would be met with brutal force [by China],” it said.
Several of Kadeer’s 11 children have been jailed by Chinese authorities, including a son sentenced in 2007 after he allegedly publicly discussed the demolition plans, the UAA has said, illustrating the issue’s extreme political sensitivity.
Urumqi government officials declined to comment on the issue.
Kadeer’s relatives, who had lived in one of the buildings, survived on income from a restaurant there, the UAA said.
Kadeer herself issued a statement last month saying the plan to raze the building was aimed at silencing her.
“How long will the Chinese government hold my children and grandchildren hostage in retaliation for my human rights advocacy?” she said.
Asked how his people feel about Kadeer, the evicted Uighur man clenched his jaw and gave an emphatic thumbs up. Wiping tears from his eyes, he disappeared back into the gloom.
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