By DAWUD, AbdurRahman
The Saudi Crown Prince has joined the league of Amir Khan of Pakistan other Arab - Muslim head of states who endorsed the banning of Islam, detentions and oppression of the Uighur Muslims in East Turkestan, Xinjiang by the Chinese government in exchange for trade deals and possibly redeeming his image having been soiled by the killing of the Saudi American journalist Jamal Kashoggi. While dashing away the hopes and aspirations of the oppressed Uighur Muslims anticipating the crown prince would address their plight and ease their suffering.
The Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was quoted to say, "China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremization work for its national security,” on Chinese television in China, during the third and final leg of an Asia tour with prior visit to Pakistan and India.
MBS states visit to China, another country accused of authoritarianism, to meet with officials there. He was greeted by China’s Vice Premier Han Zheng and signed key agreements with Beijing related to energy production and the chemical industry. During his visit, he also appeared to defend China’s use of re-education camps for its country’s Muslim population.
China has detained an over one million Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, where they are undergoing re-education programs allegedly intended to combat extremism. The Uighur are an ethnic Turkic group that practices Islam and lives in Western China and parts of Central Asia. Beijing has accused the Uighur in its Western Xinjiang region of supporting terrorism and implemented a surveillance regime. Millions of Muslims are also allegedly being forced to study communist doctrine in the camps and denounce their religion Islam.
“There have been reports of deaths in the political education camps, raising concerns about physical and psychological abuse, as well as stress from poor conditions, overcrowding, and indefinite confinement,” the report continued. “While basic medical care is available, people are held even when they have serious illnesses or are elderly; there are also children in their teens, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people with disabilities. Former detainees reported suicide attempts and harsh punishments for disobedience in the facilities.”
China claimed the camps were vocational training schools.
Uighur groups called on Mohammed bin Salman to use his official visit to pressure China on the issue of the concentration camps, as Saudi Arabia has traditionally been a defender of the rights of Muslims worldwide.
However, the young crown prince and the country’s leader preferred the pursuit of foreign policy and economic interests as it abandons it's traditional role of defendant of the Muslims and propagators of Islam. They choose to share in Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar infrastructure project along the old Silk Road meant to boost China’s economic and political influence around the world. Thereby forsaking the oppressed Muslims of east Turkestan (Xinjiang province) as its a key area on the Belt, been oil and resources rich coupled with its borders with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It may be argued that the crown prince and his cabinet are tending to build new alliances haven faced criticism from Western countries over the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Realities from the Asia tour shows the Saudi least concern is the welfare of Muslims nor propagation of Islam as silence in Pakistan elucidated. He kicked not against oppression of the Muslim Kashmiris by India nor the Chinese systematic cleansing of Muslim populist. His primary concern is furthering his western masters' war against Islam, "antiterrorism and deextremism", economical gains and most importantly redeeming his soiled image in ascending the throne.