Posted on 02/18/2006 10:31:50 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
SHANGHAI, China – A Chinese official has called for tougher birth control in the western region home to a Muslim ethnic group, saying population growth is hindering the area's economic development.
The proposal by Nur Bakri, a deputy Communist Party secretary in the Xinjiang region, was criticized by an activist who said it could lead to further human rights violations against the Muslim Uighur ethnic group.
Bakri said in a speech this week that population control efforts focused on Uighur-majority farming and herding areas would redouble over the next five years.
“The results of economic development will be canceled out by increases in population unless population size can be controlled,” Bakri was quoted by the official www.tianshannet.com Web site as saying at a Monday conference on population planning.
Exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said birth control policies already are strictly enforced in Xinjiang and questioned why rural areas were being singled out for special attention.
Since 1988, Uighurs have largely been limited to two or three children under an exception to China's strict policy allowing most families to have just one child. Human rights groups say the policy has led to coercive birth control and forced abortions and sterilizations, often under poor medical conditions.
Uighurs already have been marginalized by large-scale migration of the majority Han Chinese to Xinjiang and China's heavy-handed political and cultural policies in the region, Kadeer said.
“This is extremely bad news for the Uighur people – Uighur women in particular,” she said in a statement.
Although Xinjiang's overall population has remained within government targets, its growth rate is among the highest in the country, Bakri said, according to a report of his speech seen Friday.
“Population development has not been balanced; the birth rate is unstable,” he said, singling out poor rural areas as a particular concern.
“We must increase government efforts in this area.”
With a population of about 8 million, Uighurs make up the largest single ethnic group in Xinjiang, although they no longer are in the majority.
A recent drive to develop the region's resources and infrastructure has brought an influx of Han Chinese. The region's capital, Urumqi, now boasts a population of 4 million, much of it Han.
--I'm with China on this one--
The cancer spreads, though I think China recognizes that their proxy attack dog can turn on them quickly.
The Chinese are right on target with this one.
You'd think that with the way Muslims treat women, that would be birth control enough, though.
like muslim women are given a choice?
What I would like to say is too politically incorrect. But I am completely with China on this one.
Human rights groups say the policy has led to coercive birth control and forced abortions and sterilizations, often under poor medical conditions.
I guess they only get upset when this happens to non-Caucasians.
Now here's a moral dilemma...
China's "one child" policy is inhumane and immoral and the Uighur people should not be forced to submit to it. Moreover, unless this ethnic group manages to secede from China, which is highly unlikely, they certainly pose no threat to the West. Islam may not be compatible with western civilization but communism isn't any better.
I think you're right. The Muslims would being going nuts and attacking the rest of the world anyway, but China is definitely benefitting from it. However, it does have some areas with Muslims, and these could become its Chechnya.
Nope, because rape is kosher with the Koran.
BTTT!
Its pratically a 12 on 1, Join the crowd. Plus just because Uighurs havent done anything lately, It wont stop them from starting. What happens if The Uighur Region is the only area with virtually no US presence? I think Uncle Osama would pay a visit and convince them otherwise? I doubt the US would even step foot in that region if they where to blow something in the US? The Uighur region is pratically a dead end. Only China can take care of the problem for obvious reasons.
Regardless of whether the opinions at FR are 12 to 1 in favor of the Chinese, that doesn't justify what the Chinese are doing to these people. Of course, the Chi Coms are doing this to the Chinese people as well and that is wrong, too.
Forced abortions and sterilizations are always wrong whether they are imposed on Muslims or any other group of people.
I am completely opposed to all of the tenets of Islam that undermine human rights but that doesn't mean that I support human rights violations committed against Muslims. Two wrongs don't make a right.
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