The staggering hypocrisy of Chinese policy in the Middle East

After years of hostility, Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to ‘restore relations’ in a deal brokered by China, a nation that has shown little love for millions of Muslim citizens within its borders. The three countries announced the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern powers on March 10, including the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh in the next two months.

Before your eyeballs go too far back in your head, there are some good things about this otherwise hugely sleazy deal. On the one hand, the coming of Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table means that they are ready to lower the temperature of their large-scale proxy war in Yemen and calm some of the politics of power at stake in Syria.

China’s intervention as a power broker in the Middle East “after decades of American failure” in the region is quite a sight to behold, and these are the Washington Postthe words, not mine.

While it’s no secret that the United States considers China its “number one geostrategic threat”, this latest piece from President Xi Jinping provides further evidence of his plans to gain influence over so much territory. possible in a region where the United States has been the main power broker since the end of the Cold War.

A man in Tehran runs a local newspaper reporting on the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

But it’s not all about great power politics. Not only do Iran, Saudi Arabia and China all need the photo op of this ‘peace deal’, but the three nations also have something else in common: horrendous human rights records. men, especially with regard to women and minorities. In fact, China continues to actively place a large portion of its Muslim population in concentration camps while playing the role of peacemaker between two major Islamic nations.

I’m talking about the Uyghur population of China, a predominantly Muslim group living in Xinjiang province. For years, China has carried out what many countries, including the United States, call genocide against the group.

Human rights groups believe China has forcibly detained more than a million Uyghurs in recent years in a sprawling network of what the state calls “re-education camps”. China has also sentenced hundreds of thousands more to prison terms. A series of police files obtained by the BBC in 2022 revealed details of China’s use of these camps and described a “shoot to kill policy” for anyone trying to escape.

China denies all allegations of abuse. Prominent human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have also released reports accusing China of crimes against humanity. Additionally, China has been accused of targeting Muslim religious figures and banning religious practices in the region, as well as destroying mosques and tombs.

There are approximately 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslims, living in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

So far, Iran and Saudi Arabia remain silent on China’s abuse of Uyghurs, and frankly, it’s deafening. While Iran is in the midst of an ongoing feminist uprising against the country’s forced hijab laws and a list of recent poisonings of schoolgirls, Saudi Arabia still wants the world to forget its involvement in the murder of Jamal Kashoggi.

But the two countries had previously championed the plight of Burma’s Muslim population, the Rohingya, who are also facing genocide. Saudi Arabia has provided essential aid to Rohingya women and children, and Iran has offered support to Bangladesh in repatriating the persecuted minority.

Yet when it comes to the Uyghurs, so far it seems none of these new peace partners are determined to call China to task. Speaking last week at a special event on Islamophobia at the United Nations, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States had officially recognized that Muslims were increasingly subject to “discrimination and of violence,” specifically citing the treatment of Uyghurs in China.

“We have also determined that the Chinese government has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other minority ethnic and religious groups in Xinjiang,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“The international community must continue to condemn these atrocities,” she added. “We must continue to demand accountability. And we must continue to hold all those who are unjustly detained in [China] to be released and reunited with their families.”

Let’s hope that Muslim nations, starting with Iran and Saudi Arabia, also join America’s call. Until then, they seem to be nothing more than mere puppets in the hands of China.

Anushay Hossain is a feminist writer and political analyst specializing in women’s health legislation. She is a regular guest on CNN, MSNBC and PBS, and her writing on politics, gender and race has appeared in Forbes, CNN, USA TODAY, The Daily Beast, and more. Hossain is also the host of the Spilling Chai podcast and author of “The Pain Gap: How sexism and racism in health care are killing women.“

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

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