Tynwald China links shameful

It's nothing new for Tynwald members to keep bad company but in rolling out the red carpet (no pun) to a visiting senior official from the Chinese Embassy in London they are plumbing the depths.

China’s aggressive global expansion most epitomised by the territorial sea grab in South East Asia is bad enough but it is there treatment of national minorities that most inflames me.

The annexation and subjugation of Tibet are well publicised with many Tibetan families now into their second or third generation of exile in India.

However it is not just Tibet the Chinese State has also been ruthless in its treatment of the Uyghur people. Only a month ago the manner in which the Chinese are treating the Uyghur a Muslim (Turkic) people who inhabit the remote Xinjiang (Province) in the far West of China drew unprecedented criticism from the United States.

The Chinese have been systematically displacing the Uyghur with immigrants from China’s eastern province while destroying their identity by restricting the ability for them to practice their religion and customs and destroying their language..

Chinese policy in Xinjiang verges on genocide against a people - meanwhile their officials are welcome guests at the House of Keys.

Shame on the Keys and shame on us!

Image: Uighur women protest it is claimed that up to a million Uighur are detained or restricted by the Chinese occupiers of their country.

Bernard Moffatt