The Uyghur Lobby: Global Networks, Coalitions and Strategies of the World Uyghur Congress

169 Pages·2013·5.916 MB·English

by  Yu-Wen Chen

The Uyghur Lobby
An upsurge in violence between Uyghur and Han in China’s far western region
of Xinjiang has gained increased media and academic attention in recent years as
was evidenced in the July 2009 riots. Numbering over eight million, the Uyghur
are China’s fi fth-largest minority nationality, and their mounting aspiration for
obtaining more autonomy has contributed to the recent ethnic confl icts in the
region. This book looks at those who are seeking to preserve the Uyghur identity,
and support the secession of Xinjiang from China in order to create their own
independent state by exploring the global operations and sister groups of the
Uyghur diaspora umbrella organization, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). It
examines the networks of the WUC, the coalitions it has formed, the strategies
the organization pursues to raise public awareness about Uyghur issues around
the globe, and looks at the actors that have emerged as key players in the contem-
porary WUC network. Further, this book shows that the Uyghur lobby is not a
unifi ed movement, but that the local groups that it consists of are highly
constrained by the broader domestic politics of their host countries, a fact which
has a signifi cant impact on the lobby’s ability to realize its strategic and political
ambitions. In turn, Yu-Wen Chen gauges the impact of the WUC on public opin-
ion and policymakers in the world’s democracies, and shows how since Uyghur
organizations have been given legitimacy by liberal democracies and interna-
tional governmental organizations, they can no longer be considered merely
splintered members of a far-fl ung diaspora locked in a one-sided struggle with
Beijing. Indeed, Uyghur activists can and do use their hard-won legitimacy as
legal migrants and asylum-seekers to infl uence politics in their host countries.
This unique and timely study reveals how an issue concerning a Chinese
minority has been catapulted onto the wider global political stage, and as such, it
will be of great interest to students and scholars working on Chinese politics, the
Uyghur issue, and minority and ethnic politics, social movements, human rights,
and international politics more broadly.
Yu-Wen Chen is a Lecturer in Government at University College Cork, Ireland.
Routledge Contemporary China Series
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The Uyghur Lobby
Global networks, coalitions, and
strategies of the World Uyghur
Congress
Yu-Wen Chen
Routledge
I Taylor &. Francis Grou p
LONDON AND NEW YORK