Hayes, Anna (2023) Collateral Damage in Sino-Arabic Cooperation: Assessing Middle Eastern and North African silence and complicity in the Uyghur Crisis. In: Kim, Young-Chan, (ed.) China's Engagement with the Islamic Nations: A Clash or Collaboration of Modern Civilisation? Understanding China . Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 181-206.

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Abstract

In his opening address at the 2014 China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, Xi Jinping explained that Sino-Arab cooperation should promote “the Silk Road Spirit” and further the realisation of “Arab revitalisation”. However, by 2018/2019 it appeared the Sino-Arabic Silk Road Spirit had increasingly become defined by Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) deference to China, most notably marked by their complicity and/or deafening silence on the unfolding mass detention of the Muslim minorities across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). This chapter examines the links between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and MENA silence over the mass detention of Uyghurs in XUAR. It also examines the complicit role some MENA countries—namely Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—have played in forcibly repatriating Uyghurs to China and wider official support provided to China by MENA states at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The chapter argues that Beijing’s promised dream of “Arab revitalisation”, which is directly tied to the BRI, is part of the “rejuvenation” rhetoric of the BRI. This rhetoric has seen MENA states support Beijing’s policies towards the Uyghurs, despite the shared religious links between the majority populations across MENA, as well as educational, business and familial connections. The support for Beijing from MENA states has enabled, emboldened and legitimised Beijing’s persecution of the Uyghurs. As a result, the Uyghurs have become collateral damage in Sino-Arabic cooperation and the economic dealings MENA states have with China.

Item ID:	80774
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-3-031-31041-6
Keywords:	BRI, Xinjiang, Uyghur, Middle East, Silk Road Economic Belt
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2023 01:35
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4408 Political science > 440808 International relations @ 100%
SEO Codes:	23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2303 International relations > 230302 International aid and development @ 30% 23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2303 International relations > 230305 Peace and conflict @ 30% 23 LAW, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES > 2303 International relations > 230399 International relations not elsewhere classified @ 40%
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