US Senators Push to Support Uyghers

January 6, 2021 Lost Creek Guide Page 3 Liberty Vittert: Biden Should Halt Sales to China of US US Senators Unite for Bipartisan Push Tech Used to Persecute and Enslave Uyghur Muslims to Declare Uyghur ‹Genocide› by China

Technological identification facilitated by the US is a dangerous WASHINGTON: October 28, 2020 – U.S. senators have sought to declare that China tool that tyrannical governments can use against their own people is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims, a step that could increase pressure on Beijing over the plight of an estimated one million-plus people By Liberty Vittert | Fox News being held in detention camps, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Rep Mike Gallagher raises concerns over American companies’ possible connection to U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign China’s Uighur human rights abuses Relations Committee, and John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced a bipartisan resolution on

Rep Mike Gallagher raises concerns over American companies’ possible connection to Tuesday to designate human rights abuses perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China China’s Uighur human rights abuses and discusses how Congress can unite to fight against against the Uyghur people and other Turkic peoples in Occupied East Turkistan as a those abuses. genocide. Without garnering much public attention in Menendez and Cornyn were joined by Senators James Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Ruthe U.S., the Chinese Communist government bio (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). is currently enslaving about 1 million Uighurs The resolution stated that China›s campaign «against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz — members of a Muslim ethnic group based in and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region northwest China — in “reeducation centers” that constitutes genocide.” have been described as high-tech concentration Senator Cornyn said the bipartisan resolution “is the first step toward holding China camps. accountable for their monstrous actions.” Imprisoned Uighurs are indoctrinated with «We thank the U.S. senators for actively working to hold China accountable for its mass Communist propaganda and are forced to per- atrocities against East Turkistan and its peoples,» said Salih Hudayar, Prime Minister of form slave labor in Chinese factories. Millions the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE). more Uighurs in the Xinjiang region are subject to The resolution would hold China accountable under the 1948 United Nations Convengovernment surveillance and restrictions in what tion on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and begin the process to amounts to a Chinese police state. coordinate an international response to bring these abuses to a halt. Few Americans are aware that the unjustified ETGE urges the U.S. Senate to use the proper term East Turkistan when describing the imprisonment and persecution of the Uighurs is made possible in part by surveillance Uyghur and Turkic peoples’ homeland. technologies exported by American corporations to China. The sales of these types of tools The name “Xinjiang” is a colonial terminology meaning “the New Territory,” which was to authoritarian regimes should have been prohibited long ago. imposed on East Turkistan. However, East Turkistan’s people intensely hate it. Further-

During the presidential election campaign, President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign la- more, it wasn’t until 1955 that East Turkistan was designated as the so-called “Xinjiang beled the oppression of the Uighurs as “genocide.” Biden needs to follow through on that Uyghur Autonomous Region.” view and turn it into action after he becomes president Jan. 20 by banning sales of danger- ETGE has also been pushing a resolution since June 4, 2018, to formally recognize East ous American tech to the oppressive Chinese regime. Turkistan as a country occupied by China. To truly bring an end to the genocide and the

Databases created in the U.S. have been shared with companies in China that are linked to decades of the endless suffering of the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan, the ethnic cleansing of the Uighur Muslims. Facial recognition systems are being used in the world must acknowledge the root of the problem. East Turkistan, like Tibet, was an inChina to identify individuals as Uighur or non-Uighur. China has deported as many as 3 dependent country that was invaded and occupied by China in late 1949. The independent million of those identified Uighurs to detention camps, where torture is commonplace. East Turkistan Republic was overthrown on December 22, 1949, making East Turkistan a

Multilevel connections and partnerships between U.S. companies, investors and uni- country occupied by China. versities are interwoven into the multitude of Chinese companies supplying the technology The overwhelming majority of East Turkistan’s people believe that without our restoring to carry out police-state surveillance and ethnic cleansing East Turkistan’s independence, there is no way to truly ensure the freedoms, human rights,

Imagine walking down the street gazing at the Christmas lights twinkling away, but you and the very existence of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan. Thus, we also see a harsh-colored red light shining down on you emanating from a camera with urge the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Government, and the international community to help the artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition. Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan regain our independence.

The camera photographs your face and after you’ve ambled a little further down the ETGE is also grateful for the bipartisan work of Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) street a van pulls up, men in uniform throw you in the van and the next time you see light for passing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in September of 2020. The is as you are processed in a detention center by your own government simply for being a bill calls for enforcing human rights standards to end importing goods made with Uyghur certain ethnicity. You have no idea what has happened to your family. All they know is that and other Turkic peoples forced labor or slave labor in Chinese Occupied East Turkistan. you have disappeared. During the vote on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Congressman Chris

History is littered with stories of dissidents vanishing. Technological identification fa- Smith (R-NJ) said, “make no mistake, this is Xi Jinping’s genocide” about the genocide of cilitated by free and democratic countries like the United States is brand new and a dan- Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. gerous tool that tyrannical governments can use against their own people. Source: East Turkistan Government in Exile

As the European Union tightens restrictions on sales by member nations of facial recognition and biometric systems to other governments, the U.S. has failed to take an obvious step: ban the sale of artificial intelligence and facial-recognition systems to countries that are dictatorships with totalitarian governments. Biden should impose this ban after he becomes president.

The U.S. government’s Export Administration Regulations and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrict the import and export of items and technology sold outside of the United States involving national security.

The U.S. Commerce Department has banned Chinese facial recognition and biometric companies from buying American products because the department says the Chinese firms “ have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”

However, the U.S. hasn’t carried out a comprehensive review of emerging American technologies like mass surveillance systems, advanced biometric analysis systems and advanced facial recognition software since 2008.

Think of what has happened since 2008 to technology. We have 10 times the number of smartphones. Social media are far more widespread, with the number of Facebook monthly active users growing from 100 million 12 years ago to 2.74 billion today. Many other social media platforms that were in their infancy with far fewer users have also become far more widespread, and some didn’t even exist in 2008.

Simple commonsense dictates that a comprehensive review of artificial intelligence technology that is shaping the world is long overdue.

The high-definition cameras used by China against the Uighurs generally do not require a U.S. export license because they didn’t exist 12 years ago. This is just one of a multitude of items that have never been added to the “comprehensive list” of dangerous tech products that shouldn’t be sold to certain governments.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government is allowing advanced technology to have a life of its own, with these tools of tyranny being sold to the highest international bidder to be used for who knows what purpose.

I believe we are at the precipice of a very scary turning point in U.S. history. We need to understand the technology that we are creating in order to protect citizens of the United States and the rest of the world.

It is time for the U.S. government to step up to the plate and end the abhorrent practice of helping foreign governments commit horrific human rights abuses. Moreover, we need to have a much wider discussion about the issues surrounding the uses of these technologies right here at home, and the risk of authoritarian regimes having these technologies to use against U.S. interests in the future.

Joe Biden will have a lot on his plate when he becomes president and it’s understandable and appropriate that he is focused on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. But the Biden administration should also act to prevent China and other dictatorships from using U.S. technology to violate human rights and oppress their own people.