China seeks Turkish support for its policies on Xinjiang

Beijing’s main aim in far western region is fighting terrorism and separatism, Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells his Turkish counterpart on trip to Ankara
Uygurs in Turkey fear they could be extradited to China under new agreement between the two countries

US-China relations

Mimi Lau

Published: 9:00pm, 26 Mar 2021

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China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi sought to win support for Beijing’s policies on Xinjiang during his visit to Turkey, while also pledging to buy more Turkish products and agreeing to a currency exchange deal to help alleviate the country’s economic problems.

Wang met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Thursday during a trip to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He told Cavusoglu that the essence of Beijing’s Xinjiang policy was fighting terrorism and separatism.

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According to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang urged Cavusoglu to extend his support for China on issues related to its core interests, just as Beijing supported Turkey’s sovereignty and its right to choose a social system and model of economic development.

He suggested the two sides make use of cooperative mechanisms to increase exports of Turkish products to China, local currency settlements, infrastructure construction and people-to-people exchanges.

Turkey is facing currency, banking and sovereign debt crises, which have led to a depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar, high inflation and a widening trade deficit.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi bumps elbows with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Photo: EPA-EFE Photo: Xinhua

After the meeting, Cavusoglu tweeted that he had conveyed the Turkish authorities’ “sensitivity and thoughts on Uygur Turks” amid protests staged by members of the ethnic minority group in Istanbul. The protesters are seeking reassurance from the government that they will be protected in the event of Beijing putting diplomatic pressure on Ankara.

Activists among the estimated 50,000 Uygurs living in Turkey fear Ankara’s dependence on Beijing for Covid-19 vaccines and economic support could put them at risk under a 2017 extradition treaty between the two countries, which was ratified by Beijing in December but has yet to be discussed in the Turkish parliament.

Turkey has received 15 million doses of a vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and ordered tens of millions more. This week, it also received 1.4 million doses of the vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech, its first significant batch of a non-Chinese product.

On Wednesday, Cavusoglu met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Nato Foreign Ministerial conference in Brussels.

The US and Turkey are at loggerheads over a number of issues, including Ankara’s purchase of a US$2.5 billion anti-aircraft system from Russia. Several senior Turkish defence industry officials have also been sanctioned by the US.

Erdogan said in his meeting with Wang that Turkey was firmly against any form of terrorism and expressed his wish to build closer ties with China, including on vaccine cooperation. In January, he appeared on television receiving a Sinovac jab.

The two nations also discussed ways to enhance high-level exchanges, boost mutual trust, promote China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Turkey’s “Middle Corridor” plan.