How Syria’s civil war drew Uygur fighters and shaped the separatist group TIP in China’s crosshairs

The ETIM was delisted as a terror group by the US, but its successor – the Turkistan Islamic Party – has links to al-Qaeda, and a stable of Uygur fighters in Syria

China’s clampdown on Uygurs has fuelled radicalisation, prompting many to ‘flee right into the arms of militant groups’, according to an analyst

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Muhammed Amin, an ethnic Uygur fighting for Islamic State in Syria. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:00pm, 29 Nov 2020Updated: 3:05am, 30 Nov 2020

When the US last month removed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from its list of terrorist organisations, China hit back at its “two-faced approach” to confronting extremist groups. Beijing blames ETIM for attacks in Xinjiang province, home to China’s mostly Muslim Uygur population.

The US delisting decision was made quietly and under orders from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while the country was in the throes of the presidential election campaign. A State Department spokesperson said that “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist”.

Some experts agreed ETIM was no longer significant, while others interpreted it as a sign of Washington’s continued pressure on Beijing over its treatment of Uygurs, which Human Rights Watch has condemned.

Beijing is accused of mass arbitrary detention of at least 1 million Uygurs and enforced disappearances, although it has denied these allegations and maintained that the camps provide vocational training.

Indonesian Muslims gather in front of China’s embassy in Jakarta to protest against the alleged repression of the Uygurs. Photo: dpa

Sean R. Roberts, a professor of international development studies at George Washington University, said the listing of ETIM as a terrorist organisation had for almost two decades “hung over the entire Uygur population as a dark cloud”.

“That helped to instil doubt about Uygur grievances against the Chinese state in the eyes of the international community,” said the author of The War on the Uygurs, which was published in September.