Melbourne Chinese snub Kadeer
- Source: Global times
- [01:08 August 10 2009]
- Comments
By Chen Feng in Sydney and Yu Miao in Beijing
Rebiya Kadeer’s visit to Australia reached its climax over the weekend as the Uygur separatist was welcomed as a guest of honor at the Melbourne Film Festival.
Kadeer, the alleged mastermind behind the July 5 riots in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, arrived Tuesday in Australia to support a decision by festival organizers to screen a documentary of her.
The 62-year-old woman is seemingly enjoying her trip to Australia, as the country seems willing to risk relations with its biggest trade partner – China – just for a separatist.
According to The Australian newspaper, Kadeer praised the Australian government for granting her a visit.
“In the future I would love to meet high-level Australian officials. I’m sure I will meet them, if not on this visit, then in the future,” she told the newspaper Saturday, adding that “the Rudd government should urge Beijing to engage in dialogue with her and the World Uyghur Congress.”
The newspaper also reported that Melbourne federal Labor parliament member Michael Danby, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs subcommittee, “will join Kadeer at the launch tonight (Saturday) of the film.”
However, the cost to Australia for entertaining Kadeer is piling up much faster than the rise in ticket sales of the festival.
According to The Age newspaper, China’s consul-general in Melbourne, Shen Weilian, requested an urgent meeting with Lord Mayor Robert Doyle on Thursday, demanding that the mayor stop the screening or risk jeopardizing Melbourne’s 29-year sister-city relationship with Tianjin.
Also Saturday, dozens of pro-China protesters and Uygur separatists traded insults outside the Town Hall, with each side condemning the other as “terrorists.”
Several overseas Chinese groups headed by the Federation of Chinese Association of Victoria also expressed their strong opposition by holding press conferences and publishing articles in local English newspapers to tell Australians about the separatist truth of Kadeer.
Aolei Xueyuan, chairman of the Southeastern Region Chinese Friendship Center of Victoria, whose many members originate from Xinjiang, is of the Chinese Daur ethnic group.
Xueyuan told the Global Times that Kadeer and her World Uyghur Congress don’t represent the 8 million Uygur people in Xinjaing, not to mention the other ethnic groups in the region.
She added that the Melbourne film festival’s decision to invite Kadeer had hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
However, the Australian government is apparently very much motivated to back Kadeer, regardless of China’s warnings.
“The Rudd government does not believe Kadeer is a terrorist, nor does it believe she played any role in instigating the violence (in Xinjiang),” The Australian said Saturday.
“They (the Rudd administration) found the Chinese charges (against Kadeer) to be baseless. In short, the Chinese were lying about Kadeer,” the newspaper said.
Agencies contributed to this story
