CHINA / POLITICS
Uygur bill by the US merely a crafted semantic game: think tank report
Published: Jun 19, 2020 06:18 PM

Xinjiang Photo: VCG



The latest US Uygur bill is merely "a crafted semantic game" with illogical accusations and untrusted sources, which reflects the double standards and hegemonic logic of the US in dealing with terrorism and against China, according to a research report released on Friday by a Chinese think tank.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which accuses China of "human rights violations" in its Xinjiang region. Different institutes and experts in China, including those from the Xinjiang region, as well as residents of Xinjiang have condemned the US interference in China's domestic affairs.

The research report, titled Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act: A Crafted Semantic Game, was compiled by Yan Qing and his team at the Institute for Communication and National Governance at Jinan University, in South China's Guangdong Province.

"We have noticed that different versions of the US Uygur bill contain contradicting claims, fake news and illogical content," Yan told the Global Times. 

The team analyzed the three versions of the bill, including the first version passed by the US Senate on September 11, 2019. On December 3, 2019, the House of Representatives passed a second version. The bill was then returned to the Senate for revision and finally sent back to the House to form the third version, which was signed by Trump on Wednesday.

The report said the source quoted by the Uygur bill lacks legitimacy and has not been verified.

"For example, all versions of the bill claim China detained Muslims in Xinjiang, but the number in the first version is 0.8-2 million, the second claims 2 million, and the last says over 1 million. All these numbers came from US-financed nongovernmental organizations, think tanks and anti-China media," Yan said.   

In newsgathering and writing, the principle "a single source does not stand" means that in addition to interviewing core sources, multiple sources should be cross-checked, and that is also the basic operation of specifying a news report. Most of the information in the Uygur bill comes from news media and human rights reports, not the core source, according to the report. 

A notable example of this is information pertaining to Xinjiang's vocational education and training centers, which have been reported by many media around the world. The Chinese government has made details of the centers clear on many occasions and in various ways. "However, statements in the Uygur bill about vocational education and training centers are all attributed to the media or foundations that represent US government interests," read the report.

People need to be warned that the US government is good at using linguistic strategies to bring China's Xinjiang issues to a perceived state of historical nihilism. It can be said that the introduction of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act in the United States is more like a carefully crafted semantic game, according to the report.