The New Dominion

Unfortunately, the academic discussion of Uyghur issues inside of China is fettered by a closed environment which follows very narrow avenues of discussion and for the most part accepts only those conclusions which are in line with the Party’s expectations. It’s therefore pretty refreshing to hear of the book My Far West, Your East Turkistan, written by the Han dissident intellectual Wang Lixiong, which circumvents the usually stultified discussion of Uyghurs by, naturally, being published in Taiwan. Though the work has yet to be translated into English (I think), for now, we get the next best thing in the form of a book review by Sebastian Veg hosted in full by The China Beat. Here’s Part 1, and Part 2.

Having not read the book myself yet, there’s little I can do except point to Veg’s thoughts on the topic. I can say that through the eyes of Veg, Wang’s work appears to be a fascinating read particularly because of Wang’s experience in a Xinjiang jail (he was imprisoned for copying XPCC documents, go figure) where apparently he covered a lot of ground with his Uyghur cellmate, Mukhtar, who was jailed for organizing protests. Such a scenario would provide an exceedingly rare opportunity for frank dialogue between a sympathetic Han and an outspoken Uyghur, because hey, once you’re in jail, what’s stopping you from being open?

Veg does criticize Wang for not fully fleshing out the political and philosophical underpinnings behind his conclusions on Xinjiang: greater autonomy that would flow from a more even-keeled application of representative democracy throughout China. Veg instead argues that a more practical approach would be to use the legal resources at hand, namely, the "Laws on Self-Autonomy in Minority Regions" which provides the political and legal structure for greater autonomy in areas like Xinjiang but remain, to quote Veg, a "political fiction." I share Veg’s frustration at the existence of laws that would provide greater equality and autonomy for Uyghurs if only they were actually applied.

Wang’s greatest merit, in Veg’s eyes, is his openness to dialogue and public discussion, as well as his ability to paint a "a sympathetic portrait of ‘ordinary Uyghurs,’ far removed from the usual clichés of official discourse, exoticism, or commonly repeated slurs — an important accomplishment that may act as bridge towards even-minded ordinary Han Chinese citizens." Indeed, it is refreshing to see that there are PRC intellectuals that are willing to hold discussions of Uyghurs outside the politically enforced norm – provided their publishing agent is in Taiwan.