China is being faced with multi dimensional problems. The
sudden outbreak of the novel corona pandemic, influx of patients over health
facilities, global bashing of its political policies and above all the criticism
by world community for not taking the into confidence regarding the Wuhan
mishap. Some are viewing it as a setback for China at the international stage
yet China is pursuing its national interests. China is keeping a vigilant eye on
all those who are defying it policies which it terms as anti state elements.
Starting from powerful states like USA, India and Russia down to its own
minorities like Uyghur Muslim community of Xinjiang province, China is following
a proactive approach. The case of Uyghur Muslims is very unique as thousands of
them have fled to the foreign countries claiming to be in fear of persecution by
the Chinese government. They have applied for political asylum abroad. It is a
cause of great concern for Chinese authorities that such Uyghur people might
prove detrimental to the Chinese national interests. To rigorously monitor their
activities and to counter any such anti China move by them, the Chinese
government has hired many locals and foreigners for espionage. There are
hundreds of Uyghur Muslims based in Thailand and Malaysia who are residing there
as refugees or asylum seekers. The very existence of such Uyghur Muslims is
threatened by the fact that Myanmar government is lacking resources to check the
activities of its expatriates abroad while China has no such scarcity. Since
Malaysia is host to a very significant number of Uyghur people so China is
taking special measures to monitor their activities there. These Uyghur people,
mostly students, are living on their own and mostly in a peaceful manner but
still there is no accurate facts and figures regarding their actual numbers.
Another question mark is how many of them are properly registered with the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR. Before corona pandemic, the
monitoring of Uyghur Muslims was very easy but corona outbreak it has become a
mammoth task for China to hire people for Uyghur espionage. It is searching for
people based in Malaysia to pursue this task. Anybody can be on their payroll
regardless of his or her profession. One can be an academic, a doctor, lawyer,
engineer, shopkeeper or even a labourer to qualify for this task. Some reliable
sources at the Chinese embassy at Kuala Lumpur have confirmed that there is a
staff of 60 members in it and out of these numbers, ten officers are directly
linked to the Chinese intelligence agencies whose main task is to monitor the
activities of Uyghur people. This author have interviewed many Uyghur people in
Malaysia. They love their homeland but they prefer staying in Malaysia due to
the religious freedom there. They were of the view that in Malaysia they live a
life of their own choice. They can even collect charities for their religious
rituals and even collect funds from abroad. Such type of liberties are not
available for them on Chinese soil. Another attraction for them is the very easy
access to the Internet especially social media. They can easily express their
political, social and religious beliefs without any fear of persecution from
Chinese authorities. There is another aspect to this phenomenon. A top security
agency officer on the condition of anonymity told this author that after the
US-Taliban peace deal, around 3000 Uyghur Muslim families have been shifted to
Badakhshan area bordering China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. All this was
sanctioned by the Haqqani Network supremoSirajuddinHaqqani. Another impact of
US-Taliban deal is that most of the Uyghur fighters working for Al-Qaeda have
now switched their loyalties to Daaish. These Uyghur fighters have been
instructed to leave major cities and spread across the rural areas. These Uyghur
fighters are being supported by Turkey and Iran. Turkey is supporting them due
their Turkish origin. Similarly many of Uyghur people have migrated to Irani
areas and Iran is supporting them as it wants them to be used as a pawn to
disrupt the US-Taliban peace talks. All these factors are adding to the problems
of the Chinese authorities. After a co. Comprehensive and exhaustive research of
5 years, this author has written a detailed paper for Chinese government
elaborating ways and means on how to tackle the Uyghur issue in the most
peaceful and formidable manner. This research is based on surveys, interviews,
data analysis and some earth shattering intelligence information received from
many credible resources. Hope the Chinese authorities will focus on dealing the
Uyghur issue in a very tactful manner.