White House taps Uighur American scholar for pivotal role in US-China relations

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

While the media has been quick to bash President Donald Trump over his ongoing trade war with China, most outlets have largely overlooked the human rights abuses by the nation’s communist regime, much of which has been targeted at the Chinese Uighur Muslim minority that lives in western China.

But in a strong move by Trump fighting back against such prejudices, the White House has reportedly tapped a Uighur American academic named Elnigar Iltebir to serve as the National Security Council’s (NSC) director of China policy.

Confronting China

Citing unnamed “current and former U.S. officials,” ForeignPolicy.com (FP) reported that the White House had, without fanfare, appointed Iltebir to be in charge of shaping and executing the administration’s policies on China as part of the NSC, a position that will cover issues like China’s alleged human rights violations against the Uighur minority.

Iltebir reportedly attended George Washington University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government prior to earning a Ph.D. in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland.

Her family originally came from the Xinjiang province in northwestern China, which is home to millions of Uighur Muslims and has been harshly cracked down upon by the Chinese government. China is alleged to have detained upwards of 2 million minority Muslims — many of them Uighurs — in actual concentration camps where they are allegedly tortured for unspecified periods of time without trial — or worse.

In addition to the mass detentions of Muslim minorities, the Chinese government also stands accused of imposing intrusive mass surveillance on the population in the region and of destroying Islamic mosques in the area, among other heavy-handed and repressive tactics that are purported to be aimed at cracking down on religious extremism.

Fixing the problem

Iltebir’s placement on the NSC is big news for U.S. policy with China, according to the Asia Pacific advocacy manager of Amnesty International, Francisco Bencosme. “The possibility that there could be a Uighur negotiating opposite Chinese government officials is really powerful,” he told FP.

Bencosme also noted that Iltebir’s appointment would not only bring a distinct diversity and insight to the NSC team, but could also inform certain administration policies that would directly benefit the oppressed peoples.

He said such policies could include “accountability of Chinese officials, or raising at the highest levels what’s happening in Xinjiang, or supporting civil society that’s been harassed by Chinese officials.”

Are the gloves coming off?

To be sure, while the Trump administration has officially condemned the alleged mistreatment of the Uighur people on more than one occasion — just last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to it as one of the worst human rights abuses of our time and the “stain of the century” — the issue has largely been kept on the back burner in light of delicate trade deal negotiations that are ongoing.

Indeed, it was reported in June that Vice President Mike Pence was set to deliver an important speech that would announce new sanctions on Chinese surveillance businesses that have taken part in the alleged abuses, but that speech was called off at the last moment ahead of an important meeting with Chinese officials at the G-20 economic summit.

That said, this move by Trump to place a well-educated and highly-capable Uighur American academic on the NSC to take charge over the administration’s China policy suggests that the White House intends to be a bit less subtle going forward in pressuring China over their abhorrent actions.

245 Responses

  1. Enjoyed examining this, very good stuff, thanks . “Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.” by William Shakespeare.

  2. Hi there! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My web site looks weird when viewing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to fix this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share. With thanks!

  3. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a great blog like this one these days..

  4. we are a company located in humboldt county CA we have a large selection of top shelf marijuana strains, we also have vapes, edibles and more. Our customers are our top priority, please contact us if you have questions like where to buy cannabis online in restricted states/countries.

  5. I have been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Reading this information So i’m happy to convey that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I most certainly will make certain to don’t forget this web site and give it a look on a constant basis.

  6. Thanks for this article. I will also like to talk about the fact that it can always be hard when you’re in school and simply starting out to initiate a long credit rating. There are many students who are just trying to endure and have a good or positive credit history are often a difficult issue to have.

  7. My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you? I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome blog!

  8. Hello! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one? Thanks a lot!

  9. Have you ever thought about writing an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.

  10. Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any suggestions for first-time blog writers? I’d definitely appreciate it.

  11. This design is spectacular! You obviously know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  12. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My website discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!

  13. I’m curious to find out what blog platform you have been using? I’m having some minor security problems with my latest website and I’d like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any recommendations?

  14. Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My blog site is in the exact same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks a lot!

  15. hey there and thank you for your information I have certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this website, as I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and could damage your quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you update this again soon..

  16. With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help reduce content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.

  17. Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very hard to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appearance. I must say you have done a very good job with this. Also, the blog loads extremely fast for me on Firefox. Exceptional Blog!

  18. Very good blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely confused .. Any tips? Thank you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular