Young Uygurs look to sue

▶ Fighting back over Aussie’s ‘ forced labor’ report

Nuradli Wublikas, a young Uygur man from Kashi of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, plans to sue Australian think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute ( ASPI) for its report on so- called forced labor in Xinjiang, as the ASPI report has hurt the image of the Uygur group and undermines its employment opportunities.

In April, led by the 26- year- old Nuradli, a group of young Uygur people living in Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan Province, coauthored a joint letter and called on more Uygur people whose interests have been hurt by ASPI’s report on “forced labor” in China to join their quest to sue the Australian think tank.

In February 2020, ASPI released a report claiming that the Chinese government “forced” the massive labor transfer of Uygur people from the Xinjiang region to factories in other cities in China.

In November 2020, the US Commerce Department announced sanctions on Chinese companies over allegations of “forced labor.”

“I noticed my hometown Xinjiang has long been slandered. After hearing the news on ASPI’s report, I found it and read through it with the help of a translator,” Nuradli told the Global Times.

“The report is full of lies! I was born and raised in Xinjiang and know so many Uygurs living and working in other cities across the country, and no one is ‘ forced’ to work outside! It really made me angry that we Uygurs are portrayed by the Australian think tank report as lazy people who need to be ‘ forced’ to work,” he said.

The irresponsible slander of “forced labor” has angered not only Nuradli but also many other people from Xinjiang. In April, when having dinner with a friend from Kashi who worked in Zhangjiajie, Hunan, Nuradli talked about his dissatisfaction with ASPI and Western media.

“I told him that I wanted to do something and he said the same. We talked for a long time. That night, I wrote a letter of nearly 2,000 words in both Chinese and the Uygur language, calling for more people to join us to sue ASPI. After jointly polishing it for more than a week, we posted it on WeChat,” said Nuradli.

The letter was soon reposted and shared by many people, with more than 1 million people having read it and many friends calling to ask if they could join. Kudlik Kadir, who graduated from Jishou University two years before Nuradli, is one of them.

“After reading Nuradli’s letter, I felt touched and excited, and felt that we Uygurs are obliged to stand up to voice our dissatisfaction with slander from the West. I want to do this with Nuradli,” Kudlik said.

To gain attention, they organized some activities in a restaurant – all the waiters and waitresses wore Tshirts with the words “Support Chinamade products and support Xinjiang region” printed on them and customers at the restaurant were given gifts decorated with Xinjiang cotton.

However, lawyers suggested that it will be hard to file the case since Nuradli and Kudlik were not directly affected by the ASPI report and the law cannot support a lawsuit against an infringement that has not yet happened. As for those who have lost their jobs due to the ASPI report, it is hard to prove a link between their sacking and the impact of the report.

“Although we are facing many difficulties, we will not give up... We will do our best to make ASPI apologize for having hurt us!” Nuradli said.