TURKEY: Government defends Chinese Uighur minority

When Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, he was aligning himself with his fellow Muslims.

Now he’s picking up the standard of the Uighurs in northwest China.

The Uighurs, who like  the Turks are an ethically Turkic and Sunni Muslim people, are the focus of riots in Xinjiang Province, sparking tensions with both the Chinese government and members of the Han Chinese ethnic group.

In response to ethnic violence as a result of the riots, Erdogan didn’t mince words: “These incidents in China are as if they are genocide…. We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents. There is clearly a savagery here.”

The Turks have rushed to the defense of the Uighurs, while the Iranian government has remained silent, even alleging that the Uighurs were acting at the behest of the U.S. 

Iran has fashioned itself as a leader of Muslims worldwide, but the unrest following the Iranian elections may be keeping the government silent.

IRAN: Are China's Muslims worthy of Islamic Republic's support?

Although Iranian authorities were quick to condemn the killing of a Muslim Egyptian woman by an alleged racist in a German courtroom last week, allowing protesters to organize a demonstration and hurl eggs at the German Embassy in Tehran, they've been less than compassionate about scores of Muslims killed in western China.

"The United States is behind the riots in Xinjiang," said an analysis published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA. "Living conditions have improved for the Chinese Muslims. These riots have no religious aspect and they are just the outcome of a U.S. conspiracy. However, the Western media have exaggerated the events in Xinjiang."

The government's domestic critics have been outraged by its response. Already emboldened and angered by the marred reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they have been quick to pounce. 

IRAN: Despite sanctions, business as usual

A South Korean firm announced Sunday that it had completed construction of a $2.1-billion natural-gas processing plant in Iran, the latest sign that years of Western efforts to isolate Iran economically were not not having a huge effect.

South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction Co., the country's No. 2 builder, said Sunday it had finished the plant in Assaluyeh, in southern Iran, according to South Korea's official Yonhap news agency.

The company began construction of the plant in 2003. It will be able to produce 19 million tons of natural gas a year.

The announcement comes a day after Iran announced it had signed a $3.2-billion deal with China for exploitation of the gigantic South Pars natural-gas field in the Persian Gulf.

China's vote of confidence in the Iranian energy market came, coincidentally,  just shortly after Chinese leader Wen Jiabao voiced worry about the solvency of the United States.

IRAQ: Homeless in Baghdad

It's bad enough to be homeless. It's worse to be homeless in a war-torn city such as Baghdad. But to be homeless and without even a country to claim you as a citizen? That is the apparent plight of a family living outside a five-star hotel in the Iraqi capital. As we wrote in today's story, Allia Abbis Ali Kassem Tibiti and her parents claim to be from Tibet and moved into their spot because the Chinese Embassy is inside the hotel across the street. They're hoping their presence will force the Chinese to grant them citizenship documents and let them leave Iraq.

EGYPT: Welcome China

Chinatown in Cairo? Perhaps, one day. China’s rising stature and economic power has Egyptians curious about learning Chinese.

Al Ahram weekly reports that the Chinese government is building a $3.75-million school in Egypt to teach Chinese language and history.

“The Chinese are not coming; they’re already here,” states the article, which notes that even traditional Ramadan lanterns hanging throughout Cairo were manufactured in China. “So pervasive have Chinese products and the Chinese people who make them become in Egypt that a Chinatown could well be built here in a few years.”

After Arabic, English is the second-most popular language in Egypt, but for many here, Chinese is the global language of tomorrow.

Since the end of colonialism, Egypt and much of the region, especially in the last eight years, have grown mistrustful and wary of the West. A glimpse eastward is intriguing.

“I would rather let my boy study Chinese, rather than any other common language,” Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, an Egyptian engineer, told the newspaper. “The future is now in China, its culture, industry, language and education.”

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: A group of Chinese students. Credit: United Nations