China\u2019s Richest Woman<\/strong><\/p>\nAs riots in Xinjiang increased in the \u201990s, Kadeer, who was the seventh richest person in China at the time, caught the eye of the CCP.<\/p>\n
The CCP asked her to be a special government \u201cconsultant\u201d on Xinjiang issues. She naively believed she could help her people this way.<\/p>\n
Kadeer was appointed as a delegate of the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference\u2014an official advisory body set up by the CCP\u2014and the National People\u2019s Congress, which is the CCP\u2019s rubber stamp legislature.<\/p>\n
Jiang Zemin, leader of the CCP and China\u2019s head of state at that time, asked her to represent the Uyghurs at the United Nations\u2019 World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.<\/p>\n
As Hillary Clinton gave her speech at the podium, Kadeer sat in the audience, flanked by three translators who were not really there to translate. <\/p>\n
Whenever Kadeer tried to speak to an international representative at the conference, her interpreters would regurgitate Party propaganda.<\/p>\n
Kadeer thought of the nine Tibetan women she had seen gagging themselves with silk scarves outside the conference, reminding the foreign press that China was silencing the voices of its minorities.<\/p>\n
She thought about how organized the Tibetans were, and how they had the Dalai Lama to advocate for them outside of China.<\/p>\n
The Uyghurs had no one. At that moment, Kadeer decided she needed to fill this void for East Turkestan.<\/p>\n
A Forbidden Speech<\/strong><\/p>\nKadeer wrote a preapproved speech for the National People\u2019s Congress. But that was not the one she planned to give.<\/p>\n
She was nervous. On the way to the stage, she accidentally tipped over a pitcher of tea on one of the tables.<\/p>\n
Three thousand congressional representatives faced her. She spoke for 27 minutes on impoverished farmers, a lacking education system, and the government\u2019s violent treatment of political prisoners.<\/p>\n
She spoke of how the farmers aren\u2019t allowed to take up manufacturing or other lines of work. Yet farmers don\u2019t receive compensation when the Chinese regime extracts natural resources from their land.<\/p>\n
The regime also employs Chinese workers in preference to Uyghurs. She spoke about how tax burdens were suffocating Uyghur business people. They have to pay excessive amounts to Chinese middlemen, and they are prohibited from conducting business with other Uyghurs.<\/p>\n
After the meeting, Li Peng, the premier of China at the time, told her she gave \u201ca very good speech, but she must discuss such problems with them first privately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three months later, she was stripped of all her titles and responsibilities.<\/p>\n
Resilience<\/strong><\/p>\nKadeer\u2019s passport was also confiscated, as were her children\u2019s and her brother\u2019s. The regime forbade her from traveling between city districts without permission.<\/p>\n
Despite such warnings, Kadeer didn\u2019t back down.<\/p>\n
With permission from officials, she started a Thousand Mothers Movement that empowered Uyghur women to start businesses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/YoungRebiya.png\")
<\/p>\n
A younger Rebiya Kadeer in Xinjiang. (Courtesy of Rebiya Kadeer)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But she made the mistake of using the word \u201cinternational\u201d during one of her speeches. The CCP feared she would gain international influence and tightened its watch. Men in dark suits followed her.<\/p>\n
Before it was too late, Kadeer managed to send her second husband and her four youngest children to the United States. <\/p>\n
Kekenus Sidik, her youngest daughter, remembers leaving China at age 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even know she wasn\u2019t coming with us until we got on the plane and I saw that she wasn\u2019t there,\u201d Sidik said.<\/p>\n
Little did Kadeer know that she would go to prison within the next year for planning to pass on newspaper clippings to the U.S. Congress about a massacre in Xinjiang. She was charged with \u201cleaking national security information,\u201d even though the information was published in Chinese newspapers.<\/p>\n
Not until Sidik was 14 would she see her mother again.<\/p>\n
The Release<\/strong><\/p>\nWith combined efforts from organizations such as Amnesty International and Freedom House, Kadeer won the Rafto Prize for human rights while in prison, and it attracted international attention.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured Kadeer\u2019s release in 2005, when Kadeer was freed on medical grounds.<\/p>\n
As soon as Kadeer arrived in Washington D.C., her first instinct was to carry on with her activism.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the world was watching, I\u2019m alive,\u201d Kadeer said. \u201cThere are thousands of Uyghurs who die because no one knows they are dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She felt she could not afford to waste time because the regime\u2019s horrific treatment of Uyghurs was not limited to nuclear tests. Since 1991, the Chinese medical industry has been harvesting the organs of live Uyghur prisoners, investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann wrote in his book, \u201cThe Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China\u2019s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chinese regime has also enforced policies that aim to systematically eradicate Uyghur culture. Schools in Xinjiang are increasingly adopting Chinese as the primary language of instruction. Many urban schools teach only in Chinese. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the young, college-educated Uyghurs whom I\u2019ve spoken genuinely fear that in the not-so-distant future Uyghurs will be mono-lingual Chinese speakers who know little about Uyghur history or Islam,\u201d said Timothy Grose, an assistant professor of China Studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology who specializes in Uyghur research.<\/p>\n
But it was difficult at first for Kadeer to carry on with the energy of her former self right after her release. She was mentally unstable after her imprisonment, especially after solitary confinement.<\/p>\n
In Kadeer\u2019s memoir \u201cDragon Fighter: One Woman\u2019s Epic Struggle for Peace With China,\u201d she wrote about how for some time she\u2019d sit in her kitchen in Virginia and relive old conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s irrelevant to me whether you see me as guilty or a prisoner. It doesn\u2019t matter if you beat me or kill me,\u201d she\u2019d shout to herself over and over again. \u201cI will not accept your command. I will not!\u201d<\/p>\n
Staying Sharp<\/strong><\/p>\nTen years later, Kadeer has recovered and her mind is sharp\u2014as sharp as it was when she turned a one-woman laundry business where she hand washed clothes in a shoddy apartment into a multimillion-dollar trading empire.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand how capable she is,\u201d said Dru Gladney, a Pomona College anthropology professor who has authored books on China\u2019s Muslim minority. \u201cShe\u2019s a moderate, intelligent Muslim woman who was successful in business not only in China but also in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, at events and meetings with the State Department and Commission on China, she discusses the global Uyghur refugee situation and the CCP\u2019s confiscation of Uyghur passports.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, Kadeer has managed to get funding from the National Endowment for Democracy and private donors for the two organizations she heads, the Uyghur American Association and the World Uyghur Congress, at a time when it is very difficult for Muslim groups to receive financial support.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to unnerve Kadeer, the Chinese regime imprisoned four of her children in 2006. (Kadeer\u2019s children were gradually released. The last one was released this May.)<\/p>\n
After the initial arrest of her children, Kadeer gave a firm Radio Free Asia interview stating that she won\u2019t give up her activism.<\/p>\n
After the microphone turned off, she burst into tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I stop now they will free my four children,\u201d she said in a documentary about her called \u201cThe 10 Conditions of Love.\u201d \u201cBut they will eliminate my land and people. Then my happiness will become my people\u2019s blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018Osama bin Laden of China\u2019 or The \u2018Dalai Lama of Xinjiang\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\nSince Kadeer\u2019s release from China, the Uyghurs\u2019 efforts to tell their story have become more organized and effective\u2014holding conferences across the world and meeting with government officials not only in the United States but also in Europe and Australia.<\/p>\n
Kadeer is often referred to as the \u201cDalai Lama of Xinjiang,\u201d which is not entirely accurate, since, unlike the Dalai Lama, she is not a religious leader for the Uyghurs. The Chinese regime calls her the \u201cOsama bin Laden of China.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the United States turned its foreign policy focus on counterterrorism after 9\/11, China took the opportunity to form an alliance with President George W. Bush, insinuating that the Uyghurs were connected to global terrorist groups.<\/p>\n
There is a small group of Uyghurs called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement who react violently to the Chinese regime\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n
This is one of the reasons why Uyghurs have not received as much sympathy from the West as Tibetans, even though the terrorism claim is unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/20150820-RebiyaKadeer-SamiraBouaou-0784.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress with the Dalai Lama in a photograph at her home. (Samira Bouaou\/Epoch Times)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are mostly interested in the liberation of East Turkestan, not global jihadists\u2019 goals,\u201d said Gladney, noting that the practices of al-Qaeda\u2014such as suicide bombers, infrastructure tax, and large sophisticated weaponry\u2014do not appear in violent Uyghur attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the incidents, increasing in last five years, have shown that they\u2019re not extremely well organized,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s sporadic, small-scale acts of violence using knives, maybe a few guns, maybe a jeep but they\u2019re not an organization that suggests they\u2019re manipulated by global terrorist organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bush has since then recognized that Uyghurs are not connected to jihadi.<\/p>\n
Kadeer met privately with President George W. Bush at a 2007 conference on democracy and security in Prague, where he praised Kadeer as \u201cfar more valuable than the weapons of [China\u2019s] army or oil under the ground,\u201d according to an archived White House press release.<\/p>\n
The Uyghur American Association in D.C. spends a lot of time investigating and debunking rumors that claim random tragedies\u2014such as the catastrophic explosion and fire earlier this month in Tianjin, or the Aug. 18 bombing of a Buddhist shrine in Bangkok\u2014are the work of Uyghur terrorists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CCP would like Uyghurs to become terrorists so they can have a license to kill,\u201d Kadeer said. \u201cBut we will not be violent. We will not give them what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Kadeer\u2019s children who still live in Xinjiang, many of them are in a dire situation. They are living under house arrest and barred from finding employment. They are also not allowed to receive financial support from Kadeer.<\/p>\n
Kanat, the director of the International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation, said the regime would treat such support as \u201cequivalent to someone in the U.S. receiving money from al-Qaeda.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Long Road<\/strong><\/p>\nKadeer and Kanat rest at a Pret a Manger after a meeting. They order hot milk tea even though it was a sultry afternoon. Michael Bubl\u00e9\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s a Beautiful Day\u201d blasts from the stereo, but Kadeer\u2019s thoughts are deeply moored in East Turketan.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/20150820-RebiyaKadeer-SamiraBouaou-0905.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, on her way to her office in Washington on Aug. 20. (Samira Bouaou\/Epoch Times)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Although Kadeer was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, she knows she has not completed her life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil my people are free I cannot rest,\u201d she said in Mandarin. \u201cIf I don\u2019t work I feel tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her work ahead is difficult, for there is a division among Uyghurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome Uyghurs wish she\u2019d speak up for independence,\u201d said Gladney. \u201cSo far, the World Uyghur Congress has adopted a platform like the Tibetans\u2014one of human rights and greater autonomy. It falls short of independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kadeer doesn\u2019t worry and focuses on what she can do presently.<\/p>\n
Whenever an opportunity comes up, she leaves in a jiffy. \u201cSometimes I don\u2019t even know she has left the country until she calls from another country,\u201d her daughter Sidik said.<\/p>\n
Kadeer frequently travels and speaks to media around the world\u2014from Australia, to Germany, to Japan, where she was re-elected president of the World Uyghur Congress in 2012.<\/p>\n
Worse yet, another difficulty that Kadeer faces is the ever changing nature of U.S.\u2013China relations.<\/p>\n
President Bush had received Kadeer at the White House. But the Obama administration, which has invited the Dalai Lama, did not invite Kadeer.<\/p>\n
Kadeer has earned the respect of officials in Washington though, according to S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, who has attended meetings with Kadeer.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/20150820-RebiyaKadeer-SamiraBouaou-1134.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, at her office in Washington on Aug. 20, 2015. (Samira Bouaou\/Epoch Times)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHowever, the disinterest of the Department of State \u2026 has limited Ms. Kadeer\u2019s impact, unfortunately,\u201d Starr said.<\/p>\n
Another setback is that the Uyghur American Association is working with a limited staff of six.<\/p>\n
Kanat was hospitalized for heart pains on a Sunday, Aug. 23. He continued to make work calls from the hospital and returned to the office the following Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very few people, but we have a lot of problems with the Chinese government,\u201d Kanat said.<\/p>\n
Still, there is the issue that the Uyghurs are not as famous as the Tibetans.<\/p>\n
Kadeer is unnoticed most of the time when she walks the streets of D.C. and dines in its restaurants. If the Dalai Lama were in such public places, it would be a different scenario.<\/p>\n
But Kadeer is not discouraged by that. She never has been.<\/p>\n
When Kadeer was an uneducated Muslim housewife, her community said that her life was over after her first husband\u2014whom she had six children with\u2014left. Yet after the divorce, she became a business tycoon.<\/p>\n
So what would stop Kadeer from believing that she can bring freedom to the Uyghurs?<\/p>\n
She expects to return to an autonomous East Turkestan within the next 10 years. Even though she\u2019s lived in the United States for a decade, she still keeps a Chinese passport. <\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/images\/20150820-RebiyaKadeer-SamiraBouaou-0743-674x1011.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, at her home in Virginia on Aug. 20, 2015. (Samira Bouaou\/Epoch Times)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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