ETGE condemns appointment of Chen Xiaojiang, warns of intensified genocide in occupied East Turkistan

Washington DC [US], July 2 (ANI): The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) condemns and rejects the Chinese Communist Party's designation of Chen Xiaojiang as the new Party Secretary for Occupied East Turkistan, which the Chinese occupation regime refers to as the so-called "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region."
This action is not a mere bureaucratic adjustment; it is a deliberate political strategy aimed at further intensifying China's ongoing genocide against the Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic groups, while also solidifying the totalitarian occupation of East Turkistan.
As stated in the ETGE's release, Chen Xiaojiang, who serves as a vice minister in the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, the CCP's chief agency for political warfare and civilian intelligence, has been instrumental in promoting the Party's efforts to quash Uyghur and other Turkic opposition to Chinese domination both within Occupied East Turkistan and internationally.
In his capacity as head of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Chen has further entrenched the CCP's policy of national erasure aimed at non-Chinese populations under the guise of "ethnic unity," thereby strengthening the apparatus of ideological control, forced assimilation, and state-sanctioned genocide.
The United Front Work Department plays a direct role in overseeing the CCP's influence over non-Chinese ethnic groups, religious communities, diaspora populations, and foreign targets. It functions in collaboration with the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), and is accountable for surveillance, coercion, co-optation, as well as psychological and political operations intended to reinforce Party dominance. Chen's appointment as Party Secretary places a highly experienced architect of political oppression and colonial control at the forefront of the regime's efforts in East Turkistan, as highlighted in the ETGE release.
"China has appointed Chen Xiaojiang as the CCP Secretary of Occupied East Turkistan, putting him in direct oversight of the ongoing Uyghur Genocide," stated Salih Hudayar, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Security of the East Turkistan Government in Exile.
"As a former senior figure in the United Front Work Department, Chen now merges propaganda, intelligence coordination, and oppression into a single role; his position is akin to that of Beria, Goebbels, and Himmler combined. This appointment signifies a further tightening of the genocidal grip exerted by the Chinese Communist regime and should be regarded as a significant escalation by the international community."
Chen's appointment denotes an intensification of China's genocidal strategies in Occupied East Turkistan and must be interpreted as a serious warning of heightened repression, as emphasised by the ETGE release.
First, this development is anticipated to strengthen and broaden current genocidal and assimilationist initiatives. Given China's established genocidal practices and Chen's previous roles, it is likely that repression of Uyghur/Turkic cultural, linguistic, and religious identities will escalate. The mass internment and forced indoctrination strategies, branded as "re-education," "patriotic education," and "de-extremification," have historically served as tools of genocide and sinicization. Their further proliferation would intensify efforts not only to eliminate the ethnic and national identity of East Turkistan's indigenous populations but also to extinguish their very existence and solidify Chinese settler-colonial domination.
Secondly, the appointment seems aimed at shaping international perceptions. The Chinese government is portraying Chen's rise as indicative of expertise in ethnic affairs. In truth, it represents a strategic pivot towards deeper ideological control and information manipulation, intended to discredit East Turkistani/Uyghur voices and broaden disinformation efforts designed to obscure Beijing's atrocities and undermine support for East Turkistan's quest for decolonisation, justice, and national self-determination.
Third, this action likely indicates a wider increase in surveillance and coercion technologies throughout East Turkistan. Considering Chen's prior role in political warfare and influence tactics, it is anticipated that the use of biometric surveillance, facial recognition, and digital oppression tools will expand under misleading justifications of "anti-extremism, anti-separatism, and anti-terrorism."
China may also heighten its strategy of transnational repression by targeting East Turkistani/Uyghur communities overseas through threats, cyber activities, infiltration, and co-optation, aiming to dismantle East Turkistan's independence movement and silence its advocates.
"Chen's appointment signals that the Chinese Communist regime is intensifying its genocidal efforts in East Turkistan with renewed ideological vigour and strategic purpose," stated Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile.
"The international community must move beyond mere expressions of concern or symbolic actions. The time has come for coordinated and decisive measures. Governments need to impose targeted sanctions, seek legal accountability, and acknowledge East Turkistan's right to independence as vital to ending this genocide and restoring the rights, safety, and future of our people," as noted in the ETGE release.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile reaffirmed its stance that only by fully restoring East Turkistan's independence can the ongoing genocide and decades of Chinese occupation and colonisation be brought to an end. We urge governments, parliaments, international organisations, and civil society to confront the Chinese regime's colonisation, genocide, and transnational repression by taking significant political, diplomatic, and legal actions. (ANI)