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AUSTRALIA-CHINA-POLITICS
Australia calls on China to let Uighur mother and son leave
SYDNEY, July 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Australia’s government on Wednesday
called on China to allow an Australian child and his Uighur mother to leave
the country, stepping up pressure on Beijing days after Canberra co-signed a
letter denouncing its treatment of the Muslim minority.
China has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly
Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in the tightly-
controlled region of Xinjiang in the country’s northwest.
Canberra had initially denied citizenship to baby Lutifeier, who was born
in Xinjiang in August 2017 to an Australian father and a Uighur mother, but
backtracked last year following a legal battle.
The child’s father, Sadam Abdusalam, has been campaigning for months so
his Uighur wife, Nadila Wumaier, and their son, whom he has never met, can
come to Australia.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said “the Embassy in Beijing
have formally requested that the Chinese authorities allow Ms Wumaier and her
son (who is an Australian citizen) to travel to Australia”.
The statement came after Abdusalam shared his plight publicly for the
first time, speaking to the national broadcaster ABC on Monday.
He told AFP that his wife was taken in for questioning by Chinese
authorities the following day, but was later released.
Payne said on Wednesday that she was aware of the reports, but cautioned
that “as Ms Wumaier is not an Australian citizen we do not have an
entitlement to consular access”.
Canberra has traditionally been keen to avoid friction with its biggest
trading partner, but tensions between the two countries have escalated over
security concerns and Beijing’s growing presence in the Pacific.
Australia was among 22 countries, along with Britain, Canada and Japan,
that last week wrote to top United Nations officials condemning China’s
treatment of ethnic minorities.
China’s embassy in Australia slammed the ABC programme as “full of lies,
distortion and bias”.
Abdusalam said he was “really happy” that Australia was taking action, but
called on officials to do more. “I’m going to keep trying to keep pressure on
China and keep pressure on the Australian government,” he told AFP.
Beijing strongly defends its use of internment camps in Xinjiang, which it
says are necessary to counter religious extremism and terrorism.
It has blocked Australian diplomats from visiting Xinjiang since early
2017.
“On 31 August he will be two years old,” Abdusalam said of Lutifeier.
“I would like to see my son before 31 August so we can celebrate his
birthday as a family.”
Australian lawyers representing the family are urging Canberra to fast-
track a visa for Wumaier.
“Bringing this family together safely is the goal,” Marque Lawyers wrote
on Twitter.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1145 hrs