By Memet Tursun
China’s all major media outlets, including CCTV, Global Times, Xinhua, and China Military Network, have recently published videos and pictures of China’s elite air force pilots of Uyghur origin.
China’s Uyghur pilot, Photo from Sina.Com
The Global Times quoted the Uyghur pilot Mutfali as saying: “There is an Uyghur proverb, “The wind and rain are fierce, and the wings of the eagle will not be broken, The more windy and rough the waves, the more you must dare to fight! In our missions and training, we have encountered In extreme weather, have faced the provocations of powerful enemies, and experienced the test of life and death, but we have never been afraid to shrink back, because behind us is the motherland!”.
According to Tian Shan Net, the official media of Xinjiang Authorities, the Uyghur pilot comes from a military family. He was recognized when the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China awarded his team, the Second Flying Brigade of a certain Air Force Aviation Regiment, the title of “Model of the Times”. The team includes a Uyghur named Mutefa Ali, who became the first Uyghur H-6K pilot of the People’s Air Force.
“The brigade was the first batch of the People’s Air Force to be formed and the first to participate in the war. It was the first bomber aviation brigade 70 years ago and had the first pilots on the Korean battlefield. The People’s Air Force Aviation bombing combat style was the first of its kind.”
In 2016, China’s military website introduced two Uyghur air force pilots, Nijat Kuresh and Fardi Alim, as the only Uyghur pilots in the PLA air force, and Chinese media widely reported about them.
In 2017, China Radio International reported that six Uyghur pilots gathered in Qumul (known as Hami in Chinese) to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Air Force No. 8 Aviation School.
China has been using Uyghurs against Uyghurs for decades to suppress their rights and freedom. In the southern Uyghur region, over 60% of all police forces have Uyghur ethnic origins. In the capital city of Urumqi, there are more than 700 police officers, with 200 of them being Uyghurs.
While the Chinese government primarily targets most Uyghurs, they have also successfully recruited and exploited Uyghurs to work against their own people through tactics such as brainwashing and threatening their families. Ablikim, a former Uyghur police officer based in Norway, told the Uyghur Times that he joined the police because it paid well and allowed him to protect his family from persecution. “Uyghur police officers feel guilt when they have to use force against their own people,” he said.
China has a long history of recruiting and utilizing Uyghurs against their own people and external “enemies” like India. In China’s 1963 conflict with India, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) mobilized and recruited a large number of Uyghur soldiers, with over 1100 Uyghur soldiers of No 3 Corps fighting against India.
The Chinese government has been propagating on national TV that the United States is the enemy of the country, and they have been urging the military to prepare for a war with the United States. For China, the United States poses the biggest challenge and is seen as an enemy in its pursuit of global dominance, including the potential invasion and annexation of Taiwan.
