Washington, May 13 (). The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Movement (ETNM) have appealed to US President Donald Trump to raise the issue of alleged “genocide” and “colonial occupation” being carried out in China’s East Turkestan and Tibet during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
President Trump on Wednesday left for China on a state visit for a two-day high-level summit. This is believed to be the first visit to China by a sitting US President in almost a decade.
In its appeal to Trump, ETGE accused Trump of ordering an ongoing alleged genocide against Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and other Turkic communities in Chinese-occupied “East Turkistan” (also known as China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). The exile organization claims that this campaign has been going on for 13 years now.
The exile organizations also urged the US President not to reach any agreement during the summit that would promote “genocide and enslavement” of the East Turkestan and Tibetan people.
“East Turkistan is home to China’s largest beryllium reserves and large reserves of lithium, zirconium, rubidium, titanium, magnesium and rare earth elements. These are the critical minerals being discussed at this summit. These are being exploited in the occupied territory in conditions that have been described by the UN as slavery, a crime against humanity,” the organizations said.
According to ETGE, Jinping’s alleged campaign continues “mass internment, mass slavery through forced labour, forced sterilization, the separation of more than one million Uyghur and other Turkic children from their families, and the forced organ harvesting of hundreds of thousands of people.” The organization also claimed that China’s 2026 “Ethnic Unity Law” has legalized the process of erasing non-Chinese identity.
“The solution to guarantee our human rights and survival is decolonization and the restoration of East Turkistan’s national independence. On May 5, we filed East Turkistan’s first formal petition to the UN Decolonization Committee and we appeal to the international community, including the United States, to support the struggle to restore our independence,” said Mamtimin Ala, Chairman of ETGE.
Exile organizations described China’s “occupation” of East Turkestan as a direct threat to US national security.
He alleged that China conducted all its nuclear tests in the East Turkestan region, including one in 2020, and is now building hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos there targeting the US.
The organizations also claimed that China has established significant AI and data center infrastructure in the region.
Salih Hudayar, Foreign Minister of ETGE and Chairman of ETNM, said, “The vital minerals being discussed at the summit are all being extracted from occupied East Turkestan through genocide and slavery. A free and liberated East Turkestan could provide these minerals to the US at competitive rates, strengthening US industry and weakening Beijing’s grip.”
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