Countries Seek Freedom From China

.c The Associated Press

By WILLIAM FOREMAN

NEW YORK (AP) -- Although Tibetans are not the only people struggling to break
free from Chinese rule, they've attracted the most attention with the help of
two Hollywood films and backing from celebrities like Richard Gere.

As Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, continues his U.S. visit this
week, getting more TV time and newspaper coverage, activists with other
movements said they'll watch the saffron robe-clad Buddhist with envy.

The little-known groups include the Uighurs (pronounced HWEE-gurs), a Muslim
minority in China's westernmost region of Xinjiang, which they call Eastern
Turkestan. There are also the Mongolians, the descendants of Genghis Khan,
part of whose homeland still remains under Chinese control and is known as
Inner Mongolia.

Like the Tibetans, both groups claim the Chinese have stolen their
independence, discouraged religious traditions and used torture and mass
killings to crush dissent -- claims denied by China, which fiercely opposes
giving up the land.

``The Dalai Lama's visit reminds us that we still need to work very hard for
more attention,'' said Oyunbilig of the Inner Mongolian People's Party, which
has 30 members in America.

Although Oyunbilig -- who like many Mongolians uses only one name -- wishes
his cause could attract half as much publicity, he doesn't resent the
Tibetans' success, which he says is the product of decades of organizing.

``It convinces us that if we work very hard, we can achieve what the Tibetans
have,'' said software engineer in Germantown, Md.

Last month, the Uighurs (also spelled Uyghurs) and other independence groups
met in New York to discuss ways to cooperate and condemn rights abuses in
China. The groups have joined before at rallies, but the protests have
frustrated some of the non-Tibetans.

``Everytime we demonstrate together, it seems that everybody pays attention to
Tibet and it's like the Uighurs are working for Tibet,'' said Huji Tuerdi, a
member of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association, which has 56
members in America and Canada.

Small exile communities handicap the movements, and most activists have full-
time jobs, leaving them little time to organize protests.

The most important thing these groups lack is a high profile leader, such as
the Dalai Lama, said Larry Gerstein, president of the International Tibet
Independence Movement, based in Fishers, Ind.

``He's an excellent speaker and a very warm and gentle figure,'' Gerstein
said.

Other factors working in the movement's favor include Tibetan Buddhism, which
advocates nonviolence and has won many American converts, including Gere.
Tibet also enjoys a reputation as a mystical mountain kingdom, portrayed in
the movies ``Seven Years in Tibet'' and ``Kundun.''

The Uighur's homeland has yet to capture Hollywood's imagination. Although the
territory -- three times the size of France -- enjoys the mystique of being on
the ancient Silk Road, it's mostly a sparsely populated desert region.

The Turkic-speaking Uighurs must also overcome stereotypes, associated with
Islamic groups, of being involved in terrorist activity, Tuerdi said. Some
groups in China have been tied to bombings and riots -- violence that Tuerdi
said his group opposes.

Most Uighurs never developed a deep religious faith because believers in
Islam, like other religions in China, have at times been persecuted by the
Communist government, he said.

``I've never been to a mosque in my life,'' said Tuerdi, who came to America
in 1984 and now works as a chemist in Princeton, N.J.

Unlike the Tibetans, who have an exile government based in nearby India, the
Uighurs and Mongolians say they get little support from Central Asian
neighbors preoccupied with their own woes and fearful of angering powerful
neighbor China.

A reluctance to support independence for Inner Mongolia surfaced at a
gathering this month of 100 Mongolians originally from China, Russia and the
nation of Mongolia, which broke away from China and declared itself
independent in 1921.

Dressed in traditional blue, brown and red wraparound coats, the Mongolians
met in New Brunswick, N.J., to commemorate Genghis Khan, the 13th-century
warlord who united the warring Mongol tribes that conquered the known world.

The event was a cultural celebration and speakers did not make specific calls
for reuniting Inner Mongolia with Mongolia.

``It's important to keep friendly relations with powerful nations,'' Yaichil
Batsuuri, a Mongolian diplomat, said.

AP-NY-11-10-98 0237EST