ETGE urges Trump to raise Uyghur genocide, Tibet at Xi summit
Synopsis
As Trump meets Xi in Beijing, the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile is making a rare strategic argument: that the critical minerals Washington wants from China are extracted under conditions of genocide and enslavement — and that a free East Turkistan would be a better supplier. It's a bold attempt to link human rights directly to America's resource interests.
Key Takeaways
The ETGE and ETNM have urged President Trump to raise China's alleged "genocide" in East Turkistan and Tibet at the Beijing summit .
Trump's state visit to China began on Wednesday, 14 May 2025 — the first by a sitting US President in nearly a decade.
The ETGE claims Beijing's campaign has involved forced labour exceeding 13.75 million transfers and separation of over one million Turkic children from families.
East Turkistan reportedly holds China's largest reserves of beryllium and major deposits of lithium , rare earths , and other critical minerals under negotiation at the summit.
The ETGE submitted East Turkistan's first-ever petition to the UN Decolonisation Committee on 5 May 2025 .
The group also alleged China has built ICBM silos and conducted nuclear tests on East Turkistani soil, framing the issue as a US national security concern.
The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) and the East Turkistan National Movement (ETNM) have formally called on US President Donald Trump to directly raise China's alleged "ongoing genocide" and "colonial occupation" of East Turkistan and Tibet during his high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The appeal came as Trump began a two-day state visit to China on Wednesday, 14 May 2025 — the first by a sitting US President to the country in nearly a decade.
Key Demands from the Exile Authorities
The ETGE and ETNM urged Trump to reject any trade or diplomatic agreement that, in their view, would enable the "genocide and enslavement" of East Turkistanis and Tibetans. The exiled authorities alleged that Xi Jinping ordered a genocidal campaign against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in the region — referred to by Beijing as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region — which they said has now entered its thirteenth year.
According to the ETGE, the campaign has involved "mass internment; mass enslavement through forced labour exceeding the Communist regime's projection of 13.75 million transfers; forced sterilisation; the separation of over one million Uyghur and other Turkic children from their families; and organ harvesting from hundreds of thousands of East Turkistanis." The group also claimed that Beijing's 2026 "Ethnic Unity Law" codified the erasure of non-Chinese identities.
The Critical Minerals Dimension
Central to the ETGE's appeal is the intersection of human rights and resource politics. The group stated that East Turkistan holds China's largest reserves of beryllium and major deposits of lithium, zirconium, rubidium, titanium, magnesium, and rare earth elements — minerals reportedly under active negotiation at the Trump-Xi summit.
"The critical minerals at this summit are extracted from occupied East Turkistan under conditions of genocide and enslavement. A restored free and independent East Turkistan would supply America these minerals at competitive rates, strengthening American industry and breaking Beijing's chokehold," said Salih Hudayar, Foreign Minister of the ETGE and President of the ETNM.
The ETGE also alleged that the United Nations has assessed that extraction conditions in the region "may constitute enslavement as a form of crimes against humanity" — a framing that positions the minerals issue as a direct moral and strategic liability for Washington.
National Security Concerns Raised
Beyond human rights, the exiled authorities described China's presence in East Turkistan as a direct threat to American national security. They alleged that Beijing conducted all of its nuclear tests on East Turkistani soil, including one reportedly in 2020, and is currently expanding the construction of hundreds of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos in the region aimed at the United States. They further claimed that China has established critical AI and data centre infrastructure in the area.
Call for UN Decolonisation and Independence
"There is only one solution to guarantee our people's human rights and survival: decolonisation and the restoration of East Turkistan's national independence," said Mamtimin Ala, President of the ETGE. He noted that on 5 May, the ETGE submitted East Turkistan's first-ever formal petition to the UN Decolonisation Committee, calling on the international community, including the United States, to support the independence bid.
As the Trump-Xi summit unfolds, it remains to be seen whether human rights concerns will feature prominently alongside trade, tariffs, and critical minerals on the agenda.
Point of View
It attempts to make the Uyghur cause legible in the transactional language of the Trump administration. Whether that framing lands is another matter. Trump's Beijing visit is driven overwhelmingly by trade and tariff imperatives, and human rights have historically been deprioritised when economic stakes are high. The minerals argument is clever, but it assumes Washington would trade a guaranteed Chinese supply chain for an aspirational independent East Turkistani one — a geopolitical leap with no near-term pathway. What the appeal does succeed in doing is placing the genocide question on the public record ahead of summit outcomes, making it harder for any agreement to pass without scrutiny.
NationPress
28 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE)?
The ETGE is an exile political body representing Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, which it refers to as East Turkistan. It advocates for the independence and decolonisation of the region and has been vocal in international forums about alleged Chinese human rights abuses.
What has the ETGE urged President Trump to do at the Beijing summit?
The ETGE has urged Trump to directly raise China's alleged genocide and colonial occupation of East Turkistan and Tibet with Xi Jinping, and to reject any agreement that would enable the continued enslavement of East Turkistanis and Tibetans. It also wants the US to support East Turkistan's independence bid at the UN.
How are critical minerals connected to the human rights issue?
The ETGE argues that East Turkistan holds China's largest beryllium reserves and major deposits of lithium, rare earths, and other minerals reportedly under negotiation at the Trump-Xi summit. It claims these are extracted under conditions the UN has assessed may constitute enslavement, and that a free East Turkistan would supply the US these minerals at competitive rates.
What national security concerns has the ETGE raised?
The ETGE alleged that China has conducted all its nuclear tests on East Turkistani soil, including one in 2020, and is building hundreds of ICBM silos in the region aimed at the United States. It also claimed China has established AI and data centre infrastructure there, framing the occupation as a direct threat to American security.
What is the significance of the ETGE's UN petition?
On 5 May 2025, the ETGE submitted what it described as East Turkistan's first-ever formal petition to the UN Decolonisation Committee. The move is intended to internationalise the independence claim and pressure member states, including the US, to formally support decolonisation of the region.
