China expresses ’strong dissatisfaction’ with Japan over Uighur activist’s visit

China unhappy with Uighur activist’s Japan trip

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry criticized Japan on Monday for allowing a visit this week by an exiled Uighur activist whom Beijing blames for deadly ethnic riots in western China.

The Chinese government “expresses strong dissatisfaction” with the Japanese government for allowing Rebiya Kadeer to visit Wednesday and Thursday despite Beijing’s “repeated and serious representations,” ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.

China’s worst ethnic violence in decades broke out this month in Urumqi, capital of the restive Xinjiang region, between ethnic minority Muslim Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese, leaving nearly 200 dead.

China continues to call the Uighur attacks an act of terrorism by a tiny minority of violent troublemakers, led by the U.S.-based Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer, head of the pro-independence World Uyghur Congress.

China has not provided evidence, and Kadeer, a 62-year-old businesswoman living in Washington, D.C., denies any role in the violence.

Kadeer is scheduled to address Japanese journalists in Tokyo on Wednesday and give a lecture Thursday.

Officials at Japan’s Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Qin’s statement followed similar criticism by China’s ambassador to Japan, Cui Tiankai, in an interview with Japanese media earlier Monday.

“How would the people of Japan feel if a violent crime occurs in Japan and its mastermind is invited by a third country?” the Kyodo News agency quoted Cui as saying.

An Australian film festival has also come under fire for a planned appearance by Kadeer next month related to a documentary about her.

Over the weekend, hackers posted a Chinese flag on the Web site of the Melbourne International Film Festival in an escalation of protests against the documentary’s screening. Four Chinese films have pulled out of the festival, and a Chinese diplomat has protested the screening.