The great comedy of the advocacy on behalf of the Muslim Uyghurs in China is that it’s an American and European project. Virtually no Muslim country, even Turkey, which is backing the Turkic nationalism of the Uyghurs, is willing to actually confront China on the issue.

In 16 Muslim Countries Endorse China Forcing Muslims to Eat Pork, I wrote about the farce of the pro and anti-Uyghur letters.

The war of letters began when 22 countries penned a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning China’s treatment of Uighurs and “other Muslim and minorities communities.”

The letter in defense of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang was signed by France, Germany, Canada, Sweden and 18 other, mostly Western and European, countries. The case of the missing Muslim signatories was solved when the People’s Republic of China fired back with its own letter signed by 37 countries.

This letter in defense of China’s crackdown on Islam was signed by 16 Muslim countries.

While some of the Muslim signatories were drawn from African countries, the letter was also signed by ambassadors for the leading Arab governments including Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Kuwait. Pakistan, the world’s second-largest Muslim country, also signed on.

The war of letters humiliated Western governments which had failed to convince a single Muslim country to sign on to a letter criticizing China’s crackdown on Muslims. And they humiliated the Muslim signatories who demonstrated that China could intimidate them into endorsing a crackdown on Islam.

As Biden pulls out of Afghanistan, you can guess the Taliban’s position on China.

A Taliban spokesman has said that they see China as a “friend” to Afghanistan and are hoping to talk to Beijing about investing in reconstruction work as soon as possible.

Suhail Shaheen told the South China Morning Post the Taliban would no longer allow Uyghur fighters from Xinjiang, some of whom had previously sought refuge in Afghanistan, to enter the country.

“We care about the oppression of Muslims, be it in Palestine, in Myanmar, or in China, and we care about the oppression of non-Muslims anywhere in the world. But what we are not going to do is interfere in China’s internal affairs,” a senior official in the militants’ political office in Doha previously told the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Shaheen told the Wall Street Journal the group would seek to help Muslims in Xinjiang through dialogue with Beijing, adding “we do not know the details.”

How Bidenesque. But the Taliban are just being consistent with their backers in Pakistan and in Qatar, where their political office is operating from, which have also kowtowed to China.

The myth of Islamist solidarity has always been just that. A myth.

Muslim groups don’t actually care about Gaza or the West Bank, except insofar as they would like to destroy Israel and divert attention from their own regimes. And, it goes without saying, that they’re not about to offend China over some Turkmen in Xinjiang. 

American diplomacy is all about being liked. China’s diplomacy is all about being feared. It’s easy to see which works better.