By Barçın Yinanç
It is not unusual for a Turkish citizen visiting China to receive a knock on the door in the middle of the night by a police officer. On my third day in China, I received a call from the reception telling me a police officer wanted to come up to my room to ask a few questions. I said that I would come down and while I was trying to get in touch with the German think-tank that had invited me to China, the receptionist and the police officer were at the door of my hotel room.
After seeing the official invitation letter and taking my phone number, the police officer who did not speak English but whose body language was polite, left with the receptionist.
It appears that this is a rather common experience for Turkish citizens.
In fact, I was lucky since usually the police take the phones and even the computers of business people visiting China.
REAL PHOTO OF RELATIONS
The fact that Turkey remains on a list of countries whose citizens receive “this special treatment “speaks volumes about the level of the relationship between the two countries.
Frustrated with its deteriorating relations with the West, the AKP elites try to portray Turkey’s relations with Asian countries as an alternative. However, despite Turkey’s wish to improve relations with China, the Uyghur problem continues to be a headache.
Although the current government has tried to restrict the activities of the Uyghur community in Turkey, China remains skeptical. It seems, no matter what Turkey does it will be near impossible to satisfy Beijing. Chinese demands are perceived to be maximalist and unrealistic in view of Turkey’s ethnic and religious affinity to Uyghurs.
But Beijing does not voice similar maximalist demands to Western countries where the Uyghur community is highly active, according to Turkish officials. In addition, as a sign of goodwill, Turkey does not raise the “Uyghur issue” intensively with Chinese authorities.
The regime change in Syria, on the other hand, appears to have added a new strain in relations, as Uyghur fighters within the rebel group that overthrew Bashar Assad is a serious concern to Beijing.
This is the main reason why China has not yet formally recognized the new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Describing the new regime in Damascus as the Taliban in the Mediterranean, Chinese experts criticize Europeans for supporting al-Sharaa while turning their back on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Yet, al-Sharaa cannot clamp down on foreign fighters as they make up an important part of his support base, and any such endeavor can cost him his seat, according to European capitals. This is also a view shared by Turkey, which tries to explain to China why al-Sharaa had to appoint some Uyghurs to key positions in the country’s security and defense structures. Getting them a formal responsibility and a paycheck is better than leaving them on their own, according to Ankara, which also makes the argument that currently there is no one better than al-Sharaa.
Indeed Chinese experts have no answer on the potential negative fallout of Syria descending to a new civil war if al-Sharaa were to fail to keep the country together.
Chinese experts are convinced Turkey has leverage over al-Sharaa and expected to cooperate with Ankara on the issue of “the terrorists within the new regime.” It will be very difficult for Turkey to meet such Chinese expectations.
NO ROSY PICTURE ON ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Meanwhile, economic relations are also facing difficulties.
Turkey’s calls to alleviate the trade deficit in favor of China falls on deaf ears in Beijing. Another issue in bilateral trade has been Chinese exports that the Turkish government deems as threatening to nascent industries such as electric vehicles, according to Turkish experts.
China has yet to keep its promise of investing in Turkey’s electric vehicle industry.
Turkey has imposed tariffs on imports of vehicles from China, prompting Beijing to drag its feet on investment plans.
Turkey is currently preparing to open a new bid for 5G and Huawei, which already has investments in Turkey, is expected to participate. Ankara appears unmoved by the “security controversy” in the West about the Chinese company, as there is not a unified position among EU countries either.
