Ismail Amat (; zh , s = 司马义·艾买提 , p = Sīmǎyì Àimǎití ; September 1935 – 16 October 2018) was a Chinese politician of Uyghur ethnicity who served as Chairman of Xinjiang,

State Councillor A State Councillor of the People's Republic of China () serves as a senior vice leader within the State Council of the PRC, State Council and shares responsibilities with the Vice Premier of China, Vice Premiers in assisting the Premier of China, ...

, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and

Vice Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

(CPPCC). He was among the highest-ranking Uyghur politicians sitting for decades in the

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

of People's Republic of China between 1979–2008.

Early life and career in Xinjiang

Ismail was born 1935 in Qira County,

Hotan Prefecture Hotan PrefectureThe official spelling is "Hotan" according to (see also #Etymology, § Etymology) is located in the Tarim Basin region of southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang, China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to t ...

, Xinjiang Province,

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. His parents were poor Uyghur peasants. From 1952 to 1954, he took part in the land reform movement in his hometown and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) in 1953. He rose quickly in the government of Qira and became the

county magistrate The county magistrate or local magistrate, known by several Chinese names, was the official in charge of the '' xian'' ("county"), the lowest level of central government in Imperial and early Republican China. The magistrate was the official ...

in 1954 at the age of 19. In 1960, he was selected to study in Beijing at the Central Party School of the CCP for two years. After returning to Xinjiang, he became deputy publicity head of Hotan Prefecture in 1963. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Ismail was elevated to the regional government of Xinjiang in 1969 and elected to the 10th Central Committee of the CCP in 1972. From 1971 to 1979 he served as Xinjiang's party secretary (then subordinate to the first secretary) and director of its Organization Department. In 1979, he became Chairman (Governor) of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region at the age of 44. During his six-year tenure, he oversaw Xinjiang's transition to a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

's reform and opening era.

Career in the national government

In 1986, Ismail was elevated to the national government and became Director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, a key position in charge of affairs concerning ethnic minorities, especially the Tibetans and Muslim groups such as the Uyghurs. As a prominent Muslim CCP leader, he served as a mouthpiece of China's ethnic policies and condemned separatist movements. He served in the position until 1998, and concurrently as vice-chairman of the

(CPPCC) from 1988 to 1993. From 1993 to 2003 he also served as a vice-premier-level

. During his tenure there were multiple anti-Chinese protests in Xinjiang which were suppressed by the government. Amat supported the official policy of harshly treating ethnic separatists while promoting economic growth and stability in minority regions. From 2003 to 2008 Ismail served as vice-chairman of the 10th National People's Congress. As one of the highest-ranking Uyghur or Muslim politicians in the history of the People's Republic of China, he frequently visited Central Asian nations and met with visiting dignitaries from Islamic countries. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001, the United States captured a number of Chinese Uyghurs in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

and held them in the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

. China considered the Uyghur detainees terrorists and demanded that the US hand them over to Chinese custody. When the demand was refused, Ismail condemned the US in 2006. Ismail served as a member of seven consecutive CCP Central Committees, from the 10th to the 16th, spanning 45 years.

Death

Ismail Amat died on 16 October 2018 in Beijing, at the age of 83. He was buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. CCP

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

, Vice President Wang Qishan, former CCP general secretary

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

, other CCP Politburo Standing Committee members Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning,

Zhao Leji Zhao Leji (born 8 March 1958) is a Chinese politician who is the current chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In his ...

, Han Zheng and other top leaders attended his funeral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amat, Ismail 1935 births 2018 deaths People from Hotan Uyghur politicians Chinese Communist Party politicians from Xinjiang People's Republic of China politicians from Xinjiang Political office-holders in Xinjiang State councillors of China Members of the 10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery