A Japanese Uyghur MP called on the government to be tough on China

Arfiya Eri, a lawmaker from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has insisted that Japan should revise its constitution, which remains passive toward China.

Nikkei Asia reported on September 15 that Japanese Uyghur MP Arfiya Eri called on the Japanese government to be tough on China's human rights record and to increase defense forces in response to China's growing military threats in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ms. Arfiya, who participated in the Sydney Dialogue held by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, was interviewed by a reporter from Nikkei Asia newspaper based in Sydney. In the interview, she made strong criticism against China, saying that Japan should be tough on the serious human rights violations as China occupied East Turkistan.

In her speech, she said that, like some Western countries, Japan did not recognize the situation in East Turkistan as a genocide or a crime against humanity.

Arfiya Eri, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has said that many countries with economic and trade ties with China, including Japan, consider it inappropriate to deal with a human rights abuser.

She is the first Uyghur member of parliament in Japan. In April last year, as a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, she received the special approval and support of Prime Minister Fumio Kushida. She won more than 50,000 votes in the Chiba City House of Representatives election and was elected as a new member of the House of Representatives.