Uyghurs 'face fight for existence' against China: activist

jatkshatriya

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Don't compare India with China in inner security, OK? We don't have guerrillas in our land after the nation's foundation for 6 decades. All the left KMT troops and local guerrillas were smashed in several years. What about your country? It's almost a wonder in the world, obviously not matching the title you call yourself a superpower. A man who has never been to Xinjiang now want to teach us a lesson on inner security of China. :cerealspit:
That is the basic differrence between a democracy and dictatorship. You ought to Know it. In a democracy uyou can not just go ahead and mass murder your own people even if they are against your country. You do know that we have human righ activists and our great media( sarcasm intended) protecting the very gueriallas and voicing for them.
 

Ray

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and in kashmir the only difference is hindus replace cruusaders........hindus hate muslims from the bottom of their hearts and vise versa muslims hate invaders as well......
And you are a Hindu?

If not, how do you know Hindus hate Muslims?

If they did, should they not have sent all Muslims of India during Partition to Pakistan?

Don't ramble and reinvent history.

This is not Chinese history that you are adept to reinvent as per the flavour of the moment!
 

huaxia rox

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so should i ask...r u a han?? or r u a uyghur

if not.....how do u blah blah blah????

actually do i have to be a spaceman to know how outer space looks like??
 

Ray

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but chinese people never label muslim terrorists
Really?

The Chinese people also ensures that Muslims no longer remain Muslims.

Here is something to mull upon.

Many people in Xinjiang don't like the Chinese. Some Uighurs spit on the ground whenever they pass a Han Chinese and call Chinese women baorzi (sluts). The Muslims in Xinjiang are unhappy about three major issues: the mass migration of Han Chinese, the testing of nuclear weapons in Lop Nor and the exploitation of Xinjiang oil, which locals view as theirs.

Flight attendants on flights to Xinjiang speak English but not Uighur. On trains in Xinjiang only Chinese is spoken. To get gain entrance into a Chinese university and get a good job, the Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have to pass Chinese-language examinations. The people of Xinjiang also resent having Mandarin names attached to their ancient ruins, and believe that its none of the Chinese business how many children they have. When Uighurs do speak Mandarin they are often mocked for heir accents by Han Chinese.

Many Chinese support the rough treatment given to Uighurs and other Muslims. One Chinese man from Sichuan told the Washington Post, "You have to watch them carefully. A lot of them hate us, you know. We have to suppress them. There's no other choice."

Rebiya Kadeer wrote in the Times of London, "Uighurs have been slowly suffocating from official policies aimed at eliminating our Turkic culture and mystical brand of Islam—much in the same way that official policies have destroyed the culture and customs of Tibetans."

On Chinese migration diluting the local population, Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch told the Washington Post, "China probably has the most efficient assimilation model in the world. It's the ultimate solution."

One Uighur man told Reuters, "What we want is simple—freedom. But there are too many Han and too few of us."

Even so most Uighurs are opposed to violence, knowing that protest would almost certainly be suppressed by the People's Liberation Army, and accepting that investment from Beijing is providing work, development and greater prosperity for Uighur people.

Han Settlers in Xinjiang

About 2.5 million Han arrived in Xinjiang between the late 1990s and the late 2000s. Han settlers often get free transportation, insurance, housing and help finding jobs and starting businesses.

Beijing has loosened immigration rules and offers tax incentives to encourage Han Chinese to head to Tibetan and Xinjiang to open new businesses. In many Xinjiang cities, Chinese live in modern apartment blocks while Uighurs live in run-down mud-rick homes.

Many arrive in Urumqi on the 56-hour train ride from China's east coast and know little about Xinjiang other than that the region boasts 10 percent growth rates and individuals can make $400 a month, twice the amount they can back home.

The economic crisis in 2008 and 2009 and the closing down of factories and the decline of construction in eastern China spurred even greater numbers of Han Chinese to head to Xinjiang.

Leaders in other places in China have encouraged their residents to move to Xinjiang, effectively exporting their unemployment problems and potential for unrest to Xinjiang. The city of Chongqing said it was going to send 100,000 people to Xinjiang in 2009. One county in Ningxia gave 3,200 peasants it was sending off a special ceremony. In March 2009, the railroad ministry boasted 109 trans has carried 210,000 people from three cities in central China to Urumqi to work in construction, agriculture and energy. [Source: Los Angeles Times]

Job Discrimination in Xinjiang

Many employers refuse to hire Uighurs for even the most menial positions, even things like dangerous mine work or packing cotton. In one request for new workers in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, 800 of the 840 civil service job openings were reserved for Han workers.

Many of the best jobs are government jobs. Advancement is easier if one joins the Communist Party which requires one to renounce their religion. Most Uighurs are not willing to do that. Many Uighurs have to migrate to the east to find opportunities.

The Chinese are accused of taking all the good jobs and being only interested in money. "Every employee I saw in my Western-style hotel was a Han," wrote Thomas Allen in National Geographic. "All the police officers I saw were Han. Even unskilled laborers were Han, lured from other provinces to work on the dozens of high rises, sprouting in Urumqi." Allen saw only one Kazak woman in a factory that produced leather jackets for export to Sweden. The jackets were made from sheepskin brought in by Kazakh herdsmen on bicycles and donkeys and then sewn into jackets by Han woman who earn more in two months than a herdsman makes in a year.

Ilham Tohti, a leading Uighur intellectual and economic profession at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing, estimated that 1.5 million Uighur workers—the equivalent of half the adult males—are unemployed. In 2009 Tohti disappeared and is believed to be under house arrest.

Phrases like "Han only" and "No ethnic minorities" routinely appear in classified job ads. The Los Angeles Times reported a job listing in a government-rum employment agency that went: "Room service staff needed. 18-40 year old. Junior high school degree required. Han only."

Bilingual Uighur university graduates have more difficulty than Han Chinese on job placement tests that require knowledge of thousands of Chinese characters.

Uighurs get especially bitter when they see the discrimination against them coupled with the advantages given the Han. "All we want is the same opportunity," one Uighur told the Los Angeles Times.

Owners of Uighur and Muslim restaurants in Beijing complain of being harassed over trivial health matters by health officials and police. Uighur workers at these restaurants and other Uighurs sometimes have heir papers checked every morning by Beijing police. Many Uighurs who were in Beijing at the time of the Olympics left. Those that didn't leave voluntarily were pressured to leave by police.

Chinese and Uighurs

See Uighurs

Segregation Xinjiang-Style

Han and Uyghur university students live remarkably separate lives, with dormitories ethnically segregated and canteens also separate because of the Muslim taboo on eating pork. In his book The Tree That Bleeds: a Uyghur Town on the Edge Nick Holdstock wrote:"The Han and Uyghur students didn't talk to each other or play sport together. They certainly did not date. But despite this separation, there was little visible rancor. It was more likely they were trying to pretend each other did not exist." [Source: Michael Rank, Asia Times, January 7, 2012]

Holdstock found his Han Chinese colleagues and students cool and standoffish, even though he had had no trouble making Han friends when he taught in Hunan province. He found this was partly due to the fact that students were allowed to visit his room only in groups of three or more and teachers only if accompanied by a colleague because a few years earlier a Norwegian teacher had used his classes to proselytize for Christianity.

At the university in Yining only four out of 350 students in the English department were Uyghurs. This is partly because, although non-Han need lower exam scores to enter university, they are, to balance this reverse discrimination, admitted only in alternate years.

Book: The Tree That Bleeds: a Uyghur Town on the Edge by Nick Holdstock (Luath Press Ltd, 2011)

Image Sources: 1) Mongabey; Louis Perrochon China Pictures

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
 

Ray

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so should i ask...r u a han?? or r u a uyghur

if not.....how do u blah blah blah????

actually do i have to be a spaceman to know how outer space looks like??
That are facts that you are stating or merely ramblings of the depraved?

Please do sincerely try to be relevant rather than be a figure from a comic strip!
 

Virendra

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and in kashmir the only difference is hindus replace cruusaders........hindus hate muslims from the bottom of their hearts
And you just cooked it or some spin head puki told you so? Why are there more muslims in India than Pakistan. Do you care asking the religion of Admin Yusuf and that how many of us hate him? You really crossed your limit on this one.
and vise versa muslims hate invaders as well......
Invaders !! Do you even bloody know what an invader is? Do you even know who invaded Kashmir?
Do you know the meaning of the term "Kashmir", its etymology ? Do you know what were the demographics of Kashmir from multi millennia back till the end of 19th century?
:facepalm:
 

ajtr

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1 dont know if u r a muslim but u 99% aint a pakistani....as i sometimes also go to pakistani news websites (to read comments) and military forums....while i admit that there r some pakistanis having problems with how chinese gov dealing with ETIM and other separists in xinjiang pakistanis always consider kashmir their priority and the hindu invaders their enemies and never gang up with hindus to denounce chinese in a way just doesnt sound real.........i sincerely doubt where u r from my IDF friend....

2 i read some of your posts before on purpose and my conclusion is u ve been deliberately creating some debates and letting hindus to laugh at pakistan in a very funny way.......why u doing this is not my business though....

3 of coz againts all the odds u may still be a real pakistani.....and no matter what i can tell u in many forums and websites of pakistan....people there have showed a lot of good wills to chinese and people with healthy brains all know that........so no chinese in the forum will change their views towards pakistan coz of the exsist of u.....besides no matter who u r what u said that i ve quoted is funny and i dont think pakistanis would like to think the way u do....

4 in this forum u can see some filipinos turnning up rite after some thing happened in SCS....u can see a 'chinese' using a sikh guy as his/her avatar (u know in china especially among military freaks sikh is more like a laughing stock becoz they normally turn out to be some security guys in front of a restruate or hotel in HK and a lot of sikhs surrenderred to us in 1962 war).........so r they from the places they try to make people believe they r from???
I was wondering if chinese and pakistani govt are so close buddies then why chinese govt blame pakistan for xinjiang unrest like indians and americans do.If chinese and pakistanis are so cool buddies then why chinese engineers and workers working on chinese projects in pakistan turned up dead that many a time chinese companies had to abondon those projects due to security.but chinese engineers and workers dont turn up dead in its enemy countries like india and america.Let me tell you the reason---straight forward reason is that china itself knows that mujahids are out of pakistan army's control and now they are targeting xinjiang and hence the chinese fear about ETIM and it blames pakistani govt.for it.
 

Ray

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Here is how you ensure Muslims do not remain Muslim.

You are destroying their religion, culture and language.

What more heinous stuff can you think of?

******************

Chinese Muslims banned from fasting in Ramadan

Amid fresh arrests, restrictions on fasting and prayers at mosques, Uighur Muslims are suffering under the latest episode of Chinese government crackdown on their ethnic minority in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

"If any religious figure discusses Ramadan during the course of religious activities, or encourages people to take part, then they will lose their license to practice," Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uighur Congress, told Eurasia Review on Friday, August 5.

"The more serious cases will result in arrests for incitement to engage in illegal religious activity," he said.

A day before the start of the holy fasting month for China's Muslims, at least 11 people were killed in a series of attacks in the north-western region of Xinjiang.

Chinese authorities blamed the attacks to the ethnic minority, after which the Chinese police shot dead two Muslims last Sunday.

The attacks came less than two weeks after 18 people were killed in an attack in the restive Xinjiang region.

Following the unrest, more than 100 uighurs were detained by Chinese authorities.

Most of those detained as suspects were committed Muslims who attended mosque and whose wives wore veils, residents say.

Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, was the scene of deadly violence in July 2009 when the mainly Muslim Uighur minority vented resentment over Chinese restrictions in the region.

In the following days, mobs of angry Han took to the streets looking for revenge in the worst ethnic violence that China had seen in decades.

The unrest left nearly 200 dead and 1,700 injured, according to government figures. But Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, say the toll was much higher and mainly from their community.


China's authorities have convicted about 200 people, mostly Uighurs, over the riots and sentenced 26 of them to death.

No Fasting


Beijing slapped severe restrictions on Chinese Muslims as the holy fasting month of Ramadan started.

As for Muslim members of the government throughout Xinjiang, the government forced them to sign "letters of responsibility" promising to avoid fasting, evening prayers, or other religious activities.

"Fasting during Ramadan is a traditional ethnic custom, and they are allowed to do that," an employee who answered the phone at a local government neighborhood committee office in the regional capital Urumqi said confirming the restrictions.

"But they aren't allowed to hold any religious activities during Ramadan," she added.

"Party members are not allowed to fast for Ramadan, and neither are civil servants."

As for private companies, Uighur Muslim employees were offered lunches during fasting hours.

Anyone who refuses to eat could lose their annual bonus, or even their job, Raxit added.

Officials have also targeted Muslim schoolchildren, providing them with free lunches during the fasting period.
[/B]

A Uighur resident of Beijing said students under 18 are forbidden from fasting during Ramadan. Moreover, government campaigns forced restaurants in the Muslim majority region to stay open all day.


More restrictions were also imposed on people trying to attend prayers at mosques.

Everyone attending prayers has to register with their national identity card, he added.

"They have to register," he said.

"[After prayers] they aren't allowed to [congregate and] talk to each other."


In Ramadan, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

The sick and those traveling are exempt from fasting especially if it poses health risks.

Muslims dedicate their time during the holy month to be closer to Allah through prayers, self-restraint and good deeds.

Chinese Muslims banned from fasting in Ramadan - MuslimVillage.com | MuslimVillage.com

*****************************

That is from a Muslim website!
 
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huaxia rox

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That are facts that you are stating or merely ramblings of the depraved?

Please do sincerely try to be relevant rather than be a figure from a comic strip!

we all know what r facts here....u can cite some source that can only be described as funny even by the layout of the website....well u think i cant find some articles in much bigger websits to show how kashmirs having problems with hindus??? tons of articles......

but for u my indian friend........what ever u think can suit ur thoughts......
 

ajtr

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Even chinese muslims are forced to read only CCP approved koran and they have restrictions on Juma prayers for muslims in which mullah can only read CCP provided speech.
 

Virendra

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but for u my indian friend........what ever u think can suit ur thoughts......
Yeah, whatever you think can suit you thoughts too. And don't use the SMS language here. This is a geo political defence forum, not a chat toom
 

Ray

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Wary of Islam, China Tightens a Vise of Rules

KHOTAN, China — The grand mosque that draws thousands of Muslims each week in this oasis town has all the usual trappings of piety: dusty wool carpets on which to kneel in prayer, a row of turbans and skullcaps for men without headwear, a wall niche facing the holy city of Mecca in the Arabian desert.

But large signs posted by the front door list edicts that are more Communist Party decrees than Koranic doctrines.

The imam's sermon at Friday Prayer must run no longer than a half-hour, the rules say. Prayer in public areas outside the mosque is forbidden. Residents of Khotan are not allowed to worship at mosques outside of town.

One rule on the wall says that government workers and nonreligious people may not be "forced" to attend services at the mosque — a generous wording of a law that prohibits government workers and Communist Party members from going at all. ......

....to live under an intricate series of laws and regulations intended to control the spread and practice of Islam.....

Imams may not teach the Koran in private, and studying Arabic is allowed only at special government schools.

Two of Islam's five pillars — the sacred fasting month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca called the hajj — are also carefully controlled. Students and government workers are compelled to eat during Ramadan, and the passports of Uighurs have been confiscated across Xinjiang to force them to join government-run hajj tours rather than travel illegally to Mecca on their own.

Government workers are not permitted to practice Islam, which means the slightest sign of devotion, a head scarf on a woman, for example, could lead to a firing.......

Many Han Chinese see Islam as the root of social problems in Xinjiang.

"The Uighurs are lazy," said a man who runs a construction business in Kashgar and would give only his last name, Zhao, because of the political delicacy of the topic.

"It's because of their religion," he said. "They spend so much time praying. What are they praying for?"
...

About two years ago, the government began confiscating the passports of Uighurs across the region, angering many people here. Now virtually no Uighurs have passports, though they can apply for them for short trips. The new restriction has made life especially difficult for businessmen who travel to neighboring countries.....

...Several local governments began posting the regulations on their Web sites last month. They vary by town and county but include requiring restaurants to stay open during daylight hours and mandating that women not wear veils and men shave their beards....

The local university in Kashgar adheres to the policy. Starting last year, it tried to force students to eat during the day by prohibiting them from leaving campus in the evening to join their families in breaking the daily fast. Residents of Kashgar say the university locked the gates and put glass shards along the top of a campus wall.

After a few weeks, the school built a higher wall.

Huang Yuanxi contributed research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/world/asia/19xinjiang.html?pagewanted=all
 

huaxia rox

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I was wondering if chinese and pakistani govt are so close buddies then why chinese govt blame pakistan for xinjiang unrest like indians and americans do.If chinese and pakistanis are so cool buddies then why chinese engineers and workers working on chinese projects in pakistan turned up dead that many a time chinese companies had to abondon those projects due to security.but chinese engineers and workers dont turn up dead in its enemy countries like india and america.Let me tell you the reason---straight forward reason is that china itself knows that mujahids are out of pakistan army's control and now they are targeting xinjiang and hence the chinese fear about ETIM and it blames pakistani govt.for it.

show me 1 source that says chinese gov blamed pakistani gov for xinjiang unrest......prc will deal with ETIM separists by ourselves and we dont have tradition to blame other govs for our internal problems....

besides....u aint a usual pakistani for sure....no any pakistani ever said chinese gov blamed pakistani gov for xinjiang and u r acting as if u wanted that to happen......how odd...but still interesting to say something with u.......
 
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Ray

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we all know what r facts here....u can cite some source that can only be described as funny even by the layout of the website....well u think i cant find some articles in much bigger websits to show how kashmirs having problems with hindus??? tons of articles......

but for u my indian friend........what ever u think can suit ur thoughts......

It is a Muslim article.

I should be with the Chinese in this respect, right?

After all, as per you, all Indians hate Muslims! ;)
 

huaxia rox

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and as per u

all hans hate muslims......

or all muslims hate hans......
 

Ray

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show me 1 source that says chinese gov blamed pakistani gov for xinjiang unrest......prc will deal with ETIM separists by ourselves and we dont have tradition to blame other govs for our internal problems....

besides....u aint a usual pakistani for sure....no any pakistani ever said chinese gov blamed pakistani gov for xinjiang and u r acting as if u wanted that to happen......how odd...but still interesting to say something with u.......
China blames Pakistan-trained Uighurs for Xinjiang attacks

Peh Shing Huei
The Straits Times


China accused Pakistan-trained Uighur terrorists of being behind bloody attacks in Xinjiang, a rare accusation given the strong ties between Beijing and Islamabad.

An initial police investigation found that the attacks in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar were led by those who learnt about explosives and firearms in Pakistan, reported the official news agency Xinhua. The attacks left 20, including the attackers, dead.

Two more suspects, both of them Uighurs, were "executed on the spot by police who were in the process of capturing them" yesterday, the Kashgar municipal government said in a statement. It also offered 100,000 yuan (US$15,500) for information on two other Uighur suspects in Sunday's attacks, local media reported.

Xinhua, citing an earlier statement by the Kashgar authorities, said the leaders of the religious extremists were trained in overseas camps of the separatist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (Etim), before slipping into Xinjiang region.

Analysts say that such official finger-pointing was "very unusual" for the Chinese government.

"For a long time, Chinese scholars have been talking about Pakistan as a training camp for China's domestic terror groups. It is not a secret at all," said analyst Zhang Jian from Beijing University, who researches ethnic minority issues in China. "But for Xinhua to say it, it is really surprising."

China blames Pakistan-trained Uighurs for Xinjiang attacks

*********

News from Singapore.
 

Ray

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and as per u

all hans hate muslims......

or all muslims hate hans......
No.

Hans can't because their throats will be slit while the sleep in Khasgar or Khotan.

BTW address the issues of the new item and not rant and ramble.
 

Ray

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huaxia rox


Request Stop using SMS language.

It is not allowed.

We may make a concession in case you don't know English or you don't know how to spell.

Any further SMS worded post will be deleted.
 

Ray

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Uighurs

Since the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, Xinjiang has enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy. Turkic rebels in Xinjiang declared independence in October 1933 and created the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (also known as the Republic of Uighuristan or the First East Turkistan Republic). The following year, the Republic of China reabsorbed the region. In 1944, factions within Xinjiang again declared independence, this time under the auspices of the Soviet Union, and created the Second East Turkistan Republic. But in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took over the territory and declared it a Chinese province. In October 1955, Xinjiang became classified as an "autonomous region" of the People's Republic of China.

Some Uighurs, nostalgic for Xinjiang's intermittent periods of independence, call for the recreation of a Uighur state. "The Central Asian Uighurs know a great deal about the two East Turkestan periods of sovereign rule, and they reflect on that quite frequently," says Dru C. Gladney, president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College. Many of these Uighurs say China colonized the area in 1949. But in its first white paper on Xinjiang, the Chinese government said Xinjiang had been an "inseparable part of the unitary multi-ethnic Chinese nation" since the Western Han Dynasty, which ruled from 206 BC to 24 AD.

Economic Development

Xinjiang's wealth hinges on its vast mineral and oil deposits. In the early 1990s, Beijing decided to spur Xinjiang's growth by giving it special economic zones, subsidizing local cotton farmers, and overhauling its tax system. In August 1991, the Xinjiang government launched the Tarim Basin Project (World Bank) to increase agricultural output. During this period, Beijing invested in the region's infrastructure, building massive projects like the Tarim Desert Highway and a rail link to western Xinjiang. In an article for The China Quarterly, Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch says these projects were designed to literally "bind Xinjiang more closely to the rest of the PRC."

Since 1954, China has also used the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to build agricultural settlements in China's western periphery. Locally known as the Bingtuan, the XPCC is charged with cultivating and guarding the Chinese frontier. To achieve this mission, the corps has its own security organs, including an armed police force and militia. Over the past fifty years, the XPCC has attracted a steady stream of migrant workers to Xinjiang.

Beijing continues to develop Xinjiang in campaigns called "Open up the West" and "Go West." Experts like Gladney say these programs have made the region relatively prosperous. "If you look at the general per capita income of Xinjiang as a region," he says, "it's higher than all of China's except for the southeast coast." But others note that Xinjiang's wealth is concentrated in its oil-rich centers, and international development bodies like the Asian Development Bank say that there are high levels of inequality (PDF) in the area. The Chinese government has launched a series of programs to alleviate poverty in Xinjiang, and in March 2008, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized harmonious development of the region in a government report.
Han Migration

Growing job opportunities in Xinjiang have lured a steady stream of migrant workers to the region, many of whom are ethnically Han. The Chinese government does not count the number of workers that travel to Xinjiang, but experts say the local Han population has risen from approximately 5 percent in the 1940s to approximately 40 percent today. These migrants work in a variety of industries, both low tech and high tech, and have transformed Xinjiang's landscape. In June 2008, the BBC produced a photo report called Life in Urumqi, which said Xinjiang's capital had recently witnessed "the arrival of shopping centres, tower blocks, department stores and highways."

In its 2007 annual report to the U.S. Congress, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China said the Chinese government "provides incentives for migration to the region from elsewhere in China, in the name of recruiting talent and promoting stability" (PDF). Since imperial times, the Chinese government has tried to settle Han on the outskirts of China to integrate the Chinese periphery. But the Communist Party says its policies in Xinjiang are designed to promote economic development, not demographic change. Xinjiang's influx of migrants has fueled Uighur discontent as Han and Uighurs compete over limited jobs and natural resources.
Ethnic Tension

The Chinese government says Xinjiang is home to thirteen major ethnic groups. The largest of these groups is the Uighurs, who comprise 45 percent of Xinjiang's population, according to a 2003 census. Like many of these groups, the Uighurs are predominantly Muslim and have cultural ties to Central Asia.

As Han migrants pour into Xinjiang, many Uighurs resent the strain they place on limited resources like land and water. "Uighurs feel like this is their homeland, that these resources should be more devoted to them," says Gladney. In 2006, Human Rights in China said population growth in Xinjiang had transformed the local environment, leading to "reduced human access to clean water (PDF) and fertile soil for drinking, irrigation and agriculture."

Ethnic tension is fanned by economic disparity: the Han tend to be wealthier than the Uighurs in Xinjiang. Some experts say the wage gap is the result of discriminatory hiring practices. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China reports that in 2006, the XPCC reserved approximately 800 of 840 civil servant job openings for Han. Local officials say they would like to hire Uighurs, but have trouble finding qualified candidates. "One common problem of the western region is that the education and cultural level of the people here is quite low," said Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party secretary, in an interview with the BBC. Gladney says Han applicants tend to have better professional networks because they are more often "influential, children of elite Party members and government leaders."

According to Bequelin, Uighurs are also upset by what they consider Chinese attempts to "refashion their cultural and religious identity." In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Rebiyah Kadeer, a prominent exiled Uighur, condemns China for its "fierce repression of religious expression," and "its intolerance for any expression of discontent." Beijing officials respond to these accusations by saying they respect China's ethnic minorities, and have improved the quality of life for Uighurs by raising economic, public health, and education levels in Xinjiang.

In July 2009, ethnic tension between the Han and Uighur communities in Xinjiang was brought into the international limelight after severe riots between the two groups and police forces erupted in the province's capital city of Urumqi. According to Chinese state media, at least 150 people were killed, and more than 800 were injured. The riots were reportedly sparked by a Uighur protest over the ethnically motivated killing of two Uighur workers in the southern province of Guangdong. Accounts of how the protest turned violent differ.
Terrorism and Counterterrorism

During the 1990s, separatist groups in Xinjiang began frequent attacks against the Chinese government. The most famous of these groups was the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). China, the United States, and the UN Security Council have all labeled ETIM a terrorist organization, and Chinese officials have said the group has ties to al-Qaeda. Concern about Uighur terrorism flared in August 2008—just days before the Beijing Olympics—when two men attacked a military police unit (NYT) in Xinjiang, killing sixteen. However, a month later, the New York Times reported that according to eyewitness accounts of three foreign tourists, the attackers were also in paramilitary uniform, casting doubts on the official Chinese version of the incident, which had called it a terrorist incident. The attack had come a week after a group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party took credit for a slew of terrorist attacks (Xinhua), including two bus explosions in Yunnan province.
 

Ray

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The Chinese government has taken steps to combat both separatists and terrorists in its western province. According to the U.S. State Department, Chinese authorities raided an alleged ETIM camp in January 2007, killing eighteen and arresting seventeen. China also monitors religious activity in the region to keep religious leaders from spreading separatist views. Since September 11, 2001, China has raised international awareness of Uighur-related terrorism and linked its actions to the Bush administration's so-called war on terror.

But many experts say China is exaggerating the danger posed by Uighur terrorists. China has accused the Uighurs of plotting thousands of attacks, but Andrew J. Nathan, a China expert at Columbia University, says, "You have to be very suspicious of those numbers." Gladney notes that many of the "terrorist incidents" that China attributes to ETIM are actually "spontaneous and rather disorganized" forms of civil unrest. Most experts say ETIM has no effective ties to al-Qaeda, and Bequelin goes so far as to say, "ETIM is probably defunct by now, as far as we know." In a 2008 report, Amnesty International accused Chinese officials of using the war on terror to justify "harsh repression of ethnic Uighurs." But in Xinhua, a state-run newspaper, Chinese rights organizations refuted the Amnesty report, saying it was designed to slander China under the pretense of human rights.

Experts disagree on the efficacy of China's counterterrorism measures. Some, including Bequelin, say China's anti-separatist campaign actually provokes more resentment, which can lead to more terrorism. But other Western outlets say China's counterterrorism measures have been relatively successful. A review of U.S. State Department documents shows a decrease in Uighur-related terrorism since the end of the 1990s.
Tough Neighborhood

Xinjiang shares a border with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Because of the Uighurs' cultural ties to its neighbors, China has been concerned that Central Asian states may back a separatist movement in Xinjiang. According to Nathan, these fears are fueled by the fact that the Soviet Union successfully backed a Uighur separatist movement in the 1940s. To keep Central Asian states from fomenting trouble in Xinjiang, China has cultivated close diplomatic ties with its neighbors, most notably through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. According to Bequelin, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was created "to ensure the support of Central Asian states," and to "prevent any emergence of linkages between Uighur communities in these countries and Xinjiang."

Many experts believe China's diplomatic efforts have been successful. Adam Segal, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, says China's neighbors "are now fighting their own Muslim fundamentalist groups," which makes them more sympathetic to China's plight. According to the U.S. State Department, Uzbekistan extradited a Canadian citizen of Uighur ethnicity to China in August 2006, where he was convicted for alleged involvement in ETIM activities. Nathan says cases like these are evidence that China's neighbors are cooperating with China's anti-secessionist policies. In contrast, the United States refused to hand over five Uighurs who had been captured by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2001, despite Chinese calls to do so. After their release from Guantanamo Bay in May 2006, the Uighurs were instead transferred to Albania. In June 2009, four Uighurs who had been detained at Guantanamo were resettled in Bermuda. The remaining thirteen Uighur detainees will be resettled in Palau.

None of China's neighbors have expressed official support for the Uighurs, but the region's porous borders still worry Chinese officials. In the 1980s and 1990s, many Uighurs traveled into Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they were exposed to Islamic extremism. "Some enrolled in madrassas, some enrolled with [the anti-Taliban opposition force] the Northern Alliance, some enrolled with the Taliban, some enrolled with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," says Bequelin. Chinese officials worry that militants who slip in and out of Xinjiang can promote anti-state activity.
International Disinterest

In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, protests in Tibet reaped international attention. But protests in Xinjiang (IHT) went relatively unnoticed. "People aren't threatening to boycott the Olympic opening ceremony for the Uighurs," says Segal. Because Tibet gets more global attention than Xinjiang, some reporters have referred to Xinjiang as "China's other Tibet" (al-Jazeera).

International interest in Xinjiang is muted for a variety of reasons. According to Nathan, the Uighur community lacks an effective leader. "For the Uighurs, their most prominent spokesperson is Rebiya Kadeer in Washington, who really doesn't have the infrastructure and the Nobel Prize that the Dalai Lama has," he says. Bequelin adds that the Chinese government has effectively branded Uighur separatists as terrorists, which has reduced international sympathy for their mission. Amidst international apathy, most experts say the human rights situation in Xinjiang is likely to get worse before it gets better. "There's no international pressure to change policy in Xinjiang right now," says Segal. "So why would China make any changes?"

Uighurs and China's Xinjiang Region - Council on Foreign Relations
 

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