Newsletter No. 1406
News-Analysis
July 9, 2009

 

JAPAN UNITES IN CRITICISM OF CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG

As most of you know, riots broke out on the 5th in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people and a tough government crackdown. Moreover, battle lines have been drawn between the Uighur and Han peoples in the region, and there is no reason to believe that these problems are going to get better very soon.

Uighurs, of course, are a Turkic people living in Central Asia. They have a very long history of interaction with China, playing a variety of roles. Finally, in 1949, they were definitively brought under Han Chinese rule. Since that time, Beijing made consistent efforts to bring Han Chinese settlers into Xinjiang to assure that it could never break away. Today, there are almost as many Han as there are Uighurs in Xinjiang. It seems highly unlikely that any Uighur independence movement would have any realistic chance to succeed. Of course, the problem of discrimination and heavy-handed government efforts to suppress dissent keep the pot simmering.

On the 7th, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura spoke to the press about the troubles in Xinjiang. He said that Japan is “concerned about the situation, and will watch carefully how it develops.” He added, “It’s very regrettable that many people got killed or injured as a result of clashes between citizens and authorities.” All sixteen Japanese residents and twenty-seven Japanese visitors in Urumqi have been confirmed safe.

Today—amazingly—all four English-language Japanese newspapers ran editorials on the violence in Urumqi. Equally amazingly, they all make the same argument: That Beijing’s own heavy-handed and discriminatory policies are at the root of the problem.

I too agree with the following analysis, for once finding myself on the same page with even the Yomiuri editorial.

Ethnic Hostilities in China
Asahi Shinbun
July 9, 2009

Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and an oasis city along the legendary Silk Road, means "beautiful pasture." In the ugly rioting that broke out there Sunday, however, the death count has risen above 150, with more than 1,000 injured. The situation has yet to be fully brought under control.

Behind this uproar lies acute and deep-rooted antagonism between the Muslim Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese who share this part of China. Though celebrating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the modern Chinese state this year, Beijing has yet to seriously come to terms with such seething ethnic issues. The results to date, in fact, appear to have further fanned the winds of hostility.

Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, has said the riots were engineered by people overseas and carried out by forces inside the country. The Chinese media is likewise labeling the violence a disturbance fomented by the minority race Uighurs in the region, with emphasis also placed on the damage suffered by the Han side.

On the other hand, the World Uighur Congress, an organization of Uighurs residing overseas, claims the authorities used armed force to suppress a peaceful Uighur demonstration. The group insists that the march was organized to protest vicious attacks on migrant Uighur workers in a toy factory in Guangdong province late last month.

The truth has yet to be gleaned. What has been underscored, however, is the sheer depth of the long-running ethnic tensions here at the northwestern tip of China.

The region was subjugated by the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, and then named Xinjiang, meaning "new region," in the 19th century. From the 1930s through the 1940s, the Uighur people started two separatist movements in attempts to establish East Turkestan as an independent state.

After becoming an autonomous region under the Communist Chinese regime, the district experienced a rapid influx of ethnic Han. Then, during the Cultural Revolution, Islamic mosques were destroyed, sacred writings burned and other actions perpetrated that contributed to mounting Uighur discontent.

The autonomous region, which occupies one-sixth of China's aggregate land area, is an important border area for national defense. It is also rich in oil, precious metals and other valuable mineral resources. However, Beijing has placed excessive priority on maintaining territorial integrity, while downplaying the sentiment of the local people.

The ranks of Han Chinese, only 250,000 strong in the region in 1949, have swelled to a current presence of about 8 million. Including soldiers in the count, this now represents the largest ethnic group here. In Urumqi, in fact, the Han already comprise a majority of the total population.

It is thus hardly surprising that such swift-paced Han migration has prompted backlashes from the Uighurs. Even last year, as China basked in global attention surrounding the Beijing Olympics, demonstrations, assaults and other incidents rocked the area.

Before establishing the new China, Chinese Communist Party leaders pondered the concept of a federal system and broad-based ethnic autonomy. Since power was seized, though, such independence has been restricted. In Uighur and Tibet as well, Han Chinese hold the posts of the top secretaries in the party.

China has 55 ethnic minorities. It's time to advance wide-ranging autonomy for these people in terms of religion, culture, education and other key fronts. It will be sorely inadequate to simply display the native dress of these groups at ceremonies scheduled on Oct. 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the modern Chinese state.

Uighur Resentment Boils Over
Japan Times
July 9, 2009

Ethnic riots that erupted in the capital of China's Xinjiang region reveal the extent of resentment that the mostly Muslim Uighur people harbor against the Chinese government's policy toward them. The riots, believed to be the biggest ethnic unrest acknowledged by Chinese authorities since the establishment of communist rule in 1949, could deal a big blow to the leadership of President Hu Jintao. The situation in the western region indicates that it is becoming more and more difficult for the Chinese government to continue the repression of an ethnic minority in the name of "stability and unity."

According to the police authorities of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, 156 people — 129 men and 27 women — were killed and more than 1,000 people injured in the Urumqi riots. The number of people detained reached 1,434. The death toll is expected to rise. The numbers of dead and injured have not been broken down into Uighur and Han Chinese people.

The riots were triggered by a Han Chinese attack on Uighur workers at a toy factory in Guangdong Province. Many Uighur workers were killed or injured. Sunday's riots invited a stronger reaction from Han Chinese. Tens of thousands of Han Chinese took to the streets in Urumqi in protest on Tuesday. Reports said some of them attacked Uighur-owned businesses. A tense situation in the region is likely to remain.

In March 2008, China saw large-scale riots by Tibetans followed, in the next few months, by activities by Uighur separatists. Xinjiang authorities insist that Sunday's riots were organized by a Munich-based Uighur independence group and by Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled Uighur rights activist living in the United States.

It is clear that behind Sunday's riots are long-held enmities against the influx of Han Chinese and the Chinese government's attempts to assimilate Uighur people into Chinese culture and suppress their rights to freedom of religion and expression. A crackdown on Uighur activities will further heighten ethnic tension. Chinese authorities should realize that the latest riots and last year's riots by Tibetans derive from the same roots.

Tolerance More Effective than Military Force in Solving China's Ethnic Unrest
Mainichi Shinbun
July 9, 2009

Chinese authorities have reported more than 150 deaths in ethnic riots that have broken out in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, while more than 1,000 people have been injured. The death toll exceeds that of last year's Tibetan protests.

After the riots broke out, police took away a large number of Uighurs, which sparked new protests. At the same time opposing protests by Han Chinese broke out, creating a turbulent situation of unrest between the two ethnic groups.

The People's Republic of China marks the 60th anniversary of its founding this year, and the country has developed into an economic power, approaching the position of the world's second-biggest economy. Yet it has been unable to solve ethnic problems that have continued since its founding, such as the Tibetan and Uighur problems. Is this not because it lacks tolerance with regard to respect for ethnic autonomy?

Suppression of ethnic minorities' human rights likely forms the background to the recent riots. We want Chinese President Hu Jintao to present to the international community a way of solving the problem that does not rely solely on armed suppression.

The full details of the riots remain unclear. Reports say that the riots were sparked by an attack on Uighur migrant workers in Guangdong Province. After information spread online, a demonstration was held at a park in Urumqi and the demonstrators clashed with security authorities who tried to suppress the protests. Uighurs who turned violent attacked Han Chinese in the area, and apparently set fire to a bus, among other targets.

An attack on Chinese border guards in Kashgar last year was deemed to be a terrorist attack by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and resulted in suppressive surveillance of Muslims. This time, China blames the unrest on an international conspiracy led by the World Uyghur Congress. But if the initial cause is security authorities trying to forcefully suppress demonstrations over human rights violations, public security is unlikely to be restored without a solution to Uighurs' dissatisfaction over their situation.

Urumqi is divided into residential areas for Uighurs and for Han Chinese. It is not only the language, religion and customs of the two groups that are different; it is clear that there is an income divide. The same can be said for Tibet. Aren't problems with ethnic policies to blame for the fact that minorities in ethnic autonomous regions are poor and Han Chinese, who arrive from other areas, are relatively well off?

Deterioration of public order is not restricted to minority regions. Clashes between residents and police have been increasing all over China. In May alone there were about 25,000 demonstrations that had over 1,000 participants -- reportedly a record high. An increased number of protests over human rights violations and labor trouble contributed to the higher figure.

The world is paying attention to China's growth. Maintaining growth is dependent on whether the country can maintain a stable society. The true force measuring stability in society is not military power, it is broad-minded politics.

China's Ethnic Policies Root Cause of Uygur Riots
Yomiuri Shinbun
July 9, 2009

The outbreak of bloody riots in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region provides a confirmation of how intractable China's ethnic conflicts are. In the region's capital, Urumqi, the minority Uygurs staged a demonstration against the authorities, clashing with government paramilitary forces, attacking Han Chinese and setting fire to stores and vehicles. The situation then escalated as Han Chinese took to the streets to protest the riot. The unrest appears to now be spreading to other regions.

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday rushed back from Italy to China before the opening of the Group of Eight leading industrialized powers' summit meeting. It seems Hu, as the supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, is taking the situation very seriously.

The riots were triggered when Uygur and Han Chinese seasonal workers clashed at a toy factory in southern Guangdong Province at the end of June. Several thousands of Uygurs participated in a demonstration in Urumqi to demand a full account of what had occurred.

Deadlier than the Tibet Riots

According to an official announcement, the riots left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured, although the ethnicity of the victims was not given. The death toll was nearly eight times that of the 20 or so who lost their lives in last year's Tibet riots. We wonder whether excessively tight security by the government forces was partly to blame.

In Xinjiang, where many Muslim Uygurs live, separatists and independence movements have started to surface since the downfall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. However, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Washington and the United Nations moved to identify some Muslim extremist groups active within Xinjiang as terrorist groups. The Chinese authorities have since carried out thorough crackdown on those groups on the pretext they are no more than antiterrorist measures.

Govt Policy Tilted toward Han

China's policy on its ethnic minorities calls for the economic development of remote regions where many non-Han Chinese live, and the subsequent relocation of Han Chinese from the nation's coastal areas to those remote regions. Under this policy, Uygurs in Xinjiang have complained that Han Chinese are being given preferential treatment when it comes to reaping the economic benefits deriving from the development of abundant natural resources in Uygur areas, such as petroleum and natural gas. Dissent among the Uygurs also has been building for long time over ethnic discrimination at workplaces and schools, and a lack of respect shown for their independent language, culture and religion. In addition, a more general suppression of Muslims has been noticeable.

The current trouble indicates there are limits to the party leadership's policies, which is based on the belief that improvements in living standards can prevent most ethnic unrest. Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the country's establishment in this autumn, the leadership headed by Hu was nervous about ensuring domestic stability. The riots in Uygur and Tibet should prompt Beijing to reexamine its overbearing policies on its ethnic minorities.