China's Far West provinces (inc. Tibet) [Archive]

SteveMetz

03-19-2008, 01:49 PM

Hi Steve,

That wouldn't work - Tibet was a conquest not a colony of China. Besides that, the entire Free Tibet strategy has been predicated around non-violent global protests (a friend of mine is one of the main organizers).

What I found fascinating with the limited video that they got was that it seemed to be a performance; possibly because of the unique opportunity of having a Western camera crew there (the video is on the CTV site). What with an independence movement starting up in the Uigher province, a lot of social strain between Beijing and Shanghai, radical shifts in the demographic balance and the Olympics coming to town, I suspect that things will get "interesting".

I'm not following--most of the colonies that the UN got hot and bothered about were conquests at some point in time. The fact that Tibet has not been portrayed that way reflects--in my opinion--the idea that only Europeans and people of European descent can be colonialists, racists, etc. So what I'm getting it is a political strategy that would burst out of the mental confines of this old 1960s conceptualization.

marct

03-19-2008, 02:14 PM

Hi Steve,

I'm not following--most of the colonies that the UN got hot and bothered about were conquests at some point in time. The fact that Tibet has not been portrayed that way reflects--in my opinion--the idea that only Europeans and people of European descent can be colonialists, racists, etc. So what I'm getting it is a political strategy that would burst out of the mental confines of this old 1960s conceptualization.

Ah, okay I see what you are getting at. You are definitely right about the political problems with calling non-Europeans/non-whites "colonizers", but that is only part of the problem. Another part is when the conquest took place - 1950-51, which is not generally accepted as part of the "colonizing period".

Given the convoluted history between China and Tibet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet), the closest actual analog to a justification for the conquest is exactly the one used by Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait - "historic association", although Tibet was never actually part of China, while Kuwait was part of Iraq (about 1000 years ago...). This type of post-colonial conquest was pretty much accepted at the time for reasons of political expediency that have not really disappeared (i.e. tensions between the big players).

On another level, there has been a lot of pressure for China to open up for business since the 1970's and, today, too much of the North American economy is built on cheap Chinese goods. Calling for China to "de-colonize" Tibet would a) PO the Chinese for calling them colonialists and b) PO the Chinese for interfering in their "internal affairs" - I doubt that many in the West are willing to do that :wry:.

Just getting back to your point about the racialization of the term 'colonialist", you're absolutely right. The Chinese, actually the Han, have been doing this for a long time, including all the usual "worst practices" - e.g. cultural genocide, language imperialism, etc. Take a look at their Anthropology - it's based on that of Lewis Henry Morgan and is decidedly culturally eugenicist in nature.

davidbfpo

03-19-2008, 08:05 PM

I am sure that the presence of Western tourists, with camera phones and internet / phone access is the only reason anyone knows quickly of the rioting. Whether the Chinese will review tourist access to Tibet is a moot point. Shutting down internet and phone access I fear would be relatively easy.

Secondly there has been reporting that the native Tibetans are being outnumbered by the incoming Han Chinese. I recall Tibetans may already be in a minority.

Third, any insurgency needs weapons, preferably firearms and I doubt if Tibetans have access to them.

Once the tourists are gone we will rely on press reporting (unlikely) and those who exit carrying stories.

Sadly Tibet is a lost cause and I've not even thought about power politics, Olympics etc.

tequila

03-20-2008, 10:03 AM

I'm not following--most of the colonies that the UN got hot and bothered about were conquests at some point in time. The fact that Tibet has not been portrayed that way reflects--in my opinion--the idea that only Europeans and people of European descent can be colonialists, racists, etc. So what I'm getting it is a political strategy that would burst out of the mental confines of this old 1960s conceptualization.

I think this theory that the UN only gets involved in decolonizing white-owned colonies is pretty wrongheaded. More relevant is the fact that China has a seat on the Security Council, just as Russia does vis a vis a similar "colony" in Chechnya. For examples of UN intervention in a nonwhite colonial situation, see Western Sahara, East Timor, etc.

SteveMetz

03-20-2008, 10:50 AM

I think this theory that the UN only gets involved in decolonizing white-owned colonies is pretty wrongheaded. More relevant is the fact that China has a seat on the Security Council, just as Russia does vis a vis a similar "colony" in Chechnya. For examples of UN intervention in a nonwhite colonial situation, see Western Sahara, East Timor, etc.

Did the UN actually call/condemn Western Sahara and East Timor as "colonialism"? I honestly don't know. My point is that how an issue is portrayed plays a major role in how the world sees it and responds to it. China has succeeded in having Tibet depited as a purely "internal" matter. If that could be shifted, Beijing would face different pressures.

tequila

03-20-2008, 11:14 AM

Did the UN actually call/condemn Western Sahara and East Timor as "colonialism"? I honestly don't know. My point is that how an issue is portrayed plays a major role in how the world sees it and responds to it. China has succeeded in having Tibet depited as a purely "internal" matter. If that could be shifted, Beijing would face different pressures.

I don't think so, because both Morocco and Indonesia did not view Western Sahara nor Timor-Leste as colonies, but rather as integral parts of the nation - just as Russia views Chechnya and China views Tibet. Britain never viewed Nigeria as an integral part of the United Kingdom, OTOH.

Also as to why no one ever took Tibet to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization - see China's seat on the Security Council.

There is an informative post on tensions within the Tibetan independence movement here (http://americanfootprints.com/drupal/node/3952). One wonders about the movement's future once its charismatic leader passes on.

SteveMetz

03-20-2008, 11:37 AM

I don't think so, because both Morocco and Indonesia did not view Western Sahara nor Timor-Leste as colonies, but rather as integral parts of the nation - just as Russia views Chechnya and China views Tibet. Britain never viewed Nigeria as an integral part of the United Kingdom, OTOH.

Also as to why no one ever took Tibet to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization - see China's seat on the Security Council.

There is an informative post on tensions within the Tibetan independence movement here (http://americanfootprints.com/drupal/node/3952). One wonders about the movement's future once its charismatic leader passes on.

Most of the "non self governing territories" which the UN Special Committe on Decolonization is concerned with are administered by Security Council members. I mean, there is no value is starting a discussion of the U.N.'s flaws here, but when it is interested in promoting the independence of Bermuda, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Somoa but is not concerned with Tibet, it's hard to take it terribly seriously.

marct

03-22-2008, 10:51 PM

Savage Minds has an interesting story about the Tibet Resistance.

For five decades, the People’s Republic of China has been proclaiming the death of the Tibetan resistance. In the 1950-60s, they discursively denied the existence of the Tibetan resistance army by referring to them as “high class separatists” and “rebel bandits.” Since then, they have attempted to curb any resistance by immediately putting down protests through arrests, beatings, imprisonments, disappearances (remember the 11th Panchen Lama? (http://www.panchenlama.info/)), and deaths. The PRC has done everything they can to give the impression that resistance in Tibet—armed or peaceful, coordinated or everyday—is a rare and unwise exception to their benevolent rule, is conducted only by monks or members of the “Dalai clique,” and is not representative of the majority of the Tibetan people who love the Chinese motherland.

Much more at the link (http://savageminds.org/2008/03/21/the-resistance-is-dead-long-live-the-resistance/).

Billy Ruffian

03-23-2008, 05:14 AM

Hey everyone,

Well, the Ottawa Citizen, my main source of news while scarfing down unhealthy amounts of bacon and coffee, said in one of the articles published on Saturday, 23 March, that the Han have moved in massive amounts of settlers into Tibet and now outnumber Tibetans in their own homeland. I think we have a case of English settlers vs. the Catawba Confederation in Virginia c. the 1600's here.

At this point, it's tragic, but what can we really do about it? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't most young Tibetans from a rural, or non-urban, upbringing who are out of tune with the dog-eat-dog rudimentary free market of the new Chinese economy? Adding into that, again correct me if I am wrong, most of the important civil service and police posts are held by Han Chinese, a sign of Beijing's distrust of the indigenous Tibetans and also a sign of their ability to govern and control without a local elite. Does this not meant that Tibet is essentially a lost cause and and is only good for an excuse to chat up some good-looking young woman at a FYSH concert?

Respectfully and humbly,

-BR

Norfolk

03-23-2008, 06:23 PM

Sadly, Billy, I do rather fear that you are almost certainly quite correct. Not unlike the Aboriginal peoples of North America, the Tibetans are more or less culturally ill-suited for modern commerical culture. As such, they are in effect altar sacrifices to the idolatry of "success". Or, to very roughly qutoe that famous statement by the British civil servant of the Raj, the poor things "crushed under the wheels of the Juggernaut of progress".

That said, I was quite shocked by the intensity of the feelings towards non-Chinese by the Tibetan rioters. I mean, Han and Hui were deliberately sought out for abuse and killing, and some were even burned to death. That sort of thing leaves permanent scars on the collective consciousness. For those reasons alone - and the factors underlying them -, an insurgency is not entirely out of the question, though most unlikely.

Ray

03-26-2008, 07:07 PM

Just speculating!

Tibet maybe a lost cause in the overall context and none may actually care, but the uprising does help to divert China's attention and effort to other issues and manpower from sectors where the manpower was being used for its economic enhancement.

The PLA is known to contribute for economic efforts.

China will have to showcase for the Tibetan that they care for the Tibetans and so more economic sops will have to be diverted to them as also to all the minority areas of China. Such efforts may have to be focussed for the individual and not for national development which is slow to affect the people for them to realise the effort!

Possible?

marct

03-26-2008, 07:29 PM

Hi Ray,

China will have to showcase for the Tibetan that they care for the Tibetans and so more economic sops will have to be diverted to them as also to all the minority areas of China. Such efforts may have to be focussed for the individual and not for national development which is slow to affect the people for them to realise the effort!

Possible?

Maybe, but I think it's unlikely. They already have enough tensions running around what with the Shanghai vs. Beijing tug of war and the Uigher separatists. From what little seems to be coming out, I suspect they will use a terror campaign - it won't be the first time they have done that to the "sub-human barbarians" (i.e. non-Han).

marct

03-30-2008, 01:12 PM

An interesting roundup of blogger coverage including some material on the Chinese media is available here (http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/03/25/bridgeblogging-chinese-anger-over-perceived-media-bias/).

tequila

03-30-2008, 03:35 PM

marct

03-31-2008, 06:31 PM

I just got asked to sign a petition in support of Tibet (http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/87.php/?cl=68457766) that is circulating on the 'Net. Over 1.4 million signatures in 7 days, and growing. The wording is interesting, especially the use of terms like "stability".

Ray

04-04-2008, 06:54 PM

tequila,

It is in China's strategic interest to develop Tibet and Xinjiang.

It may also interest all that Urumchi has a Han population that is more than the Uighurs, who are the locals.

The Chinese have not given up their claims on Outer Mongolia or Vladivostok and its neighbourhood.

Their mentality is expansionist, to quote Communist terminology.

Economic development alone does not satiate sub nationalism or religious freedom. The stomach must also have an equal satisfaction as the mind. Crass commercialism alone is not happiness.

Unlike other religions, Tibetan Buddhism is very ingraned in the Tibetan mind. Ridiculous as it may seem,but they do consider the Dalai Lama as a God. Insult to the Dalai Lama is as dangerous as insulting God.

The Tibetans having lived a rough life in the harsh area of Tibet are people who know struggle is a part of existence and they are not soft in mind and soul as others,

Therefore, the issue is not that simple for solution.

The Chinese may claim that it is a conspiracy of the US, India and the West instigating the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans, but the truth is that they require no instigation! They sincerely are serious about the issue!

tequila

04-04-2008, 09:10 PM

I agree with most of what you said, except about the PRC's supposed claims to Vladivostok and Outer Mongolia. I'd like to see official PRC government statements about that one - I happen to know that the PRC has signed treaties resolving all territorial claim issues with Mongolia, the latest I believe in 1994.

Regarding Tibet, unfortunately I don't think it's going to matter. China views Tibet as a defining issue of national sovereignty without the complications of Taiwan, and there is absolutely no national desire to compromise on the issue. Like India and Kashmir, this one will likely be unresolved for decades to come.

Ray

04-08-2008, 06:19 PM

Here is something that a Chinese scholar has to say.

Tibet wasn’t ours, says Chinese scholar

HONG KONG: A leading Chinese historian and a veteran of the committee that advises on official Chinese history textbooks has broken step with the official Chinese line on historical sovereignty over Tibet and said that to claim that the ancient Buddhist kingdom “has always been a part of China” would be a “defiance of history”.

Read more at:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1081523

And here is a brief history of Tibet

BRIEF HISTORY OF TIBET

A brief account of Tibet, its origin, how it grew into a great military power and carved for itself a huge empire in Central Asia, then how it renounced the use of arms to practise the teachings of the Buddha and the tragic conseguences that it suffers today as a result of the brutal onslaught of the Communist Chinese forces is given in the following passages.

http://www.friends-of-tibet.org.nz/tibet.html

Beelzebubalicious

04-09-2008, 08:39 AM

[QUOTE=davidbfpo;42595]Third, any insurgency needs weapons, preferably firearms and I doubt if Tibetans have access to them.[QUOTE]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed previously, but to what extent can an insurgency be considered as such w/out the use of weapons? Can it be done through the media, non-violent protests, etc? Is Richard Gere a weapon of propaganda in the hand of tibetan "insurgents"?

Ray

04-09-2008, 09:11 AM

Beelzebubalicious,

That is real food for thought.

The concept of a ''bloodless insurgency"!

One wonders if it could be equated with Mahatma Gandhi's "Quit India" movement!

Beelzebubalicious

04-09-2008, 02:58 PM

Here's a quick and dirty google search paper related to this subject:

Insurgency--What's in a Name?
An Integrated Look at Non-violence, Terrorism, Guerrilla Warfare, Revolution, Civil War and Coups

http://paladin-san-francisco.com/inindex.htm

I haven't read it, but the author quotes Clausewitz, so it must be okay...Here's one quote:

There are many familiar examples of non-violent insurgency: Ghandi's resistance to the British; U.S. Civil Rights marches; the refusal of American colonists to buy goods from England; the boycott of Captain Boycott by Irish peasants (from which the practice got its name); the 1926 British General Strike and the 1963 political prisoners' strike in Vorkuta, U.S.S.R. Another outstanding recent example was the 1968 Czech response to the Soviet invasion. That involved nearly-spontaneous resistance; advance planning and leadership were nil. Nonetheless it subverted some of the best Soviet troops, made them politically unreliable and weakened the Red Army's control over the population.

Ray

04-09-2008, 09:45 PM

Why are the Communist Chinese so robotic and conditioned to believe in what the authorities say is understandable if one understand the grip on their mindset historically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(Chinese_philosophy)

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/chinese_legalism.html

Ron Humphrey

04-10-2008, 01:00 PM

Ray

04-10-2008, 04:03 PM

Ray: China has targeted Xinjiang and Tibet for massive economic development for decades. This went into overdrive especially in the past 8 years or so, when development of "interior" provinces became a major priority. Per capita, Tibet receives more subsidies from the central government than any other province. Infrastructure and construction investment in the TAR and Qinghai is at roughly 2x the level as in southeastern provinces. It is this massive government spending that has led to the enormous increase in urbanization in Tibet in the past decade, as well as the correspondingly huge increase in the Han population.

Of course this spending has to be seen in the context of China's program of "modernization" of the TAR and the western regions, where modernization brings both economic development but also greater control from the center. As with most "modernization" programs, the indigenous population is marginalized as it doesn't possess the requisite social or economic skills necessary to compete.

It is an interesting point that you raise about the infrastructure development in Tibet and the huge finances funnelled in for the same.

Since as you say the Tibetans do not have the social or economic skills, it obviously means that the financial spinoff that is being invested in the projects is not going to the Tibetans, but to others.

Therefore, such a situation does bring in heartburns, even if it is irrational.

People, who as a community, are looked as controlling the economy and having the wealth, normally are not very well liked by those who think that they are not getting a share of the pie.

Maybe, that could be the feeling that the Tibetan harbour, notwithstanding the progress done to them by China.

I would also wonder as to how the same Tibetan stock who are socially and economically backward are doing quite well for themselves outside Tibet. This makes one wonder if the Chinese are really doing much to bring emancipation to the Tibetans in Tibet.

After all, the Tibetans outside Tibet and those within Tibet are from the same stock and with the same skills!

tequila

04-10-2008, 04:33 PM

After all, the Tibetans outside Tibet and those within Tibet are from the same stock and with the same skills!

The exile community, especially those who fled w/the Dalai Lama in 1959, obviously contains a disproportionate number from the landowning and educated classes targeted by the Communists, especially during the Cultural Revolution and post-invasion periods. I'd say on average they had quite a higher degree of social and economic capital than the average Tibetan peasant or nomad, especially since Tibetan society was so stratified in pre-invasion times.

Obviously as well a Chinese-directed technology or infrastructure project will often require spoken or written literacy in Mandarin Chinese, a key stumbling block for any linguistic minority given the difficulty of the language and the inherently colonial imposition of having to learn the occupiers' language in order to gain employment.

Ray

04-10-2008, 07:50 PM

[QUOTE=tequila;44522]The exile community, especially those who fled w/the Dalai Lama in 1959, obviously contains a disproportionate number from the landowning and educated classes targeted by the Communists, especially during the Cultural Revolution and post-invasion periods. I'd say on average they had quite a higher degree of social and economic capital than the average Tibetan peasant or nomad, especially since Tibetan society was so stratified in pre-invasion times.

What is the authenticity to this contention?

The Tibetan who sell woollen clothes every winter in Indian cities do not give the impression that they are educated or the landed class.

Obviously as well a Chinese-directed technology or infrastructure project will often require spoken or written literacy in Mandarin Chinese, a key stumbling block for any linguistic minority given the difficulty of the language and the inherently colonial imposition of having to learn the occupiers' language in order to gain employment.

In other words, the Tibetans have not benefited!

tequila

04-11-2008, 12:39 AM

What is the authenticity to this contention?

I'll direct you to The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering (http://www.amazon.com/Struggle-Modern-Tibet-Autobiography-Tsering/dp/0765605090).

In other words, the Tibetans have not benefited!

That's pretty much what I said, no?

Not to belabor the point, but you seem to be confusing me with someone who advocates the PRC position on Tibet. My own moral position is that all parties concerned would be far better off if the PRC allowed both Xinjiang and Tibet to achieve independence and go their own way. However, this is not going to happen given the political situation as it exists today and for the foreseeable future.

Ray

04-11-2008, 05:52 AM

I'll direct you to The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of Tashi Tsering.

Thank you.

I am sure it will be interesting a book to read.

davidbfpo

04-11-2008, 06:38 PM

Third, any insurgency needs weapons, preferably firearms and I doubt if Tibetans have access to them.[QUOTE]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed previously, but to what extent can an insurgency be considered as such w/out the use of weapons? Can it be done through the media, non-violent protests, etc? Is Richard Gere a weapon of propaganda in the hand of tibetan "insurgents"?

A valid point and the examples later cited have some relevance, except when the opponent is a modern totalitarian state. Remove the available imagery, close the borders and expel foriegniers - what impact would the Tibetan rioting have then? By sheer fluke a BBC radio journalist was in Lhasa when the rioting started and did a very revealing report two weeks ago (sorry not aware a web link).

Peaceful and non-violent campaigning alone do not work. Alongside the Captain Boycott episode was a level of actual and threatened violence (see Stanley Palmer's Police and Protest in England and Ireland 1780-1950).

davidbfpo

Ray

04-12-2008, 10:42 AM

How far would the Chinese concept of Legalism be the explanation of their actions in Tibet and Xinjiang?

Legalism was a pragmatic political philosophy, with maxims like "when the epoch changed, legalism is the act of following all laws", and its essential principle is one of jurisprudence. "Legalism" here can bear the meaning of "political philosophy that upholds the rule of law", and is thus distinguished from the word's Western sense. The school's most famous proponent and contributor Han Fei believed that a ruler should govern his or her subjects by the following trinity:

1. Fa (Chinese: 法; pinyin: fǎ; literally "law or principle"): The law code must be clearly written and made public. All people under the ruler were equal before the law. Laws should reward those who obey them and punish accordingly those who dare to break them. Thus it is guaranteed that actions taken are systematically predictable. In addition, the system of law ran the state, not the ruler. If the law is successfully enforced, even a weak ruler will be strong.

2. Shu (Chinese: 術; pinyin: shù; literally "method, tactic or art"): Special tactics and "secrets" are to be employed by the ruler to make sure others don't take over control of the state. Especially important is that no one can fathom the ruler's motivations, and thus no one can know which behaviour might help them getting ahead; except for following the 法 or laws.

3. Shi (Chinese: 勢; pinyin: shì; literally "legitimacy, power or charisma"): It is the position of the ruler, not the ruler himself or herself, that holds the power. Therefore, analysis of the trends, the context, and the facts are essential for a real ruler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(Chinese_philosophy)

I have quoted Wikipedia since it sums up the issue.

Other reads:

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHPHIL/LEGALISM.HTM

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/chinese_legalism.html

Given that this is the underlining principle, and the fact that they will ensure the writ of the State with all its power irrespective of the world opinion, is there any chance of insurgency succeeding in Tibet or Xinjiang?

From a geostrategic standpoint, the pace at which China is moving toward becoming a superpower is dangerous to Western interests as also to countries on China's periphery.

A walkthrough of various forums indicates a sudden 'assault' in hordes of Chinese bloggers and posters and many, in true Communist doublespeak, indicate that the Tibet issue is but a western plot to undermine China and its growing power and international acceptability. Their contentions do indicate a high affinity to the concept of Legalism of Chinese thought.

Therefore, apart from Taiwan, should there not be more focus on the Tibetan and Uighur aspirations so that they achieve their goals and at the same time, divert China's resources and attention?

The Chinese are said to be planning to draw on the Caspian oil to feed her industrial needs and the pipeline is to pass through these areas. Therefore, any unrest in these areas would be in the best interest to ensure that there is a slowdown of Chinese aspirations to become a world power.

Interesting that it maybe, is it feasible?

Asterix

04-12-2008, 11:28 AM

By sheer fluke a BBC radio journalist was in Lhasa when the rioting started and did a very revealing report two weeks ago (sorry not aware a web link).

davidbfpo

Excuse the first post.

Transcript: James Miles interview on Tibet (CNN) (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/20/tibet.miles.interview/).
Which was also in The Economist: Trashing the Beijing Road (The Economist) (http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10875823)

marct

04-25-2008, 02:08 PM

From CBC.ca

China opens door to talks with Dalai Lama representative
Last Updated: Friday, April 25, 2008 | 5:40 AM ET Comments12Recommend19
CBC News

The Chinese government is preparing to meet with a private representative of the Dalai Lama, China's Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The meeting will happen "in the coming days" and is the result of "requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks," an official told the news agency.

More... (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/25/china-dalai.html)

tequila

04-25-2008, 04:45 PM

The timing is interesting, with EU reps in town --- perhaps the Euros were influential in this. The EU is China's largest trading partner.

marct

04-25-2008, 05:34 PM

The timing is interesting, with EU reps in town --- perhaps the Euros were influential in this. The EU is China's largest trading partner.

It wouldn't surprise me at all. I think part of it is that China has alsoasked for EU, Interpol and US help on security at the games.

ja6345a

03-25-2009, 08:01 PM

The Uyghur population of the Xinjiang Province has mobilized based on three types of grievances: economic, political, and religious. The Uyghur population's grievances lie mostly with the central state government, controlled by the Han majority population. The Uyghur population has a strong identity that is distinguishable from the Han population. They speak their own Turkic language, practice Sufi Islam, and have had a cultural history distinct from that of the Han Chinese. The Chinese government has maintained strong political control in Xinjiang since 1949, when the People's Liberation Army marched in to occupy the region. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of independent Central Asian states, the Uyghurs began to have hope that the independence of these countries would also help bring independence to their own country.
Uyghur-Han ethnic tensions have been exacerbated by government policies encouraging Han in-migration intended to assimilate Uyghurs into the larger Chinese framework, which existed until the 1970s. These assimilation policies have been perceived as a strong threat against Uyghur identity, culture, ethnicity and traditions. The government brought Han Chinese to Xinjiang through official policies sending transferred work units, demobilized People's Liberation Army troops, people joining family members sent to Xinjiang, and employees of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. After the 1980s, Han Chinese continued migrating to Xinjiang by their own prerogative. Accompanied by the in-migration is also the diverting of state funds to only help areas that are settled by the Han Chinese. Han Chinese now account for 95% of the population of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Recent large government infrastructure projects have employed migrant workers, instead of local workers, in spite of preferential policies for ethnic minorities. The Xinjiang region is also natural resource rich, which keeps the region at the center of China's energy policy. The Uyghurs say that despite the economic development that is happening in the area, the profits are not staying in the region, and instead the Uyghurs are placed at a disadvantage because of unbearable tax burdens.
Hans largely dominate the government and Chinese Communist Party levels above the township. There are many concerns within the Uyghur community that the autonomy promised by the government in the 1950s with the establishment of the autonomous region have not been realized. As the People's Republic of China remains a single-party state and continues to prevent various groups from articulating demands and from organizing to pursue their interests. The Uyghurs tend to see the Han Chinese and the state government as one and the same, so the grievances and oppositions towards the Han Chinese and the government tend to coalesce.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Chinese government has tightened restrictions on the practicing of Islam by Uyghurs. Mosques near schools have been closed as being "bad influences on children." Fasting during Ramadan was banned in schools, hospitals and government offices. Muslim clerics have been detained for teaching the Koran. Restrictions and scrutiny on Islamic religious practices have increased after September 11, 2001, as the Chinese government aligned the separatist activities of the ethnically Muslim population as terrorism.
Based on these grievances, different groups have mobilized to assert their autonomy; however, the movement for autonomy is not monolithic. Opinions vary, from those who would like to see the autonomy of the region increased, to those would like to establish an independent state. The East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM), a more militant group described as a terrorist organization by the People's Republic of China and the US, has pressed for an independent Turkic state called East Turkestan to be created and populated by Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region. Some have alleged that ETIM-linked groups were responsible for the Chinese bus bombings during the Olympics. Other groups, like the Uyghur American Association (UAA), has championed more peaceful means of reconciliation; the president of the UAA, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Valin

07-08-2009, 11:38 AM

WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124698224912106465.html)
Beijing cracks down on a Muslim minority.
7/8/09

Authoritarian states are typically less stable than they appear, and China is no exception. This week's ethnic riots in western Xinjiang province are the deadliest on record since the end of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. Until the Chinese government is truly accountable to its citizens -- both the majority Han and other ethnic minorities -- these kinds of deadly uprisings will continue.

Sunday's riots started when around 3,000 ethnic Uighurs, including many high-school and college students, gathered to protest ethnically motivated killings in a factory in China's southern Guangdong province. The riots turned violent but, thanks to China's information firewall, no one knows exactly why. State-run media report that Uighurs had attacked Han Chinese and count at least 156 people killed and more than 1,000 injured.

Government outlets blamed Uighur "separatists" and labeled U.S.-based Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, the "mastermind" of the violence. Ms. Kadeer denies this in an article on a nearby page. Yesterday, thousands of Han Chinese, armed with homemade weapons, swarmed the streets of Urumqi, calling for revenge. Police stopped them with tear gas, but not before they had destroyed some Uighur shops. Other protests and violent outbreaks ripped across the city.

(snip)

goesh

07-08-2009, 12:41 PM

I seem to recall reading/hearing that China has a lot of energy reserves in that area - a whole different set of ROE in that neck of the woods and I imagnine the body count was much higher.

marct

07-08-2009, 02:33 PM

I seem to recall reading/hearing that China has a lot of energy reserves in that area - a whole different set of ROE in that neck of the woods and I imagnine the body count was much higher.

I'd suspect so, Goesh. Here's CBC's take on it (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/07/07/china-xinjiang-protests.html) (and here (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/07/06/china-protests.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.16657:b26236926)), but it appears to have the same sources.

bourbon

07-08-2009, 08:59 PM

marct

07-09-2009, 02:17 PM

From Prospect magazine:

The final stretch on the road to Yarkand, about 125 miles from China’s border with Pakistan, feels like the middle east. Each village is a collage of single-storey mud-brick homes with turquoise door-gates. People travel by donkey cart or scooter-rickshaw. Men greet each other the Muslim way (palm to the chest and a slight bow); women wear headscarves. In small villages many signs are still in Uighur, the local language. But for how much longer?
Source (http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10819)

davidbfpo

07-11-2009, 10:33 AM

This BBC News report starts with the Turkish Prime Minister calling what has happened 'genocide' and then provides an update on the situation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8145451.stm

Amazing that the Chinese have not stopped media arriving, but have detained some. IIRC the BBC had a reporter in town when this started, just like they did when Lhasa riots started.

davidbfpo

Jedburgh

07-14-2009, 03:19 PM

16 Jun 09 testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (before the recent outbreak of violence):

Exploring the Nature of Uighur Nationalism: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists? (http://international.edgeboss.net/real/international/oi06162009.smi)

Randall G. Schriver (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/sch061609.pdf), Dpty Asst Secretary of State for East Asia from 2003 to 2005

Sean R. Roberts (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/rob061609.pdf), Elliott School of International Affairs GWU

Dru C. Gladney (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/gla061609.pdf), Pomona College

Shirley Kan (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/kan061609.pdf), Congressional Research Service

Susan Baker Manning (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/man061609.pdf), Bingham McCutchen LLP

Bruce Fein (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/fei061609.pdf)

And 10 Jun 09 testimony to the same audience on The Uighurs: A History of Persecution (http://international.edgeboss.net/real/international/IO06102009.smi)

Felice Gaer (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/gae061009.pdf), US Commission on International Religious Freedom

Kara Abramson (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/abr061009.pdf), Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Rebyia Kadeer (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/kad061009.pdf), Uyghur-American Association

Nury Turkel (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/tur061009.pdf), Uyghur-American Association

davidbfpo

07-14-2009, 06:24 PM

A UK newspaper story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5826040/China-pleads-for-understanding-as-al-Qaeda-vows-revenge-over-Uighur-deaths.html

Appears to be based on a London-based analyst monitoring of websites; I am puzzled at the citing of 'the 50,000 Chinese workers in Algeria and elsewhere in Northern Africa'.

davidbfpo

JarodParker

07-14-2009, 09:00 PM

I am puzzled at the citing of 'the 50,000 Chinese workers in Algeria and elsewhere in Northern Africa'.
davidbfpo

I don't know about North Africa, but there are a ton of Chinese workers in sub-Sahara Africa. During a recent trip to the horn, I was surprised at the sheer number of Chinese nationals participating in various infrastructure projects at every level from business admin types to heavy machinery operators. Some entrepreneurs even left their construction jobs to open up their own martial arts studios, restaurants, etc. From what I was told/saw the workers usually rent a small place in the rough part of town and share the cost of rent and utilities while sending the bulk of their income to family members back home. They’ve even got accustomed to chewing kot.

NPR: Army Of Shopowners Paved China's Way In Africa (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93143915)

Africans marvel, fret at China's hard workers (http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSL2121202920080821?feedType=RSS&feedName=inDepthNews&rpc=22&sp=true)

But he wonders about the Chinese practice of flying planeloads of laborers into a war-weary, politically fragile society where seven out of 10 adults under 30 has no job.
Algerian officials say the country had 19,000 Chinese workers in 2007, mostly builders and craftsmen implementing parts of a $200 billion national economic development plan. Some Algerians believe the real number is several times that.

Ken White

07-14-2009, 10:27 PM

Busy people...

Ron Humphrey

07-15-2009, 12:34 AM

When you can send a couple hundred million out and still break even for the largest population in the world.:eek:

HMMM (http://www.chinability.com/China%20population%20clock.htm)

Jedburgh

07-17-2009, 01:04 PM

EWC, 16 Jul 09: Ethno-Diplomacy: The Uyghur Hitch in Sino-Turkish Relations (http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/ps053.pdf)

Beginning in 1949, China responded to so-called Uyghur separatism and the quest for Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) independence as a domestic problem. Since the mid-1990s, however, when it became aware of the international aspects of this problem, Beijing has begun to pressure Turkey to limit its support for Uyghur activism. Aimed not only at cultural preservation but also at Eastern Turkestan independence, Uyghur activism remained unnoticed until the 1990s, despite the establishment in 1971 of Sino-Turkish diplomatic relations. It has gathered momentum as a result of China's post-Mao opening, the Soviet disintegration, increased Uyghur migration, the growing Western concern for human rights, and the widespread use of the Internet. Until the mid-1990s Turkey's leaders managed to defy Chinese pressure because they sympathized with the Uyghurs, were personally committed to their leader Isa Yusuf Alptekin, and hoped to restore Turkish influence in Central Asia. By late 1995, however, both that hope and Alptekin were dead, and China was becoming an influential, self-confident economic power. At this time Ankara chose to comply with Beijing's demands, which were backed by increased trade, growing military collaboration, and China's veiled threats of support for Kurdish nationalism. Consequently, Turkish Uyghurs suffered a serious blow, and some of their organizations had to relocate abroad, outside Beijing's reach. Nonetheless, Uyghur activism continues in Turkey and has become even more pronounced worldwide. Possibly less concerned about the Uyghur "threat" than it suggests, Beijing may simply be using the Uyghurs to intimidate and manipulate Turkey and other governments, primarily those in Central Asia.

bourbon

12-03-2010, 06:28 AM

Promoting Jihad Against China: The Turkistani Islamic Party in Arabic Jihadist Media (http://www.kirksowell.com/Content/Documents/TIP%20Special%20Report.pdf), by Kirk H. Sowell. An Independent Report Commissioned by Sky News, August 1, 2010. (PDF)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP) is a jihadist organization which claims to represent China‟s Muslim Uighur population. It is the most militant of Uighur groups in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. While experts dispute TIP‟s origins, it claims to be a renamed continuation of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which appeared defunct in 2003 following the death of its leader.

Since 2008, TIP has used the global jihadist media to present itself as the successor of the classical Islamic caliphate, operating parallel to Osama bin Ladin‟s al-Qaeda (AQ), with its avowed ambition the Islamization of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While marginal to Uighur society and never demonstrating significant capabilities, Uighur jihadists garnered increased international attention following al-Qaeda‟s 2001 attacks on the United States and TIP‟s own 2008 threat against the Beijing Olympics.

This report, Promoting Jihad Against China, attempts to address two issues: (1) TIP‟s origins, including its relationship to ETIM; and (2) TIP‟s relationship to the global jihadist movement, including al-Qaeda. The evidence is derived from TIP publications in Arabic jihadist media supplemented by secondary sources in English and Arabic.

While this report was commissioned by Sky News, it is an independent study and Sky News is not responsible for its contents. The key judgments are as follows:

- TIP is a successor organization to ETIM, which likely ceased to exist in 2003. While TIP claims total continuity between the two groups, its emergence in 2008 is more likely a refounding of a defunct organization.

- TIP has deep ties to the Taliban, but appears to have only tangential links to al-Qaeda. TIP supports AQ‟s war against the United States, but has criticized it for ignoring Asian Muslims. Media which habitually describe TIP as “al-Qaeda-linked” would be on firmer ground linking it to the Taliban.

- The primary purpose of TIP’s Arabic publications appears to be fundraising, with little relationship to operations. TIP‟s publications feature highly-theoretical discussions of Islamic history and doctrine targeted to Gulf Arabs sympathetic to jihadism. While fundraising is typically a goal of jihadist publications, this seems more true of TIP than for jihadists in the Arab world.

- TIP has failed to break into the mainstream Arabic information environment. While TIP‟s publications have sufficient presence on jihadist forums to give it exposure to its core audience, it has failed to have impact on mainstream Arabic media similar to that of other militant Islamist groups.

davidbfpo

12-03-2010, 08:17 AM

Bourbon,

The report aside, why would a UK-based global TV channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, with IIRC extensive interests in China, commission such a report? On a quick scan the report has no clues.:confused:

Bob's World

12-03-2010, 01:10 PM

These guys are just one of many nationalist insurgent movements among Muslim populaces that AQ engages with as they conduct Unconventional Warfare to leverage the populaces of others to assist them in their own agenda/goals as an organization.

If the West continues with a historic approach, we will help China conduct counterterrorism against this nationalist insurgent movement and to exert controls over the Chinese Muslim populace they represent.

Or, we can perhaps draw a clearer perspective when looking at an insurgent movement against a government we have issues with than we can when looking at the insurgent movements against governments we tend to think of as "friends."

My recommendation is that we out-compete AQ for influence with this populace. They need an advocate to help them in their very real issues with the Chinese government. The US falls much more closely in line with the historic principles upon which our nation was founded, and also with the overly positive self-image we have of ourselves in the global environment, by taking such a role. Not working to help the insurgent overthrow the government or break away, and not helping the government to suppress their populace. Instead providing a strong third party to help mediate the grievances.

Everyone has come to recognize that good COIN "protects the populace" from the insurgent. What I don't see, however, is the recognition that good FID works to protect the populace from the insurgent and the government. In America we have a great constitution that has proven to be an effective guard of the populace against government abuse. (Recent efforts to nick away at those guards under the guise of current challenges must be resisted by the people!) In other places there are no such guards against government abuse.

Who guards the people of Afghanistan from the abuses of the Afghan government?? Not the US, we actually enable the Afghan government (against our feeble protests) to act in abusive ways that feed the insurgency.

Who guards the people of Saudi Arabia or Yemen or Egypt from the abuses of their governments? Again, not the US, who enables those governments to act with impunity as well.

So, the question is, will we merely ignore this "Chinese problem" (In the current global environment, nothing is localized like that, and these guys are a significant source of foreign fighters to Pakistan) and let the Chinese handle it as they see fit? Do we assist the Chinese with capacity building and CT support to suppress this segment of their populace more effectively (and thereby add ourselves to the insurgent target list)? Or do we break the model that we have been following in Africa and the Middle East and take a neutral role more in line with our national principles?

Just asking. I know what I recommend. These are not problems that can be contained, nor can they effectively be suppressed without increased chance of terrorist acts back home. They must be addressed, as they will not go away until they are.

Dayuhan

12-03-2010, 09:20 PM

If the West continues with a historic approach, we will help China conduct counterterrorism against this nationalist insurgent movement and to exert controls over the Chinese Muslim populace they represent.

The Chinese will not need, want, or request our help.

My recommendation is that we out-compete AQ for influence with this populace.

My recommendation is that we leave it alone. It's not our business, it's not our problem, and it's very unlikely that any side of the story wants us involved in any way. We are not the solution to every problem, and there's no need for us to get involved in every problem. Let it be. We've enough issues elsewhere.

Who guards the people of Saudi Arabia or Yemen or Egypt from the abuses of their governments? Again, not the US, who enables those governments to act with impunity as well.

The degree to which we "enable" anything is highly debatable. In Saudi Arabia our "enabling" role is absolutely nonexistent: the US could withdraw completely from all engagement with the Saudis with no effect whatsoever on the Saudi relationship with its populace. They don't need our help to contain their populace and they don't care what we think... we'd lose a fair bit of intel (and a whole lot of defence contracts) but that's about it

In Egypt our "enabling" role is minimal: they like the aid but it's not enough to give us enough leverage to force them to change anything, and they don't step on their populace because we enable it. They'd do it in any event. Once upon a time they were dependents, not now. They could survive without the aid, and it's likely that others would replace it if we withdrew.

In Yemen, arguably, we enable a bad government to survive... but I've seen few good options proposed. Important to note that Yemen doesn't face "an insurgency" with "an insurgent leadership" that we can deal with if the government is unsuitable. Yemen faces a crawling chaos of ethnic, sectarian, and tribal conflict; the threat is not an insurgent victory but a descent into Somali-style anarchy.

The whole notion of "enabling" is something you seem to asume but do not demonstrate; I think you vastly overrate what we can or do actually "enable". Certainly in China, no matter what policy we adopt, we will not be "enabling" anything.

Tukhachevskii

12-04-2010, 04:55 AM

My recommendation is that we leave it alone. It's not our business, it's not our problem, and it's very unlikely that any side of the story wants us involved in any way. We are not the solution to every problem, and there's no need for us to get involved in every problem. Let it be. We've enough issues elsewhere.

Agreed 150%

In Yemen, arguably, we enable a bad government to survive... but I've seen few good options proposed. Important to note that Yemen doesn't face "an insurgency" with "an insurgent leadership" that we can deal with if the government is unsuitable. Yemen faces a crawling chaos of ethnic, sectarian, and tribal conflict; the threat is not an insurgent victory but a descent into Somali-style anarchy.
Again, agreed with your accurate assesment.

The whole notion of "enabling" is something you seem to asume but do not demonstrate; I think you vastly overrate what we can or do actually "enable". Certainly in China, no matter what policy we adopt, we will not be "enabling" anything.

Exactly, it didn't/hasn't/doesn't work with Tibet I don't see how or why it should with ETIM or the Uighur people. Non-intervention not more intervention should be the norm at least if we still believe in the notion of state soveriengty. Ultimately, whatever problems a people has with its government are its problem unless the issues should be so severe as to threaten regional and international security in which case its a regional problem (essentially the Edmund Burke doctrine from the French revolution) and only in the last instance is it an international one....unless you subscribe to the idea of universal peace/government (which demands intervention) which is a dream and not even a nice one. Indeed, in a number of cases (if not the majority) local dis/malcontents tactitly if not overtly assume and rely upon the internationalisation of their greivance. Turning a local issue into a global one which not only complicates its resolution but also involves parties who have no business being invlved in the first place and seek simply to gain in some way. Remove that and you, IMO only, dampen the flames that lead to escalation.

AdamG

07-18-2011, 04:09 PM

Stress fractures.

More than five people are dead after an angry mob attacked a police station in western China. According to Chinese media reports, a mob attacked the police building in Hotan in the Xinjiang region, taking hostages and setting it on fire. Paramilitary police are said to have then launched a counter attack in which several hostage takers were killed.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-18/deadly-attack-on-chinese-police-station/2799554

davidbfpo

07-18-2011, 09:18 PM

AdamG,

Such incidents as you posted above are regular occurrences in China, particularly in the rural areas, although sometimes in the urban areas and notably in Urumchi in July 2009. I cannot readily find a reference source.

Fuchs

07-18-2011, 09:28 PM

You can expect to have many anecdotes and episodes in a 1+ billion people nation. It takes statistics to improve observations.

bourbon

07-19-2011, 12:48 AM

Yes, disturbances are a regular occurrence in rural China, but Xinjiang is a flashpoint. Xinjiang is going to be China’s future Achilles Heel, if it isn’t already.

davidbfpo

07-20-2011, 09:07 PM

On ICSR's blog 'Jihad in China', which opens with;
Islamist terrorism and extremism in China is a very difficult subject to research. A general sense of paranoia casts a shadow over the it and a great paucity in direct and accurate information means that people often have very little that is empirical or tangible to add.

None of this is to say that the problem does not exist.

(Ends with)It seems that there is some sort of a terrorist threat to China from violent Islamist networks. But what remains unclear is to what degree this threat is able to conduct any sorts of operations within China or to what degree al Qaeda and affiliate networks are able (or want) to manipulate it for their own ends. Currently, the jihad in China seems more aspirational than operational. At the same time, if events in Hotan are confirmed, it looks like the tinderbox of ethnic friction and disenfranchisement that might offer an outlet for such extremism to latch on to continues to exist.

Link:http://icsr.info/blog/Jihad-in-China

davidbfpo

08-01-2011, 08:17 AM

China has said Islamic extremists were behind an attack on the eve of the Muslim fasting month in the restive western region of Xinjiang that left 11 people dead....

An initial police investigation found that the leaders of the group behind the attack had learned about explosives and firearms in Pakistan at a camp of the separatist "East Turkestan Islamic Movement," it said.

Police shot dead five people and arrested four others after they stormed a restaurant, set in on fire after killing the owner and a waiter, and then ran onto the street and hacked to death four people, Xinhua news agency reported.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8674232/China-blames-Islamic-extremists-for-violence.html

I accept the only report cited is the official PRC news agency, although there are usually travellers in Kashgar travelling along the Karakoram Highway to Pakistan.

What is more interesting is the attack on a restaurant and the murders in the street. Extreme violence face to face and I expect in the knowledge there is no escape is not a good sign. My knowledge of the region is poor, could this be the first suicide terrorist attack? So breaking "the mould" and local, Muslim traditions?

There is a different BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14356532

bourbon

08-01-2011, 01:39 PM

What is more interesting is the attack on a restaurant and the murders in the street. Extreme violence face to face and I expect in the knowledge there is no escape is not a good sign. My knowledge of the region is poor, could this be the first suicide terrorist attack? So breaking "the mould" and local, Muslim traditions?
Much of the violence in Xinjiang in recent years - and many of the attacks ascribed to East Turkestan groups there, have been with edged weapons, blunt instruments, or crude incendiary devices. Contrast this with ETIM in Pakistan (and Afghanistan?) who appear to be supplied with small arms and explosives, and “ETIM” in Xinjiang looks like the junior-varsity B-squad.

davidbfpo

08-03-2011, 03:22 PM

A backgrounder on the BBC by an academic on the troubles in Kashgar and Xinjiang Province; which ends with:
The dire situation of the Uighurs in Xinjiang is at the root of the conflict. Only when the real culprits - poverty, marginalisation and discrimination - are defeated can the conflict be satisfactorily resolved.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14384605

Alas political power rests far beyond the Uighurs. "Draining the swamp" is laudable, sadly too much weighs against anything happening.

davidbfpo

08-04-2011, 10:11 PM

This thread was called 'China's Far West' and is a better home for recent posts on insurgency / terrorism/ public disorder in China's western provinces than the thread on China's emergence as a super power.

I've re-named this thread as 'China's Far West provinces: a Small War'. On reflection I've also left in the Central Asia forum, not Asia-Pacific where most threads on China appear.

davidbfpo

08-20-2011, 07:52 PM

A commentary on the issues in Xinjiang and their effect on Sino-Pakistani relations:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2011/08/19/uyghur-unrest-shakes-sino-pakistani-relations/

Taster:
The fact that we have seen similar instances of serious violence in Xinjiang on a relatively regular basis over the last few years suggests some deep-seated anger is bubbling just below the surface. Whether this is directed by external parties is unclear, however.

davidbfpo

09-09-2011, 01:30 PM

From the NYT:
The American organization, the SITE Intelligence Group, posted the video, by the Turkistan Islamic Party, on its Web site on Wednesday, reporting that it had been issued in late August. In the video, according to SITE, the group’s leader, Abdul Shakoor Damla, claimed that attacks in July in Hotan and Kashgar, two southern Xinjiang cities, were acts of revenge for the Chinese government’s repression of the region’s ethnic Uighur population.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/world/asia/09china.html?_r=1&ref=world

davidbfpo

09-15-2011, 12:54 PM

Not unexpected, although I do wonder if this will be seen by those aspiring to join the violent Jihad as inspirational.

Four members of the Uighur minority have been sentenced to death over attacks in China's restive Xinjiang province, which left 32 people dead.

The men were found guilty of murder, arson and running a terrorist organisation, state media reported.

Two others were jailed for 19 years for their roles in separate incidents in Kashgar and Hotan in July.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926413

Ray

09-22-2011, 08:14 AM

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.

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.

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.
http://muslimvillage.com/2011/08/06/chinese-muslims-banned-from-fasting-in-ramadan/

People can still carry on with deprivations and social injustice.

However, it is a different matter when religion is trifled with, more so with the Muslims, who are, amongst all religions, more zealous in observing the rites and rules of their Faith.

While other religions have changed with the times, but not so Islam since from the 10th Century, Ijtihad has been discontinued.

Ramadan or Ramazan is a Islamic religious event which has great importance for all Muslim.

But then the Chinese are also correct in their own way since they do not allow religion to upset stability or tranquillity as it is a departure from their concept of egalitarianism.

And they are very sensitive about 'foreign' religions like Christianity and Islam.

bourbon

10-31-2011, 02:54 PM

China seeks military bases in Pakistan (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MJ26Df03.html), by Amir Mir. Asia Times, 26 October 2011.

ISLAMABAD - While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.

The Chinese desire is meant to contain growing terrorist activities of Chinese rebels belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) that is also described as the Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP).

The Chinese Muslim rebels want the creation of an independent Islamic state and are allegedly being trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan. According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Beijing's wish for a military presence in Pakistan was discussed at length by the political and military leadership of both countries in recent months as China (which views the Uyghur separatist sentiment as a dire threat) has become ever-more concerned about Pakistan's tribal areas as a haven for radicals.

Beijing believes that similar to the United States military presence in Pakistan, a Chinese attendance would enable its military to effectively counter the Muslim separatists who have been operating from the tribal areas of Pakistan for almost a decade, carrying out cross-border terrorist activities in trouble-stricken Xinjiang province.

davidbfpo

11-10-2011, 02:43 PM

An insight into a region we rarely know much about, although I expect we've noted this international group and muttered "So, what?".

I refer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (the Chinese-instigated regional grouping encompassing nearby Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia).

According to the analysts and diplomats at the table, China's influence is based on cooperation, development and mutual interests. China's 'soft power' (a term that is not popular in Beijing) is its ability to let countries develop at their own rate. When China looks to the region, it sees nations that are beset with problems, but ones that China cannot and should not address. Instead, Beijing has constructed the SCO.

The purpose of the SCO is not to supplant the EU, US or Russia, but rather to create a mechanism. We were told our tendency to view the SCO as a 'NATO of the East' — a view we pointedly said we did not concur with — was merely a product of a Western bias built on the assumption that some sort of China threat lurks behind every corner. The SCO is young and regionally focused. Afghanistan, they reassured us, was something the SCO had always been concerned about and would address in the future.

So far, it has done very little.

Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2011/11/07/China-hasnt-yet-grown-into-its-role.aspx

There is a telling couple of phrases at the end, which i will copy to the main thread on China as an emerging superpower.

China is the world's foremost rising power and her influence will be felt wherever she pops up. As we sat down to a sumptuous meal around a large garlanded table after our discussion, our new Chinese friends gave us no sense of having really thought through the implications of what their newfound accidental influence means.

The impression was rather that China is stumbling onto power it does not want, and with which it doesn't know what to do.

Ray

12-06-2011, 06:52 PM

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KL19Ag01.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/28/kazakhstan-china-protest-idUKLDE74R02M20110528

http://observerlhs-observations.blogspot.com/2011/03/kazakhstan-and-tajikistan-experience.html

I believe it is now done!

davidbfpo

01-13-2012, 12:30 PM

Since the disorder and crackdown in 2009 the situation in Urumchi has changed according to visitors. Within the police there was criticism of the sizeable Uighur minority in the police for failing to respond properly, tension remains high and the amount of inter-communal interaction - outside work - has fallen off, e.g. eating out. State institutions require staff to provide security 24/7 and to ensure there is a capability to work beyond normal operating hours (hospitals, schools etc).

Some see a difference between long established Han residents and the "incomer" Han, both legal and the substantial numbers who are undocumented and are less restrained in tolerance of other cultures.

As the population balance changes some within state security envisage increasing stability, citing when a minority dips below 10% locally national experience shows that disputes end.

In the 2000 Census in Urumchi / Urumqi found Uighurs were 12.8% and Han Chinese 75.3%; I would have expected this has altered since then.

Link for demography:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang

AdamG

01-19-2012, 06:19 AM

The Chinese people are increasingly frustrated with the Chinese Communist Party and the political situation in China is "very, very delicate," U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Wednesday.

"I do believe that there is a power of the people, and there is a growing frustration among the people over the operations of government, corruption, lack of transparency, and issues that affect the Chinese people on a daily basis that they feel are being neglected," Locke told NPR's Steve Inskeep during a Wednesday interview, part of a media blitz Locke is conducting during his visit to Washington.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/18/us_ambassador_political_situation_in_china_very_ve ry_delicate

AdamG

02-05-2012, 06:05 PM

China cut off internet in area of Tibetan unrest

Internet connections and mobile phone signals were cut for 30 miles around scene of clashes in Sichuan, state media reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/03/china-internet-links-tibetan-unrest

See also
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=5097

AdamG

02-29-2012, 02:15 PM

At least 12 people were killed Tuesday in riots near the Chinese city of Kashgar in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media reported. The report provided no details on how the violence began, but there have been periodic outbreaks of antigovernment violence in Xinjiang Province by restless members of the Uighur ethnic group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/world/asia/china-more-violence-in-xinjiang.html?src=recg

Ray

04-06-2012, 03:03 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/06/china-uighur-terrorist-list?newsfeed=true

I appears China is getting a bit uncomfortable with Pakistani sponsored terrorism.

Ray

04-06-2012, 04:59 PM

Chinese authorities have asked Pakistan to hand over members of the extremist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) believed to be operating out of the country, naming six terror suspects in a list issued on Friday that described the group as the "most direct and real safety threat that China faces".

The six men were “core members” of the ETIM, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. They were identified as Nurmemet Memetmin, Abdulkyum Kurban, Paruh Tursun, Tursunjan Ebibla, Nurmemet Raxit and Mamat Imin Nurmamat – all Uighurs, the ethnic Turkic Muslim minority from China’s far-western Xinjiang region which borders Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

While the ministry's statement stopped short of stating directly their links to terror camps in Pakistan – it only mentioned "a South Asian country” – a separate statement from the Chinese government issued last year identified Mr. Memetmin as having trained terrorists in Pakistan to carry out attacks in the city of Kashgar that left at least 20 people dead.

Mr. Nurmamat was also believed to be in Pakistan, according to Chinese analysts. The Ministry of Public Security said he had fled China after an explosion triggered accidentally at a bomb-making terror unit in Shache, Xinjiang that was plotting an attack in October 2009.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3287906.ece

JMA

04-06-2012, 05:13 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/06/china-uighur-terrorist-list?newsfeed=true

I appears China is getting a bit uncomfortable with Pakistani sponsored terrorism.

Don't blame them, but what will they do about it?

davidbfpo

04-06-2012, 06:45 PM

Given the report that it was the Red Mosque followers kidnapping of a bus-load of Chinese sex workers in Islamabad was "straw that broke the camel's back" and led to then President Musharraf's decision to use lethal force to "resolve" the occupation of the mosque - there is a history of Chinese matters having an impact on Pakistani decision-making.

I am sure historians would cite other incidents.

At the same time China has been reluctant to support Pakistan at times too.

One wonders how heavy a presence today in Pakistan is there of Chinese security & intelligence agencies?

bourbon

04-06-2012, 08:05 PM

One wonders how heavy a presence today in Pakistan is there of Chinese security & intelligence agencies?
To say nothing of all their “technicians” and “engineers” running around FATA, Balochistan, and PoK.

Ray

04-07-2012, 02:11 PM

China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan?

In its effort to combat separatist Uighur groups, China is apparently seeking to establish military bases in the part of Pakistan that borders the Uighurs' home province of Xinjiang. That's according to Pakistani journalist Amir Mir, writing in Asia Times:

While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64379

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

Given the relationship with the US currently, China is Pakistan's only hope.

They will have to give way to the Chinese.

But it will create problems and they may get bogged down.

Ray

04-07-2012, 02:22 PM

Kashgar Officials Blame Pakistan for Harboring Uyghur Terrorists

Since U.S.-Pakistan relations took a nosedive following the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, Islamabad has appeared to try to woo China as its new superpower ally; Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, called China "Pakistan's best friend" on a visit to Beijing shortly after the bin Laden raid. But the courtship is hitting a rocky patch: Chinese officials say that attacks in the far western city of Kashgar over the weekend were planned in Pakistan, in Uyghur terror training camps there........

Uyghur activists, along with several foreign experts quoted in these news stories, suggested that blaming Pakistan was an attempt to dodge the fact that it is in fact local people, angry with Beijing's heavy-handed rule over the Uyghur-dominated province of Xinjiang, who are rising up. But the fact that they're pointing the finger at Pakistan is probably making some people in Islamabad pretty nervous. China takes the Uyghur issue VERY seriously, and if they really think that Pakistan is actually harboring Uyghur terrorists, the two countries aren't going to be best friends for long.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63983

Ray

04-07-2012, 05:19 PM

Note that the Chinese have blamed Pakistan for Uighur Terrorism openly and have named the terrorists and confiscated their property as also impounding their bank accounts.

They never did it so openly before.

China Blames Foreign-Trained Separatists for Attacks in Xinjiang
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/wo...a/02china.html

So, that means that they are getting tough with Pakistan?

Wrong.

It is to build up an excuse to demand operating bases in NWFP and FATA so that they can take on the Uighur rebels!

Even that is wrong.

They are wanting to plonk themselves between the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan so that Pakistan can breathe since the US will not then use Drones or carry out cross border raids. This will endear them to the Pakistani population.

Then they will carry out movement into Afghanistan once the US leaves so that their hold around the area become firm and their routes into Iran and its ports including Chahbahar (constructed by India) becomes a reality. And because of that they are supporting Iran against the US at all international forums.

China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan?

In its effort to combat separatist Uighur groups, China is apparently seeking to establish military bases in the part of Pakistan that borders the Uighurs' home province of Xinjiang. That's according to Pakistani journalist Amir Mir, writing in Asia Times:

While Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at its southwestern seaport of Gwadar in Balochistan province, Beijing is more interested in setting up military bases either in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan or in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) that border Xinjiang province.

China Seeking Counter-Uighur Military Bases In Pakistan? | EurasiaNet.org

SWJ Blog

06-18-2012, 10:42 AM

Hard Love and Empty Promises: China’s Domestic Counterinsurgency in Xinjiang (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/hard-love-and-empty-promises-china%E2%80%99s-domestic-counterinsurgency-in-xinjiang)

Entry Excerpt:

--------
Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/hard-love-and-empty-promises-china%E2%80%99s-domestic-counterinsurgency-in-xinjiang) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

davidbfpo

06-30-2012, 09:01 PM

IMO this is the first such attempt to hijack a plane:
Air crew and passengers on Friday foiled the attempted hijacking of an aircraft with 100 people on board in China's far west Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, local police said. At least ten people were injured. Two flight policemen were seriously injured, head attendant and seven passengers were slightly injured in the fight with hijackers, police said

Link:http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-06/29/c_131684620.htm

Now are the suspects locals or infiltrators from Pakistan?

Bill Moore

07-01-2012, 12:45 AM

IMO this is the first such attempt to hijack a plane

Perhaps, but in the past China has gone to great lengths to suppress any news covering their internal security issues. They have ongoing challenges with the Uyghers (a Muslim ethnic group in Western China), and some Uyghers (very few) have established ties with Islamists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but that distorts the real issue which more similiar to the ethnic/cultural conflict/tension China has with Tibet.

Over the years there have been several bombings in some parts of China (buses were a popular target). Who knows what else is going on in this regard. This may be the first hijacking attempt, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. I doubt we'll ever hear the full story, or Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story" about this episode.

Bill Moore

07-01-2012, 01:23 AM

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1089.html#victim

U.S. State Department Travel Advise (politically correct, but fairly accurate)

Violent crime isnot common in China, but violent demonstrations can erupt without warning and in past years there have been somefatal bombings and explosions which could pose a random threat to foreign visitors in the area. The vast majority of these local incidents are related to disputes over land seizures, social issues, employment disputes, environmental problems, or conflicts involving ethnic minorities. Some incidents have become large-scale and involved criminal activity, including hostage taking and vandalism.

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/violence-escalates-in-china%E2%80%99s-xinjiang-province

Violence Escalates in China’s Xinjiang Province SEP 2011

The Chinese government almost always attributes attacks in Xinjiang to jihadist ideology and foreign-linked terrorist groups, while pro-Uighur organizations almost always explain violence in Xinjiang as a local byproduct of the government’s policies. For example, the Chinese government called the Hotan incident a “severe terrorist attack,”[2] while the World Uighur Congress[3] blamed the violence on Chinese authorities forcefully breaking up a “peaceful demonstration.”

http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=295&catid=8

TERRORISM AND BOMBINGS IN CHINA

Explosions, both accidental and intentional, are common in China. In 1998, there were 2,500 bomb blasts in a nine month period. Among the 30 bombings in a 10 day period in 2001, was a blast at a McDonald’s in the tourist town of Xian that killed five people and injured 28, an explosion at a French department store in Qindao that killed and injured no one and 23 blasts in the Guangdong port cities of Zhanjiang and Jiangmen.

Many explosions are not related to terrorism. Easy-to-obtain industrial explosives are often used in attacks blamed on gangsters, jilted lovers and others and used to settle grievances. In past years, disgruntled Chinese citizens have set off explosions near buildings or on buses. Such "sudden incidents", as China refers to them, underscore broader government worries about stability in the world's second-largest economy, with a widening gap between rich and poor and growing anger at corruption and over environmental issues. In March 2001, 108 people were killed in explosions at four apartment housed in Shijazhuang, Hebei Province by a man who was seeking revenge against relatives that angered him

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-04/06/c_131510187.htm

China publishes names of six terrorists APR 2012

The six were all core members of the terrorist group "East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)," according to a statement issued Thursday by the Ministry of Public Security.

They have participated in the organization, and planned and executed terrorist acts against Chinese targets within and outside the country, the ministry said in the statement on its official website.

http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE08802E.shtml

From the UN

QE.E.88.02. EASTERN TURKISTAN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT APR 2011

In recent years, ETIM has set up bases outside China to train terrorists and has dispatched its members to China to plot and execute terrorist acts including bombing buses, cinemas, department stores, markets and hotels. ETIM has also undertaken assassinations and arson attacks and has carried out terrorist attacks against Chinese targets abroad. Among the violent acts committed by ETIM members were the blowing up of the warehouse of the Urumqi Train Station on 23 May 1998, the armed looting of 247,000 RMB Yuan in Urumqi on 4 February 1999, an explosion in Hetian City, Xinjiang, on 25 March 1999 and violent resistance against arrest in Xinhe County, Xinjiang, on 18 June 1999. These incidents resulted in the deaths of 140 people and injuries to 371.

At the beginning of March 2008, ETIM sent its operatives to China in an attempt to kidnap foreign reporters, tourists and athletes. This cell covertly collected various materials for making explosives, identified technicians with expertise in making guns and explosives, looked for suicide bombers and attempted to carry out terrorist acts through suicide bombings in Urumqi and other cities inside China. On 26 March 2008, Chinese authorities arrested several cell members and seized a large number of explosives, detonators and other explosive devices.

Hopefully the above provides some context.

davidbfpo

08-10-2012, 05:19 PM

An Indian analyst's commentary 'Alienated People and an Overcautious state in China’s Xinjiang':http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/AlienatedPeopleandanOvercautiousstateinChinaXinjia ng_AvinashGodbole_090912#.UCPZwRgDDu4.twitter

davidbfpo

12-01-2012, 12:09 PM

Raffaello Pantucci examies the PRC claim that East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIM) are present in Syria and concludes:
..in terms of advancing their core agenda of attacking China, the latest round of videos and activity does not seem to provide much evidence that the movement is moving in this direction in any effective way.

Link:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2012/12/01/china-claims-uyghur-militants-are-seeking-a-syrian-battlefield/

Interesting to note the Turkish activity with PRC, although Turkey has aspired for sometime to a greater role in the region.

davidbfpo

01-20-2013, 04:42 PM

An article in Critical Terrorism Studies, so behind a paywall and so from the Abstract:
This article presents a case study of China, a regime that has been fighting Uyghur separatism and terrorism since its founding in 1949 with authoritarian means. However, while authoritarian crackdowns in Xinjiang have ensured tactical respites leading to periods of relative stability, strategically China has facilitated the construction of a threat more radical than the initial Uyghur challenge. Thus, before September 11 China acknowledged links between Uyghur terrorism and separatism. After September 11, however, China announced it was fighting a war against international terrorist groups in Xinjiang. And while this rhetoric gained international acknowledgement, it at the same time has affected the nature of Uyghur terrorism, which has shifted in response to China's framing. As a result, today we are witnessing transformations in the East Turkistan Islamic Movement activities, which are becoming increasingly reliant on al-Qaeda's guidance and support.

Link:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17539153.2012.753202

Bill Moore

01-20-2013, 06:03 PM

http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4347

Claims that ETIM has ties to al-Qaeda, Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban persist. Many reputable sources debate whether or not al-Qaeda has provided the group with training and financial assistance. The US Department of State, in its 2005 report on terrorism, states that ETIM is "linked to al-Qaida and the international jihadist movement" and that al-Qaeda has provided ETIM with "training and financial assistance". Another US government website reports that one ETIM leader was killed in a raid on al-Qaeda safehouses in Pakistan. The Chinese government has been known to exaggerate the connection between ETIM and al-Qaeda to enlist the support of the United States in endorsing China's social control tactics in Xinjiang. It is likely that members of ETIM have had contact with al-Qaeda elements, but no high-level contacts have been established.

ETIM has been implicated in terrorist plots against US interests in the Central Asia region, including a foiled plot to attack the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan.

Credibility of the following link unknown:

http://coffeeandsleeplessnights.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/al-qaedas-child-soldiers/#more-11845

Al-Qaeda’s longstanding use of children to wage jihad was on display in a recent video showing boys as young as five training with assault rifles and handguns at a terrorist training camp.
The video of the gun-toting, prepubescent jihadists was reportedly filmed by the al-Qaeda-linked East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) at one of the terror group’s training camps in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region.

Since 1990 the ETIM, which has been fighting to create an independent Islamic state in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, has not only committed more than 200 acts of worldwide terrorism but has trained scores of jihadists to fight alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/08/20118782637916112.html

Article discusses the economic importance of the region (Silk Road hopes) and the interests of a number of countries.

After the opening of the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan, up to the mid-1990s thousands of young Uyghurs studied Islam abroad, going to religious schools in Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. A few also went to Yemen and Qatar.

The problem, China would argue, is that those who returned to Xinjiang were in most cases Deobandis, Salafis and Wahhabis. Over the past few years Uyghurs returning from Central Asia also opened Hizb-ut Tahrir cells in Xinjiang. Hizb-ut Tahrir is extremely critical of Beijing's policies.

Oil and gas-rich Xinjiang consists of 1.6mn square kilometres, vast deserts, and borders no less than 8 Asian countries. Xinjiang is much more than China's "frontline against terrorism". It is also at the core of China's dream of being the star of the New Silk Road.

davidbfpo

04-27-2013, 09:21 PM

A long BBC report on the latest violence in Sinkiang Province, in a small rural town, where twenty-one have died and just why is hotly disputed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22319579

Fuchs

04-28-2013, 08:02 PM

Bill Moore

04-28-2013, 09:11 PM

China’s Black Hole
Let's face it: We have little idea what's actually going on in Xinjiang and Tibet. (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/26/china_s_black_hole_tibet_xinjiang)
BY ISAAC STONE FISH | APRIL 26, 2013

Tuesday's alleged incident was the deadliest since riots in July 2009 killed nearly 200 people. Tibet is worse. The independent watchdog organization Freedom House annually ranks countries and territories on their level of political rights and civil liberties. The group's most recent report, released Jan 2013, included Tibet in its "Worst of the Worst" category, joining North Korea and Somalia.

In March 2012, Peter Ford, a veteran foreign correspondent for Christian Science Monitor, published an article entitled "In China, reporting on Tibetan and Uighur unrest is nearly impossible."

This is just the media, but suspect our diplomats and intelligence even have less access and understanding of what is actually happening on the ground. Official statements from China are rejected immediately it seems, while statements from activist groups are quickly embraced as true.

I think the reality is we have little idea of what is actually happening in most parts of the world outside the very limited awareness zone of our Embassies. Most media representatives focus on whatever the cool story of the year is and report to influence instead of reporting to inform the public.

Just being aware of this should encourage us to stop and question our understanding before we even start considering our potential positions or responses to these incidents.

davidbfpo

05-02-2013, 07:08 PM

Thanks to a "lurker" two Chinese articles, first a report which follows the human angle:http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-05/02/content_16466718.htm

Then an editorial, with a interesting, if odd comparison between terrorism in China compared to elsewhere. Plus a frank admission, I think:
The terrorist activities are committed mainly under the influence of terrorist thought and partly because of dissatisfaction with local governments and the Han people.

Link:http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/778855.shtml#.UYJiAKLvvfJ

Dayuhan

05-03-2013, 10:52 AM

I think the reality is we have little idea of what is actually happening in most parts of the world outside the very limited awareness zone of our Embassies.

"Very limited" is too kind. Maybe "negligible", or "minute"?

davidbfpo

06-01-2013, 08:23 PM

A RUSI commentary, with a taster:
The security model spearheaded by Wang Lequan, therefore, has outlasted the man himself. Indeed, house-to-house inspections in Uyghur neighbourhoods, including the one that reportedly sparked last week's violence in Selibuya, are a core function of Wang's other major innovation - the system of 'comprehensive security management.' These heavy handed policing techniques are despised by the Uyghur community, and have been repeatedly cited by Western human rights organisations as a major driver of unrest.

Link:http://www.rusi.org/analysis/commentary/ref:C518117F9CA2D2/

AdamG

06-27-2013, 04:15 AM

At least 27 people have been killed and three others injured after knife-wielding gangs went on the rampage through a town in far western China, according to state media. The Xinhua news agency said mobs attacked police stations, a local government building and a construction site in the Turpan Oasis in the Turkic-speaking Xinjiang region. Nine police officers and security guards, as well as eight civilians, were killed before police shot dead 10 of the attackers.

http://news.sky.com/story/1108240/china-riots-mobs-attack-police-in-xinjiang

davidbfpo

07-27-2013, 05:29 PM

Thanks to a "lurker" for recommending this long explanation by the Jamestown Foundation on internal Chinese Communist Party policies and personalities in Xinjiang:http://slink.eu/vX

What is the mass line?
Official statements describe the mass line as a symbiosis between the party and the people in which local cadres ostensibly are better attuned to public needs and expectations.

Which concludes:
The appointment of Yu Zhengsheng as head of China’s Xinjiang Leading Small Group indicates a willingness to explore alternative solutions to the problem in Xinjiang. The fact that both of the party’s new initiatives in Xinjiang—the mass line and accelerated economic development— are drawn from existing Party orthodoxy raises doubts over how the far the center ultimately is willing to go. One Uyghur dissident recently dismissed Yu’s appointment in Xinjiang as “old wine in a new bottle” (Voice of America, May 31). The extent of the shift from a top-down focus on security to one rooted in the mass line will be become clearer as Yu’s tenure progresses.

davidbfpo

09-19-2013, 11:20 PM

A broad, short review and clearly China has some issues:
In fact, given that it increasingly seems as though incidents in Xinjiang are not the product of external direction, but rather internal anger, one could say that the problems are getting more intense..... reconnecting Xinjiang and opening up the province in every way to enable it to prosper once again.....If Beijing really wants this policy to work, then it will need greater nuance and focus to transform it from a money-driven theory to one that better reflects local realities.

Link:http://thediplomat.com/china-power/tightening-the-silk-road-belt/

AdamG

10-05-2013, 03:58 AM

One of China's creepier policies in the Tibetan Autonomous Region is a 2011 initiative known as the "nine haves." Some of the nine are about development ("to have roads, to have water, to have electricity"), but one is less about helping Tibetans and more about entrenching Beijing's control in a region that doesn't seem to want it: "to have a national flag." Every house and monastery building would be required to fly the crimson, five-starred flag of China. (Monasteries are also required to display portraits of Chinese leaders.) It was to be a show of submission to Chinese rule and a continuation of Tibet's slow cultural dilution.

The rural Tibetan county of Driru, though, has defied the rule, with villagers refusing to fly the flag. On Sept. 27, Chinese authorities responded by sending in "thousands" of Chinese troops to force up the flags, according to Tibetan exile outlets and Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government-backed outlet that's among the few foreign media organizations regularly reporting on Tibet. Now, a week later, Chinese flags are still not flying.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/04/this-is-what-happens-when-tibetan-villages-refuse-to-fly-the-chinese-flag/

davidbfpo

10-30-2013, 12:49 PM

It now appears the jeep on fire beneath Mao's picture in Tiananmen Square, on Monday, is being blamed on Uighurs from Xinjiang - a man, a woman and his mother:http://news.yahoo.com/uighur-group-fears-crackdown-tiananmen-crash-031852215.html

There is now a thread '10/28 Tiananmen Square: China's 9/11?' to discuss the incidemt.

AdamG

12-16-2013, 06:35 AM

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say 16 people were killed when assailants attacked a police station in the restive western region of Xinjiang.

The region's official news portal Tianshan Net reported Monday that knife-wielding assailants hurled explosive devices at a police station in Shufu county of Kashgar prefecture.

Tianshan Net says two police officers died in the attack while 14 attackers were shot and killed. Another two assailants were arrested.

http://hosted2.ap.org/SCCHA/fda55d2912844b5b9a3930bc5934d9c2/Article_2013-12-16-China-Xinjiang%20Unrest/id-5037d8f1110940b2bc6a231de7c1992b

davidbfpo

01-13-2014, 03:48 PM

A short overview of events by Raffaello Pantucci:http://raffaellopantucci.com/2014/01/12/tiananmen-attack-islamist-terror-or-chinese-protest/

davidbfpo

02-06-2014, 12:41 PM

Strange incident in a rather remote setting:
A violent encounter on January 23 between Kyrgyz border troops and alleged intruders from China’s Xinjiang province about 40 kilometers inside Kyrgyz Republic territory from the Chinese border left twelve dead, including one Kyrgyz citizen who had originally confronted the group.

Two reports:http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67972 and http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/xinjiang-trouble-echoes-in-kyrgyzstan/

AdamG

02-13-2014, 01:27 AM

A powerful earthquake struck a sparsely populated area of China's far western region of Xinjiang on Wednesday, damaging some houses, though no casualties were reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.9 quake was centered 268 kilometers (167 miles) east-southeast of Hotan at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the quake at magnitude 7.3 and said at least 20 smaller aftershocks ensued over the following two hours.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/strong-quake-shakes-west-china-casualties-unclear-22475243

davidbfpo

02-14-2014, 09:26 PM

Another incident today in Xinjiang, with eleven "terrorists" shot dead by the police and three killed by their own IEDs:
The terrorists, riding motorbikes and cars, attacked a team of police who were gathering before the gate of a park for routine patrol at around 4 p.m. in Wushi County in the Aksu Prefecture," Xinhua said in an English-language report.

"Police said the terrorists had (an) unknown number of LNG cylinders in their car which they had attempted to use as suicide bombs. Several terrorists were shot dead at the scene," it added.

Eight were killed by police and three died "by their own suicide bomb", Xinhua said.

Wushi lies close to China's border with Kyrgyzstan. Last month the Kyrgyz government said its border guards had killed 11 people believed to be members of a militant group of Uighurs.

Link:http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/14/us-china-xinjiang-idUSBREA1D0IE20140214

Firn

02-15-2014, 06:42 PM

I think the core issues have already been mentioned in the first two pages in this thread by tequila and ja6345a. The Chinese leadership has employed massive amounts of investments to ease access to the regions population and ressources and settle Han Chinese in it's cities to assimilate and control the locals. Armed violence against such rather overt policies should not be surprising.

Let's just look at the public investement per capita and it's relative share compared to the private sector. We have no good numbers but all what I have read indicates that public pie dwarfes even the Chinese national one. Practically almost all the economy is controlled by the state and to a lesser degree private Han Chinese. It should be no surprise as the locals will have a very low chance to get a credit or work. Almost all the public jobs seem to be occupied by Han Chinese. I would not surprise me if both regions had one of the highest amount of security forces per capita, needless to say mostly Han.

Altstadtgassen weichen geraden Straen die lassen sich besser berwachen

Die Beamten eilen durch die Altstadt, Grtel auf Bauchnabelhhe, Lederschuhe im Staub. Sie sind gekommen, den Abriss zu besichtigen. Einer der Beamten hebt, zwischen Ruinen stehend, zu einer Rede an: "Das Abrisstempo ist hoch, doch es muss noch hher werden. Je schneller wir abreien, desto besser." Der Beamte betet Zahlen herunter: abgerissene Huser, im Abriss befindliche Huser, abzureiende Huser. "Unser Tempo und unsere Begeisterung sind gewachsen. Wir werden den Plan erfllen!"

If you read such an other stuff you can only get the impression that the Chinese are vastly overinvesting to create work for Han. Some of it might even have some sense in it's own sake, but it mostly points one way.

The Han inflow is especially large if we take into account that the huge migration flow of the last decades went to the coastal regions, for obvious reason. There is hardly any private sector with attractive jobs in the far West, as the labour-intensive industries are far from any cluster and face large transport costs compared to their competitors in the East. With the often razor-thin margins in that sort of business they are just priced out of the market. Knowledge-intensive industries are obviously completely out of question. Only the big subventions or threats it is possible to get big companies to invest there. I'm a shareholder of VW and followed it's strategy in China (http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/autoindustrie/neues-china-werk-in-urumqi-xinjiang-volkswagen-gibt-probleme-zu-a-918774.html):

"Wenn man irgendwo als erster produziert, muss man sich vielen Herausforderungen stellen", sagte der Sprecher. Bislang seien das Presswerk und die Lackiererei noch nicht fertig. Die Provinzregierung kmmere sich um die Logistik. VW habe auch in anderen Regionen Chinas eine Vorreiterrolle bernommen, und in wenigen Jahren werde auch niemand mehr an dem Werk in Westchina zweifeln.

Die "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" hatte berichtet, VW habe Schwierigkeiten in Xinjiang offenbar unterschtzt und auf Probleme bei Lieferanten, Personal und Logistik verwiesen.

Chinas Regierung ruft seit einigen Jahren chinesische und auslndische Firmen auf, sich strker im Westen des Landes zu engagieren. Das von der muslimischen Minderheit der Uiguren bewohnte Xinjiang gilt seit Langem als Unruhegebiet. In den vergangenen Monaten gab es wieder blutige Zwischenflle. Die chinesische Regierung wirft uigurischen Gruppen separatistische Bestrebungen und Terrorakte vor. Das Turkvolk fhlt sich durch die chinesische Fremdherrschaft politisch, religis und auch wirtschaftlich unterdrckt.

Clearly the company man does his job and talks how attractive it is but it is pretty much a small plant to show good will. I would love to see the flow of parts, I'm sure most comes in a highly efficient manner from high-quality regional suppliers. :wry:

Firn

02-15-2014, 08:31 PM

Just 15 minutes in Google Earth show the sheer pace and scale of construction in Xinjiang. Follow the G3012 from Urumqui south to Bayingol and you will be amazed. In this isolated part of the world quarters after quarters get built, some in old DDR style, some in pseudo-native fashion. In many cases you can see the whole process in one picture as forty or so buildings are at the various stages. The difference in size between the historic quarters with one-two store houses and the modern ones with multi-store buildings is sometimes huge.

Of course there vast windfarms and new coal powerplants getting build. Lots of road building and some plants as well as activities I do not understand. Little traffic on the broad G3012 which is also ver well protected against the harsh environment east of Hoxud. Look at all the cement which went into those protective triangles of walls. It gets even better, there seems to be a second autobahn getting build nearby. It starts from Hoxud, runs towards the east alongside the G3012 and then turns north-east with two big tunnel projects cutting through considerable hills.

I will measure them later. It was a fun ride.

davidbfpo

03-22-2014, 08:52 PM

The attack @ Kunming train station is on the thread

This short Open Democracy article provides some context:
The recent attacks on Kunming train station represent a watershed moment in China-Uyghur relations, as Uyghurs across China face widespread recriminations.

The author, who appears to have been in China, is:
Liam Powers received his PhD in Chinese studies, his research focuses on Uyghur youth identities.

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/liam-powers/beyond-kunming-attack

davidbfpo

04-11-2014, 11:58 AM

A Norwegian Peacekeeping Research Centre has published a short analysis:
....a number of accounts from academic and non-Chinese media sources, as well as human rights organisations, have questioned the official explanation of many such incidents. Critics accuse the government of lacking transparency and failing to offer reliable evidence, and claim that it is failing to acknowledge the widespread and diverse grievances of people in Xinjiang. This report aims to reconcile these different narratives of dissent in a region of growing significance for China’s economy and energy security.

Link:http://www.peacebuilding.no/var/ezflow_site/storage/original/application/3ba335a7680451de2612c693a481eb96.pdf

davidbfpo

04-30-2014, 10:27 PM

A thin BBC report:
A bomb and knife attack at a railway station in China's western Xinjiang region has killed three and injured 79 others, officials and state media say.The attackers used explosives and knives at Urumqi's south railway station on Wednesday, officials said.

Note the attack was a day before a public event:
The station was scheduled to launch three new intercity railway lines linking Urumqi with three other cities in Xinjiang on Thursday, Xinhua said.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-27225308

AdamG

05-01-2014, 12:36 AM

The Diplomat aggregates some news reports
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/explosion-rocks-train-station-in-xinjiangs-capital/

AdamG

05-02-2014, 01:29 PM

(Reuters) - China's foreign ministry has reacted angrily to U.S. criticism of the level of cooperation from Beijing on fighting terrorism, after an apparent suicide bombing in the country's far west pointed to a possible escalation of unrest there.

The Chinese government has blamed religious extremists for carrying out a bomb and knife attack at a train station in Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang, on Wednesday evening that killed one bystander and wounded 79.

Security was heavy on Friday in Urumqi, scene of deadly riots five years ago between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese in which almost 200 were killed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/02/us-china-xinjiang-idUSBREA4102L20140502

AdamG

05-23-2014, 11:36 PM

The assailants set off more fiery blasts, and all together 43 people were killed and more than 90 wounded in Thursday's attack, the latest — and bloodiest — violence in China's far northwestern Xinjiang region in recent months.

A day after the attack in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, survivors told of their terror and said they no longer feel insulated from a long-simmering insurgency against Chinese rule, which has struck their city twice in recent weeks.

Local authorities said police have identified five suspects — four people who died in the attack and another who was caught Thursday — the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said all five had "long been influenced by the religious extremism."

Chinese authorities have blamed most recent attacks on radical separatists from the country's Muslim Uighur minority.

http://news.yahoo.com/survivors-tell-terror-china-market-attack-050242096.html

davidbfpo

05-27-2014, 11:43 AM

Police in China (http://www.theguardian.com/world/china)'s troubled north-west region of Xinjiang (http://www.theguardian.com/world/xinjiang) have broken up 23 terror or extremist groups and detained more than 200 suspected militants in the last month, state media have reported. The news came as authorities said a year-long anti-terrorism crackdown would require "unconventional measures", and the region's party chief, Zhang Chunxian, announced a "people's war" against terrorism, following one of the most deadly attacks in years.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/26/china-200-separatists-xinjiang-anti-terrorism-crackdown

Some indication of the problems faced:
Those seized in this month's raids were captured in Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu – all in southern Xinjiang – according to state news agency Xinhua. The state-run Global Times newspaper said most were apprehended on Sunday.

"Many of the suspects were in their 20s and 30s, who watched terror video and audio through the internet and electric storages and learned how to make explosives. They exchanged their experiences of making explosives and propagating jihad through chatting tools, text messages and illegal preaching sites, according to the department," said Xinhua, adding that more than 200 explosive devices were found.

davidbfpo

06-27-2014, 08:41 PM

A first-hand report from the Chinese county near to the border with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan:http://chinaincentralasia.com/2014/06/27/tashkurgan-the-first-stop-on-a-silk-road-of-potentials/

davidbfpo

07-16-2014, 02:21 PM

A reflective BBC report from Kunming, where in march 2014 a knife-wielding group of Uighurs attacked the central railway station, which left 29 people dead and more than 100 others wounded:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28305109

Not much sign of the state response being POP centric. As one observer asks:
How do you, within a country of 1.4bn people, accommodate a minority community of 10 million people?

davidbfpo

07-31-2014, 03:18 PM

The latest outbreak of violence in part of Xinjiang on Monday is not fully explained, partly as it was in Yarkand (in Chinese, Shache) county in Kashgar prefecture, a town far from non-Chinese gaze. Some reports have suggested hundreds were involved, with heavy casualties amongst the attackers.

The BBC has a report, but it is sketchy. It starts with:
Dozens of people have been killed or injured in violence in China's Xinjiang region on Monday, state media say.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28539762

Radio Free Asia reports:
The head of the largest mosque in China who has been highly critical of violence by ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs in the troubled Xinjiang region has been stabbed to death, according to witnesses and local officials.

Link:http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/murder-07302014221118.html?

davidbfpo

08-03-2014, 06:27 PM

Via Twitter a very short clip of the latest attack in Hotan, captured by an Indian journalist based in Beijing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLiheRciDqQ&feature=youtube_gdata

First time I can recall footage of the violence.

davidbfpo

08-04-2014, 07:25 PM

A commentary, even if there is no access to the scene and very little public information:
It was only on Sunday that the official Xinhua News Agency released a casualty count, saying a terrorist gang killed 37 people, who were mostly members of China's ethnic Han majority, with knives. Police gunned down 59 of the assailants, said to be led by a man with close ties to an overseas terror group. With a total death toll of 96, it appeared to be the most serious single instance of bloodshed since riots broke out in July 2009 in the regional capital of Urumqi that left nearly 200 dead. Yet, details remained scant for an incident of such proportions

Link:http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/china-controls-narrative-violence-tense-west

davidbfpo

09-12-2014, 11:58 AM

The three men handed death sentences were those arrested in Shadian before the attack took place. They were convicted of organising and leading a terrorist group and murder. At least 21 people have been executed since June for alleged involvement in Xinjiang-related terrorist attacks and other "violent crimes".

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11091532/Terrorists-behind-Chinas-911-sentenced-to-death.html

davidbfpo

09-25-2014, 10:27 PM

A rare attempt to present information and reach a conclusion on the external aspects of the Uighur resistance and violence in China:https://news.vice.com/article/are-militants-from-chinas-xinjiang-region-really-being-trained-by-the-islamic-state

davidbfpo

10-01-2014, 11:41 PM

An Australian TV documentary, it is rare for such first-hand visual reporting in such a sensitive region:http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2014/s4097689.htm

There's also a transcript for the twenty-nine minute film. At the start is some footage of attacks, including that in Beijing. The surveillance, apparently by local officials, is 24/7 and overt. Roads into the capital city have airport-style security checks for car travellers and armed police every present.

davidbfpo

10-12-2014, 02:29 PM

A ggod question that explains this OD article:
Is the state actively engaged in decreasing participation in nonviolent resistance and delegitimizing Uyghur grievances by highlighting escalating violence?

Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/michael-caster/resistance-repression-and-cycle-of-violence-in-uyghur-struggle

Somehow I don't think it is the Chinese state's mindset to enable dissent.

davidbfpo

12-31-2014, 01:40 PM

An article in the official China Daily, that caveat aside, it is remarkable for the numbers given and examples of counter-radicalisation cited. Maybe even WHAM:http://m.chinadaily.com.cn/en/2014-12/31/content_19208548.htm

It opens with:
The city of Turpan and nearby areas in the eastern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have become a test case in the people's war against religious fanaticism. The tourism city suffered a setback in 2013 after an extremist gangs' attack on a police station.

davidbfpo

01-13-2015, 02:11 PM

Not sure how this will play out:
The capital of China's most Muslim region has banned residents from wearing the burqa in "an effort to curb growing extremism". Women in Urumqi, a city of 3.1 million people in the far western region of Xinjiang, will no longer be allowed to wear the garment, state media announced this week.

"Burqas are not traditional dress for Uighur women, and wearing them in public places is banned in countries such as Belgium and France," Xinhua, China's official news agency, wrote in a brief article about the ban.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11342070/China-bans-burqa-in-capital-of-Muslim-region-of-Xinjiang.html

davidbfpo

07-16-2015, 08:51 PM

A fascinating briefing by the Soufan Group on the possibility that Uighurs with experience fighting with ISIS could appear in Xinjiang Province:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-the-uighur-fighters-of-the-islamic-state/

davidbfpo

09-08-2015, 04:39 PM

A book review from The Spectator last month of newly published 'China’s Forgotten People':http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9593782/chinas-repressive-policy-towards-its-islamic-fringe-has-badly-backfired/

In China’s Forgotten People, the Edinburgh-based writer Nick Holdstock sets out to ‘reveal truth from facts’ in Xinjiang, to appropriate one of the Communist Party’s pet phrases. Holdstock’s central contention is that there is little proof of either organised Islamic terrorism or widespread separatist agitation in Xinjiang, where he used to live. Instead, the spiralling violence witnessed over the past few years is itself a reaction to repressive government policies put in place to control ‘terrorism’ — a self-fulfilling prophecy that is, tragically, now inciting the real thing.

(Later) This meticulously researched book is anything but a crude exercise in China-bashing.

AdamG

10-20-2015, 04:16 AM

BAICHENG, China — Armed with only knives, the assailants struck at the coal mine in the dead of night, first killing the security guards and then setting upon the miners as they slept in their dormitory beds. Before the Sept. 18 rampage was over, more than 50 people were dead, at least five of them police officers, and dozens more had been wounded, according to victims’ relatives and residents.
Most of the victims were Han Chinese who had been lured to this desolate corner of the far west Xinjiang region by the prospect of steady work and decent pay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/world/asia/in-a-region-disturbed-by-ethnic-tensions-china-keeps-tight-lid-on-a-massacre.html?_r=1

davidbfpo

03-02-2016, 10:08 PM

Now this is interesting, notably the numbers involved and the report starts with:
A few months ago, in a remote town in Idlib province, northern Syria, an unusual foreign militant presence alarmed Syrian locals. The fighters were reportedly of the Muslim Uighur minority from Xinjiang (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16860974)province in Western China. For a population which has grown used to the multinational nature of the militancy, two aspects of these new fighters struck them: their large numbers and their ethnicity. A year ago, they were barely hundreds of Uighur fighters, belonging to the Al-Nusra Front-allied Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). Today, according to several sources in the province, there are a few thousand Uighur fighters, and many of them arrived with their families after a long and treacherous journey from China and central Asia.Link:http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2016/03/02/China-s-proxy-war-in-Syria-Revealing-the-role-of-Uighur-fighters-.html

From a "lurker":
Some interesting tidbits in here, but also gross errata. that frustrating mix...

davidbfpo

04-19-2016, 07:15 PM

A "broad brush" overview and hat tip to WoTR:http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/counterterrorism-or-repression-china-takes-on-uighur-militants/

A small taster:
Beijing’s strategy can be condensed into three prominent — but inherently conflicting — themes: domestic crackdown, repatriation from abroad, and non-interference.

davidbfpo

04-24-2016, 10:45 AM

From Radio Free Asia a short report that illustrates that violent incidents are not being publicly reported by the PRC authorities, such as this presumably grisly attack:
As many as 28 may have died following a knife and bomb attack by a group of ethnic Uyghurs on a police traffic checkpoint in Kashgar on June 22, 2015...
Link:http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/details-04222016164050.html

AdamG

03-02-2017, 01:16 PM

The Islamic State is now setting its sights on China, releasing on Monday a half-hour video in which they pledged to “shed blood like rivers” in attacks against Chinese targets. Experts say it’s the first threat the terrorist organization has leveled against China.
http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-pledges-attack-on-china-heres-why-2017-3

davidbfpo

03-02-2017, 08:01 PM

An unusually long commentary by the BBC's China Editor and the title ''All-out offensive' in Xinjiang risks worsening grievances'.

So China is just like many other nations facing terrorism:
In Xinjiang, recent attacks may be small, but Beijing needs to show its public that it is doing something about them, even if that something is ineffectual or worse, counter-productive.She concludes:
So China will go on failing to win the battle for hearts and minds in Xinjiang, and failing to convince the outside world that its offensive there is a clear-cut battle between good and evil.Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-39137420

Bill Moore

03-03-2017, 04:33 AM

http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-pledges-attack-on-china-heres-why-2017-3

Always remain leery of the label expert, it is over used by the media to increase the impact of their stories. ISIS declared war on China in 2014, if not sooner, when published their map of the Caliphate that included western China. In 2009 al Qadea published a video declaring war on China, and both al Qaeda and ISIS made open threats against China last year.

This isn't just based on the perception that China is abusing its Uighurs, but historical grievances over China taking over that part of the Muslim world. If China supports Assad and Iran in Syria the terrorist threat to China will further increase.

davidbfpo

06-25-2017, 08:42 PM

A rare first-hand report, sub-titled:
During a trip through China’s violence-plagued Xinjiang, the Guardian witnesses dramatic security surge as Communist party fights to ‘pacify’ regionLink:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/23/in-chinas-far-west-experts-fear-a-ticking-timebomb-religious

Azor

06-26-2017, 12:42 AM

A rare first-hand report, sub-titled:Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/23/in-chinas-far-west-experts-fear-a-ticking-timebomb-religious

According to Kyle Mizokami and others, China's spending on "internal security" is slightly more than the amount that it spends on defense.

Compared to the United States, China spends roughly 300% more on law enforcement relative to GDP or more than 1.90% of its GDP.

Essentially, in terms of both these areas combined, both countries currently spend roughly 4.00% of GDP each. Therefore, how much actual "slack" is there in the Chinese budget for a large increase in military spending or for a major domestic crisis in Xinjiang/East Turkestan or Tibet?

Given that the Chinese state will struggle to impose 6% nominal GDP growth, unwind/backstop "shadow lending", stem the flight of capital, etc., I would say that the line is taut.

davidbfpo

10-23-2017, 07:41 PM

A Buzzfeed article 'This Is What A 21st-Century Police State Really Looks Like' on how China seeks security in Xinjiang.
Link:https://www.buzzfeed.com/meghara/the-police-state-of-the-future-is-already-here?

AdamG

12-17-2017, 06:45 PM

Mosul (AsiaNews) – More and more Asian fighters speaking Chinese are seen in the streets of Mosul, jihadi Uighur mercenaries who came to Syria through Turkey at the start of the war. In the last few months, they and their families have moved from Rakka in Syria – the Islamic State’s capital – to Iraq.
In April 2015, many of them went from Turkey to Azerbaijan to attack targets in Nagorno Karabakh in what came to be known as the ‘Four-day War’.
Armenian intelligence informed the West and Russia that Uyghur, Turkmen and Chechen fighters left Azerbaijan for Turkey.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/-Uyghur-mercenaries-a-growing-presence-among-jihadists-in-Mosul-38802.html

davidbfpo

01-01-2018, 05:50 PM

An interesting article, which claims to have interviewed Uighurs who had fought in Syria and no doubt their aspire to attack back home.
Link:https://apnews.com/79d6a427b26f4eeab226571956dd256e/AP-Exclusive:-Anger-with-China-drives-Uighurs-to-Syrian-war

A Lebanese website reports:
Two commanders belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party jihadist group which operates against Syrian army-led forces in the country’s northwest were found dead recently, having been assassinated by unknown conspirators.
Link:https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/2-jihadist-commanders-west-china-found-dead-syrias-idlib-region-video/

Needless to say this is the Uighur's jihadist group and on Twitter there is speculation by the AP journalist @gerryshih (https://twitter.com/gerryshih) that various parties, including the Chinese, did the deed.

AdamG

01-19-2018, 09:08 PM

China is adding facial recognition to its overarching surveillance systems in Xinjiang, a Muslim-dominated region in the country's far west that critics claim is under abusive security controls. The geo-fencing tools alert authorities when targets venture beyond a designated 300-meter safe zone, according to an anonymous source who spoke to Bloomberg.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-uses-facial-recognition-monitor-144700817.html

AdamG

03-04-2018, 06:06 PM

China bans Orwell's ANIMAL FARM and the letter 'N'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-animal-farm-ban-censorship-george-orwell-xi-jinping-power-letter-n-a8235071.html

I had to double-check that someone wasn't channeling a Monty Python kit.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GEKRftOztfE/hqdefault.jpg

davidbfpo

04-03-2018, 10:37 AM

What is the truth behind such a headline in a Hong Kong based newspaper? Rather skimpy:
The size of the increase was revealed by Ji Zhiye, head of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, though he did not provide absolute figures.

Step forward Raffaello Pantucci, of RUSI and a long time watcher of Central Asia:
While China clearly has something to worry about given the numbers of jihadists with links to China who have fought in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, it is worth pointing out that so far China has not shown any evidence of foreign fighters making it back home. Rather, we have seen these individuals killed abroad, or launching attacks against China abroad, suggesting that it is very difficult for people to return to China to try to launch an attack.
Link:http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2139983/china-saw-16-fold-increase-returning-jihadists-2017

AdamG

05-23-2018, 05:42 AM

Bacon-and-beer punishment.

Former inmates have told of the horror after being detained in China's indoctrination camps for Muslims, where they were physically and mentally tortured.

Around 900,000 to one million Muslims are estimated to have been detained in such re-education camps in China's western province of Xinjiang as Beijing tries to clamp down on potential separatist movements.

Omir Bekali and Kayrat Samarkand, both former detainees, have told the Washington Post that these former prisoners have been forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, forbidden in Islam, as punishment.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/china/article-5738531/Thank-Party-China-tries-brainwash-Muslims-camps.html

davidbfpo

08-02-2018, 07:50 PM

More of a pointer to a 2017 ICCT report on Uighur jihadist fighters beyond China and a forthcoming book that has chapters on the Uighur insurgency.

So two links. The first is to the ICCT report:
n November 2017, we co-authored “Uighur Foreign Fighters: An Underexamined Jihadist Challenge,” published by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism- The Hague (ICCT). Uighurs, specifically individuals of Turkic decent from China’s northwest province of Xinjiang, have become a noticeable part of the constellation of globally active jihadist terror groups
Link:https://icct.nl/publication/uighur-foreign-fighters-an-underexamined-jihadist-challenge/

The second is really an advert and the book is due out next month:
There has been some relatively recent research in this area which we have followed with great interest. Michael Clarke has a forthcoming book Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism (Hurst, 2018) in China that examines an array of issues related to Uighur terrorism and includes chapters by Raffaello Pantucci on “Uighur Terrorism in a Fractured Middle East” and Sean Roberts on “The Narrative of Uighur Terrorism and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Uighur Militancy.” Other recent research has focused on China’s use of technology as a counter-terrorism tool, including articles such as “China Has Turned Xinjiang Into a Police State Like No Other,” from (https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/05/31/china-has-turned-xinjiang-into-a-police-state-like-no-other) The Economist, and similar research by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on “China’s Approach to International Terrorism (https://www.usip.org/publications/2017/10/chinas-approach-international-terrorism),” and the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor on “The Uighurs and China’s Regional Counter-Terrorism Efforts (https://jamestown.org/program/the-uighurs-and-chinas-regional-counter-terrorism-efforts/).”
Link:https://icct.nl/publication/reflecting-on-uighur-foreign-fighters-an-underexamined-jihadist-challenge/

AdamG

08-12-2018, 09:04 PM

Thousands of Muslims gathered at a mosque in northwestern China on Friday to protest its planned demolition in a rare public pushback to the government's efforts to rewrite how religions are practiced in the country. A large crowd of Hui people, a Muslim ethnic minority, began congregating at the towering Grand Mosque in the town of Weizhou on Thursday, local Hui residents told The Associated Press by phone.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-muslims-protest-demolition-chinese-173224239.html

Weizhou (China) (AFP) - Authorities in northern China delayed the demolition of a massive mosque on Saturday after thousands of people demonstrated to stop its destruction, local residents said, amid a nationwide government drive to tighten restrictions on religious activities. Across China, officials have sought to limit religious freedoms for Muslims as part of a widespread attempt to bring believers in line with the dictates of the ruling Communist Party. Protesters began gathering Thursday ahead of a deadline to demolish the grand mosque in the town of Weizhou in the northern Ningxia region, local residents said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mosque-protest-highlights-chinas-shrinking-religious-spaces-084809410.html

AdamG

08-14-2018, 12:37 PM

China has rejected claims one million of its mostly Muslim Uighur minority are being held in internment camps, while it has also insisted "there are no such things" as re-education centres.

The country responded to concerns, raised by a member of a UN human rights committee, that its Xinjiang region has been turned into "something resembling a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a sort of no-rights zone".

Human rights expert Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, last week highlighted reports that more than one million ethnic Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities are being held in counter-extremism centres.

https://news.sky.com/story/china-denies-claims-a-million-muslim-uighurs-held-in-internment-camps-11471917

davidbfpo

10-01-2018, 05:11 PM

Via SWJ Blog on Twitter, even if on the BBC I'd missed it.:( It is a short summary, with nothing new.
Link:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45474279

davidbfpo

10-12-2018, 01:04 PM

A Soufan Group commentary and a couple of passages:
What most recent analysis on the subject glosses over, however, is that China has attempted to portray broad segments of the Uighur population as a potential terrorist threat while offering no evidence of tangible connections to militancy.
(Ends with) While the government feels that a draconian counter-terrorism strategy has been successful in limiting attacks on Chinese soil, many recently implemented policies may prove to be counterproductive in the long-term.
Link:http://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-chinas-heavy-hand-in-xinjiang/

davidbfpo

10-13-2018, 10:34 AM

A first-hand report on the situation from a previously unheard of Russian website. Makes you think.
Link:https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/10/01/an-internment-camp-for-10-million-uyghurs

Bill Moore

10-14-2018, 10:05 PM

Great article David, thanks for posting.

Meduza is a Russian language blog, but not a Russian State Blog. They're based in Latvia.

Anyone interested in the CPC's population control measures that leverages the latest technology along with Uighurs armed with spears who are subordinate to Chinese armed with automatic weapons should read this article. There is more and more evidence that Xi is increasingly paralleling many of Hitler's behaviors. Seeking a pure race at home, note one comment fro the article.

In Beijing, officials no longer claimed that the opposition was composed of a small number of extremists. “It’s impossible to tear out weeds one by one,” said one party official in Kashgar. “We need chemicals that can deal with all of them at once.”

The communist party (CPC), like Hitler believes expansion outside their borders is essential to their survivable. Like Hitler, they seem to be borrowing the same two models, one British and one U.S. Hitler admired the way the British established their empire and used state owned enterprises like British Petroleum and the East India Company to exploit regions they colonized for financial gain at the expense of the locals. The U.S. model Hitler referred to was removing the native Americans off their land and putting them in reservations. The CPC is currently doing this in Xinjiang. They seek to expand their socialist model with CPC characteristics globally. Will they export these population control measures to authoritarian governments?

Anyone coming into Xinjiang goes through 5 hours of customs inspections? Multiple checkpoints, X-ray machines, computer/phone scans, review all written material brought in, iris scans, other biometric data conducted, apps uploaded to computers and phones so they can monitor for dangerous material / communications later. Check points throughout the town and in the stores.

This sounds familiar, a typical form of communist surveillance.

New teams of “active citizens,” usually composed of police officers or members of the Communist Party along with at least one Uyghur, are another change in Xinjiang life. They regularly visit Uyghur families to ask, as my new acquaintance put it, “strange questions,” and to search houses for forbidden books and other objects. These searches can last several hours — or several days.

This would be funny if it wasn't true:

Iman’s reeducation took place in a cell where he was kept with 19 other Uyghurs. The prisoners were made to march in their cell and chant the slogan “Earnest training, eager learning!” and they watched propagandistic films for hours. During a post-lunch break, the prisoners were permitted to sit for a while on their plank beds, and then their marches and propaganda viewings continued until dinner. Iman befriended a 60-year-old cellmate who was accused of preaching the Koran in messages sent to his daughter through an online messenger. The man received a sentence of seven years. Iman was luckier — after 17 days, he was released, but after his time in the camp, cameras recognized him on the streets, and people began to refuse him access to public transport and local supermarkets.

The author sums it up.

I came to Xinjiang to see life with my own eyes as it had been many centuries ago, if not millennia. Now, what you can find here is a future that exceeds the most daring fantasies of George Orwell or Evgeny Zamyatin.

davidbfpo

10-22-2018, 07:13 PM

This is a forthcoming volume 'Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in China: Domestic and Foreign Policy Dimensions' and the Editor is an Australian SME, Michael Clarke on the issues.

The Amazon notice refers to:
Four areas of investigation are looked at: the scope and nature of terrorism in China and its connection with developments in other regions; the development of legislative measures to combat terrorism; the institutional evolution of China's counter-terrorism bureaucracy; and Beijing's counter-terrorism cooperation with international partners.
Link:https://www.amazon.com/Terrorism-Counter-Terrorism-China-Domestic-Dimensions/dp/0190922613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540218899&sr=8-1&keywords=Terrorism+and+counterterrorism+in+China

The Introduction is available to view. Not cheap at US$50, so perhaps one to suggest to your library?

AdamG

10-24-2018, 08:48 PM

The first reports that China was operating a system of internment camps for Muslims in Xinjiang began to emerge last year.
The satellite photograph was discovered by researchers looking for evidence of that system on the global mapping software, Google Earth. It places the site just outside the small town of Dabancheng, about an hour's drive from the provincial capital, Urumqi.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps

AdamG

10-24-2018, 08:50 PM

On state television, the vocational education centre in China's far west looked like a modern school where happy students studied Mandarin, brushed up their job skills, and pursued hobbies such as sports and folk dance.

But earlier this year, one of the local government departments in charge of such facilities in Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture made several purchases that had little to do with education: 2,768 police batons, 550 electric cattle prods, 1,367 pairs of handcuffs, and 2,792 cans of pepper spray.

The shopping list was among over a thousand procurement requests made by local governments in the Xinjiang region since early 2017 related to the construction and management of a sprawling system of "vocational education and training centres".

https://www.afp.com/en/news/717/inside-chinas-internment-camps-tear-gas-tasers-and-textbooks-doc-1a73p63

AdamG

11-25-2018, 02:59 PM

Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs.

Sent to homes in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government, American anthropologist Darren Byler said they were tasked with watching for signs that their hosts’ attachment to Islam might be “extreme”.

The informants, who describe themselves as "relatives" of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down.

As devout Muslims would refuse cigarettes and alcohol. this is seen as one way of finding out whether they were extreme.

“Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbour in Arabic with the words ‘Assalamu Alaykum’? That would need to go in the notebook,” said Dr Byler, in research published by Asia Society's Centre on US-China Relations. “Was that a copy of the Quran in the home? Was anyone praying on Friday or fasting during Ramadan? Was a little sister’s dress too long or a little brother’s beard irregular?”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-uighur-muslim-people-move-homes-xinjiang-china-religion-a8648561.html

davidbfpo

11-30-2018, 07:08 PM

Bill Moore

12-01-2018, 07:20 PM

A Reuters article that combines open source (now removed) Chinese documents, analysis of satellite imagery and comments - including the Chinese explanation. The scale of the effort is amazing.
Link:https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/muslims-camps-china/

A strategy that only an authoritarian country could employ. An attempt to remove the threat by impounding all military age males, and torture them to compel them to drink alcohol, eat pork, and denounce Allah, as though that will weaken their resolve to support jihad when and if released. It is probable the vast majority didn't support jihad to begin with, but will be more likely to in the future if the opportunity presents itself, since they learned to really hate the Chinese now. Getting to the opportunity, outside the gulags the Chinese have implemented robust population control measures, and have encouraged / forced the migration of several thousand Han Chinese into the region, some of which have moved in with Muslim families to monitor their behavior. This is North Korea on steroids.

I'm think back to one of Bob's World posts where he argued cognitively that the U.S. conducted proactive COIN with our Civil Rights Bill, clearly the Chinese are taking a very different approach. They are conducting similar operations in Tibet, but not nearly as oppressive. They see religion as a mental illness, although communism proven to be failed system in similar to religion in that believers then to deny facts that counter their beliefs. In short, it is a secular religion with its own form of radicalization.

AdamG

12-19-2018, 12:53 AM

Central Asians cry out over China's secret detention camps

Last month Alymkulova and a dozen others formed a lobby group, called the Committee to Protect the Kyrgyz People in China.

The group has called for the Kyrgyz government, which depends heavily on Chinese economic assistance, to press Beijing about the camps in Xinjiang.

Chinese officials have described the camps as "vocational education centres" for people who appear to be drawn towards Islamist extremism and separatism.
https://news.yahoo.com/central-asians-cry-over-chinas-secret-detention-camps-101732645.html

davidbfpo

12-31-2018, 12:23 PM

An article by a long time expert visitor to Xinjiang who is able to catalogue the changes. Near the start:
I witnessed the most abject sense of fear and trauma I have encountered in 27 years of researching identity and religion among its Uighur communities. Mosques were deserted and cloaked in razor wire, restaurants were stripped of their halal signage, and local people carefully avoided any expression of religious piety.
She ends with:
I felt compelled to read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four when I returned home. The parallels between that masterpiece and a Xinjiang now in the grip of “de-extremification” and “thought liberation” are astonishing. In the book’s final part, the protagonist’s government torturer reveals that the state does not “merely destroy our enemies, we change them. . . [So] long as [the heretic] resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. . . You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”

Link:http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/now-we-dont-talk-anymore

davidbfpo

01-15-2019, 11:14 AM

Hat tip to WoTR for this article by Dr Jerome Doyon, a SME @ Oxford University.

Unlike most active Western CT policies the PRC:
it targets the community rather than individuals.

(Ends with)...Xinjiang can be seen as a laboratory for the Chinese party-state’s social engineering policies.

Link:https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/counter-extremism-in-xinjiang-understanding-chinas-community-focused-counter-terrorism-tactics/

davidbfpo

01-26-2019, 07:06 PM

Hat tip to WoTR for this article, with both details on law enforcement cooperation - not always working - and whether there are many fighters.
Link:https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/chinas-foreign-fighters-problem/

Bill Moore

02-25-2019, 08:21 AM

Another China expert accepts the unpleasant truth of China's trajectory towards deepening totalitarianism at home and abroad. The author goes into sufficient detail to show the clear linkage of how Xi's ideology deliberately aligns with Stalin, and why Xi thinks deviating from it would pose an existential threat the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The language in the previous posts describe how Xi leverages technology to revitalize Mao's Mass Line concept, and condition people to think along party lines. As the author in the article points out, ideology is the critical component of Mao's, and now Xi's totalitarianism.

MaoÂ’s discursive advantage was Marxist-Leninist ideology. Language was not just a tool of moral judgment. It was an instrument for shaping acceptable behaviour and a weapon for distinguishing enemies and friends. This is the subtext of MaoÂ’s most famous poem, Snow. Communist ideology enabled him to Â“weaponiseÂ” culture in a way his imperial predecessors had never managed.

https://nb.sinocism.com/p/engineers-of-the-soul-ideology-in

Engineers of the Soul: Ideology in Xi Jinping's China by John Garnaut

Some now say he has become a China hawk, but I see it as more the evolution of a sophisticated China watcher who believes in seeking truth from facts, no matter how difficult it may be to accept the reality of the direction Xi and the CCP appear to be taking China. This is a trajectory I have found myself on, along with many of the most experienced foreign China watchers I know.

Stalin described artists and authors as "engineers of the human soul." They simply served for promoting the party and its views. In other words, art and writing was purely propaganda intended to as means to facilitate cultural and ideological security.

Xi uses the same ideological template to describe the role of Â“media workersÂ”. And school teachers. And university scholars. They are all engineers of ideological conformity and cogs in the revolutionary machine.

Among the many things that ChinaÂ’s modern leaders did Â– including overseeing the greatest burst of market liberalisation and poverty alleviation the world has ever seen Â– those who won the internal political battles have retained the totalitarian aspiration of engineering the human soul in order to lead them towards the ever-receding and ever-changing utopian destination.

Combine the findings in this article, with the insights from the previous article, "The CCP Vision and Future of Chinese History," you'll gain a greater appreciation of incidious threat the CCP poses.