Change is dangerous, so is staying still
A broad, short review and clearly China has some issues:
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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/t...ilk-road-belt/
Beijing: a terrorist attack
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-f...031852215.html
There is now a thread '10/28 Tiananmen Square: China's 9/11?' to discuss the incidemt.
This time within Xinjiang
Another incident today in Xinjiang, with eleven "terrorists" shot dead by the police and three killed by their own IEDs:
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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/...A1D0IE20140214
Islam and instability in China’s Xinjiang
A Norwegian Peacekeeping Research Centre has published a short analysis:
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....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/ezfl...93a481eb96.pdf
Knives and bombs @ Urumqi's south railway station
A thin BBC report:
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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:
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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
Crackdown requires 'unconventional measures' after deadly attacks
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Police in
China's troubled north-west region of
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/201...rism-crackdown
Some indication of the problems faced:
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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.
How do 1.4bn people live with a 10m minority?
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:
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How do you, within a country of 1.4bn people, accommodate a minority community of 10 million people?
Kunming railway station: one day trial for organisers
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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/worl...-to-death.html
After Belguim & France Urumqi
Not sure how this will play out:
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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/worl...-Xinjiang.html
The Uighur Fighters of the Islamic State
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-intelbrie...islamic-state/
Deleted Xinjiang 'Heroes' List Revealed Details of Unconfirmed Clashes
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:
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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/uygh...016164050.html
Being tough Chinese style
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:
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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:
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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
Xinjiang is a powder-keg....a ticking time-bomb
A rare first-hand report, sub-titled:
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During a trip through China’s violence-plagued Xinjiang, the Guardian witnesses dramatic security surge as Communist party fights to ‘pacify’ region
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...bomb-religious
AP Exclusive: Uighurs fighting in Syria take aim at China
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/79d6a427b26f4eeab...-to-Syrian-war
A Lebanese website reports:
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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...-region-video/
Needless to say this is the Uighur's jihadist group and on Twitter there is speculation by the AP journalist @gerryshih that various parties, including the Chinese, did the deed.
How do you write 'Orwellian' in Mandarin?
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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-use...144700817.html
This needed to be double-tapped
China bans Orwell's ANIMAL FARM and the letter 'N'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a8235071.html
I had to double-check that someone wasn't channeling a Monty Python kit.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GEKRftOztfE/hqdefault.jpg
China saw 16-fold increase in returning jihadists in 2017
What is the truth behind such a headline in a Hong Kong based newspaper? Rather skimpy:
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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:
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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/diplo...jihadists-2017
Uighur jihadist fighters beyond China and within
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:
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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-f...ist-challenge/
The second is really an advert and the book is due out next month:
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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 The Economist, and similar research by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on “
China’s Approach to International Terrorism,” and the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor on “
The Uighurs and China’s Regional Counter-Terrorism Efforts.”
Link:https://icct.nl/publication/reflecti...ist-challenge/