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?