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Thread: China's Far West provinces (inc. Tibet)

  1. #121
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    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/uygh...14221118.html?
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  2. #122
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    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=RLih...=youtube_gdata

    First time I can recall footage of the violence.
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  3. #123
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    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/c...nce-tense-west
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  4. #124
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    Default Kunming railway station: one day trial for organisers

    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
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  5. #125
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    Default Outside China?

    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-mi...-islamic-state
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  6. #126
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    Default A Digger tries to report

    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.
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  7. #127
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    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/civilr...yghur-struggle

    Somehow I don't think it is the Chinese state's mindset to enable dissent.
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  8. #128
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    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/2014-1...t_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.
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  9. #129
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    Default After Belguim & France Urumqi

    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/worl...-Xinjiang.html
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  10. #130
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    Default 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/
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  11. #131
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    A book review from The Spectator last month of newly published 'China’s Forgotten People':http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/959...dly-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.
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  12. #132
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    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/wo...acre.html?_r=1
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  13. #133
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    Default The Uighurs are coming

    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 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/pers...fighters-.html

    From a "lurker":
    Some interesting tidbits in here, but also gross errata. that frustrating mix...
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-03-2016 at 10:34 AM. Reason: Copied from the Syria 2016 thread and last sentence added.
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  14. #134
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    A "broad brush" overview and hat tip to WoTR:http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/cou...hur-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.
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  15. #135
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    Default 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:
    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
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  16. #136
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    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-...res-why-2017-3
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  17. #137
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    Default 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:
    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
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-02-2017 at 08:03 PM. Reason: 107,083v
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    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.

  19. #139
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    Default Xinjiang is a powder-keg....a ticking time-bomb

    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’ region
    Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...bomb-religious
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-25-2017 at 08:47 PM. Reason: 119,475v 12k up since March 2017
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    A rare first-hand report, sub-titled:Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...bomb-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.

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