China's Far West provinces (inc. Tibet)

[Bill Moore]

http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-...res-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]

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

[Azor]

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.

[davidbfpo]

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...-already-here?

[AdamG]

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/-Uygh...sul-38802.html

[davidbfpo]

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:

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.

[AdamG]

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