China's Far West provinces (inc. Tibet)

[Valin]

WSJ
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]

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]

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 (and here), but it appears to have the same sources.

[bourbon]

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.

Energy yes, in addition to access to Central Asian resources and access to Gwadar Port in Pakistan.

[marct]

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

[davidbfpo]

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/asi...ic/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]

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?

Randall G. Schriver, Dpty Asst Secretary of State for East Asia from 2003 to 2005

Sean R. Roberts, Elliott School of International Affairs GWU

Dru C. Gladney, Pomona College

Shirley Kan, Congressional Research Service

Susan Baker Manning, Bingham McCutchen LLP

Bruce Fein

And 10 Jun 09 testimony to the same audience on The Uighurs: A History of Persecution

Felice Gaer, US Commission on International Religious Freedom

Kara Abramson, Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Rebyia Kadeer, Uyghur-American Association

Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American Association

[davidbfpo]

A UK newspaper story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ur-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