Author: Quentin Sommerville
Publication: BBC News
Date: November 17, 2005
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4445736.stm
[Note from Hindu Vivek Kendra: The Marxists
in India, who claim to be taking their inspiration from China, will scream
blue murder if something similar had happened in Kashmir.]
Bai Xinguo makes a good living tending his
tiny orchard, in the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang.
Peaches are his livelihood, providing him
with most of his year's income.
But it is not the fruit that keeps him here.
"My first job is to defend the land and
protect the border. Growing crops, the economy - that's a number two,"
he said.
Some 50 years ago Mr Bai's parents answered
the call when Chairman Mao commanded his demobilised soldiers to settle China's
sprawling west.
Today, the quasi-military corps which took
over the area - known as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, or
the Bingtuan - still has around 2.5 million armed settlers in Xinjiang.
Mr Bai is one of its most patriotic members.
So as well as tending his orchard, every year
he attends 40 days of military training - 20 days in the winter and 20 in
the summer.
Everyone in the Bingtuan, from students to
workers, must take part.
But who are they defending Xinjiang against?
Any threat to Communist Party rule, said Mr
Bai.
"It doesn't matter where the threat comes
from - the authorities will tell us, and we'll do our duty," he said.
Han Chinese settlers like Mr Bai - his given
names mean new country - have overwhelmed area's indigenous Uighurs, Kazakhs
and Mongolians.
The Han Chinese have the best jobs, and the
best of Xinjiang's fertile land.
Many of the workers in the cotton fields are
migrant Han Chinese from elsewhere in China, making it more difficult for
the ethnic population to find work.
Not far from his farm is the Bingtuan museum.
The story told there is that when the Corps arrived they found an empty wasteland.
Their sweat and toil transformed the Gobi desert into an oasis, the young
guides tell visitors.
There is little mention of the Uighur people
who were already living here. And given how brutally China's authorities have
suppressed any separatist threat, even mentioning such truths can be dangerous.
"The problem is that any person who raises
criticism of [the official] view of history or tries to put in light the contribution
of Uighurs or other ethnic minorities will immediately be labelled as a separatist
or potential terrorist," said Nicolas Becquelin of the pressure group
Human Rights in China.
Hard times
National unity is what counts, so officially
the Han Chinese have always been here and will never leave. But life is getting
more difficult for the Bingtuan, according to Wang Cailong, the regimental
communist party secretary.
Even though they are defending China, in this
increasingly market driven country, the Bingtuan largely have to fend for
themselves.
"For every worker there's a retired worker
needing support. And at the same time, the worker needs to pay for his own
medical insurance," he said.
And they have other problems besides, said
Mr Wang.
"As for our kids, there's no doubt about
it, they want to head east to the coastal regions. It's a better life there.
There's a proverb in China: 'Water always runs down hill, and people are always
looking for a better life," he said.
But that message is not getting through to
patriots like Bai Xinguo.
"We don't need to worry," he said.
"The regiment won't disappear under any circumstances. We're needed here
to defend the land and reclaim the border."
