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Xinjiang autonomous province of China, home to China's 8.5 million
Uighurs, a Muslim minority of Turkic origin has been rocked with
violence and rioting. There are conflicting reports of casualties.
According to the Society of Threatened Peoples, a UN affiliated
minority group based in Germany, nearly 300 people have been killed
in clashes between ethnic Uighurs and Chinese security forces. The
official figures are much lower. The Chinese response has been
brutally swift. According to reports Chinese authorities have
executed 30 Uighurs and arrested nearly 1,000.
While the immediate cause for the upsurge in-violence in Xinjiang
remains uncertain, tensions between the Chinese and Uighurs have
been building up fueled by a resurgence of nationalism and rapid
Islamic revival stoked by cross border influences. Xinjiang shares
a strategically sensitive 5000 kilometer long border with Central
Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as well as
Afghanistan and Pakistan. For most parts the border has Turkic
people on both sides.
Uighur nationalists blame China for occupying Xinjiang, or East
Turkestan. The Uighurs had a brief taste of independence between
1944-49 as the Republic of East Turkestan. Once civil war in China
ended the Communists re-established control over Xinjiang. The
Sino-Soviet split of 1962 cut off all ties between Xinjiang and
Soviet Central Asia. Since the 1980s a thaw in relations with
Moscow led Beijing to relax travel and trans-border curbs,
restoring age old ties of the Uighurs in the region. The most
far-reaching impact was the collapse of the Soviet Union and
independence of the Central Asian States, which has fanned
nationalism and religion among Uighur Muslims. The growing
anti-Chinese sentiment and the strength of the separatist movement
in Xinjiang can be gauged by the escalating violence and crackdowns
by Chinese authorities during the past few years.
The first serious signs of urnest in Xinjiang's capital Urumchi
occurred in December, 1985 when hundreds of Uighur students held an
unprecedented demonstration demanding a ban on the use of the Lop
Nor nuclear test site, and a stop to Beijing's controversial
population policies. The students also protested against
deportation of Chinese prisoners to Xinjiang and demanded
restriction on immigrants from Eastern China.
Beijing's population policies have been a cause of major tension in
Xinjiang. Nationalist Uighurs blame the Chinese for attempting to
forcibly assimilate Uighurs into the Chinese nation. Methods
include forced abortions and sterilizations of Uighur women and
pressure on them to marry Chinese. Xinjiang has witnessed rapid
changes in its demographic picture through an active migration
policy supported by Beijing. Approximately 300,000 Han Chinese
immigrants a year settle in Xinjiang. This influx has given a
strong fillip to Uighur nationalism and Uighurs realise that they
will soon be outnumbered by the Chinese. In 1949. 3.9% of
Xinjiang's population was Chinese, today they form half the
population of the province. The Chinese have a stranglehold on all
top posts, though Xinjiang's Governor Tomur Dawamat is Uighur.
Since the 1980s Xinjiang has witnessed an Islamic revival. Many
old mosques have been rebuilt and new ones constructed with foreign
aid. The Chinese authorities have sought to halt mosque
contraction and close down village Islamic schools. Communist party
members in villages have obstructed Mullahs from preaching and
party members have been issued books espousing atheism. However,
Chinese attempts at curbing the spread of Islam in Xinjiang have
been unsuccessful. Recently the Xinjiang Daily newspaper said that
despite a two-year drive to eradicate religious beliefs from among
party members, a number of party members have been corrupted by
religion ideologically and participated in religious activities.
The report said since the monitoring of party members began in
1990, upto 40 per cent were found to have taken part in Islamic
worship. The Kashgar and Turpan region of Xinjiang in particular
are conservative Islamic strongholds. Women in these areas are
completely veiled and the power of the Mullahs has grown.
Inspite of Chinese efforts at suppression the number of violent
incidents by Uighurs have increased. In April, 1990 Uighurs near
Kashgar rioted over the suspension of mosque construction and birth
control policies. An estimated 50 people were killed and the
province was sealed off for months. In February, 1992 at least 6
people were killed in a bus bombing in Urumchi. On 5, April 1992
there was an abortive uprising in the town of Baren; about 22
people were killed. The movement was led by Abdul Kasim an Islamic
fundamentalist and leader of the Free Turkestan Movement. Chinese
authorities said that group had acquired weapons from the Afghan
mujahideen. A widespread crackdown on Islamists followed and
Xinjiang's Governor Tomur said, "We should effectively intensify
supervision over the religious activities and venues for such
activities." In the summer of 1993, a bomb blast in a hotel in
Kashgar killed 3 people. In 1995-96 several people died in
sporadic clashes between Chinese policemen and Uighurs. In a major
clampdown in May 1996, 5000 Uighurs were arrested. These included
intellectuals, religious leaders, artists and members of
underground organisations.
The unrest in Xinjiang has strained China's relationship with
Pakistan. In 1992-94 in a display of displeasure with Pakistan,
the Chinese shut down travel across the Khunjerab Pass and the
Karakorum Highway which connects Pakistan to Xinjiang. This closed
the overland trade route between China and Pakistan and cut off
Pakistan as a transit point for Uighurs Muslims on their way to
Mecca. The Chinese reportedly warned Pakistan saying, that it would
question its relationship with Pakistan, if Islamabad did not
control the activities of fundamentalists based on its territory.
Despite its tough stance China's problems in Xinjiang may just be
beginning. The Taliban in Afghanistan and those of Islamist
opposition forces in Tajikistan have raised Beijing's fears of
Islamic fundamentalists igniting further unrest in Xinjiang.
Reports indicate that hundreds of Uighur muslims from Xinjiang have
been sponsored by Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami and trained by the
Afghan Mujahideen. The Kashgar region of Xinjiang is a volatile
area known for its anti-Chinese sentiments. Kashgar has a
traditional proximity to the Ferghana Valley which is a center of
fundamentalist Islam funded and supported by the ultra orthodox
Wahabbis from Saudi Arabia.
China and Russia now perceive a common threat in an Islamic upsurge
in Central Asia. This has strengthened military ties between the
two countries.
The Chinese have co-ordinated border patrols with the Central Asian
republics. China has also stepped up its diplomatic offensive. In
July 1996, Jiang Zemin the Chinese President visited Kazakhstan,
where 300,000 Uighurs live. He received assurances from the Kazakh
government that organisations supporting Uighur separatism would
not be given succour in its terrority. In a recent visit to Moscow
the Chinese Premier, Li Peng again focused on securing borders in
Central Asia. Russia and China declared that they were ready to
sign a five nation border pact with Tajiskistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan.
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