Author: Claude Arpi
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: July 12, 2009
URL: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=An+unending+tale+of+repression&artid=a2mrNody0Vk=
On the Dalai Lama's birthday on July 6, the
news flash said that in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang (The New Dominion in Chinese),
violence had erupted the previous day, resulting in at least 156 people dead
and more than 1,000 wounded. The background to the bloodiest-ever riot in
this restive region is still not clear. Apparently, it started with a peaceful
protest which later turned violent. Uighur students were protesting against
the killings of two Uighurs by Han Chinese workers in a factory in south China.
At one point the crowd (between 1,000 and
3,000 people, according to agency reports), angered by the brutal reaction
of the People's Armed Police (PAP), started overturning vehicles, attacking
houses and clashing with police. A few hours later, Chinese TV began showing
images of the riots. According to Wu Nong, a spokesperson for the Xinjiang
provincial government, 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire and 203 houses
damaged. The figures seem quite astonishing. The number of dead or wounded
and the material damage appears to be extraordinarily high compared to the
number of participants.
Tensions are not new to the province that
has been flooded by millions of Han settlers over the past decades. Part of
the Republic of East Turkistan till 1949, the Uighur, Muslims of Turkish origin
have demonstrated their resentment against the Han colonisation. Today, the
majority of Urumqi's 2.3 million inhabitants are Han Chinese.
The Communist Party's local satraps were quick
to blame the deadly riots on a 'foreign' hand. Xinjiang CCP boss and Politburo
member Wang Lequan said the incidents in Urumqi showed the violent and terrorist
nature of the separatist World Uyghur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer. When
unrest erupted in Tibet in March 2008, the Dalai Lama was similarly called
a 'wolf in monk's dress' by Zang Qingli, the Tibet party chief.
In an interview with Xinjiang TV, Wang said
that "the terrorist, separatist and extremist forces cheated the people
to participate in the so-called Jihad." Though the CCTV footage showed
more ordinary citizens than hardcore jihadis, Wang's conclusion was: "All
party members should take the strongest measures to deal with the enemies'
attempt at sabotage and maintain regional stability."
With tens of thousands of the PAP called in
as reinforcements in the New Dominion (and President Hu Jintao rushed back
from Italy without attending the G8 Summit), there is no doubt that 'extreme
measures' will be taken. Two days after the incidents, Beijing endorsed Wang's
position. The People's Daily commented: "The 63-year-old Kadeer is likened
to the Dalai Lama… the so-called 'peaceful demonstration' was staged
on the Urumqi streets in the form of the most inhumane atrocities too horrible
to look at. Perhaps, it is none other than Rebiya Kadeer herself who knows
fully well why it is so - simply because she did as much, or more than, as
the Dalai Lama and his clique to sow resentment among the ethnic Uighur people."
It was categorically denied by Kadeer who
in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal said: "I unequivocally condemn
the use of violence by Uighurs during the demonstration as much as I do China's
use of excessive force against protestors." However, for The People's
Daily, China's official mouthpiece, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region "enjoys
a time-honoured history as a civilised settlement with different ethnic groups
living in a compact community and harmony." This is the crux of the matter.
The fact is that for decades there is more hatred and distrust than 'compact
harmony' between the Uighur and Han populations. One can easily understand
why.
Their country has been invaded by waves of
migrants and the Uighurs have become second class citizens in their homeland.
Both in Tibet in 2008 and Urumqi in 2009, the unrest was fuelled by a deep
resentment against the millions of Han settlers. When ordinary people risk
demonstrating against a repressive totalitarian state like China, it means
that they are desperate. For the past 60 years, Tibetans and Uighurs have
undergone a similar fate: they have had no say in the affairs of their respective
provinces. In both cases, Beijing has reacted similarly: put the blame on
'foreign hands' for the unrest and used force to counter 'splittist' elements.
In Xinjiang, however, there is a difference:
the swiftness of the repression. The PAP did not wait a couple of days to
react in Urumqi; the repression was fast and ferocious, perhaps even more
brutal than on the Roof of the World. Interestingly, this comes at a time
when China has started to hurl insults at India. On June 11, the Global Times
wrote: "India is frustrated that China's rise has captured much of the
world's attention."
A week later, in an editorial The People's
Daily, Li Hongmei affirmed that India was "proud of its 'advanced political
system', India feels superior to China. However, it faces a disappointing
domestic situation which is unstable compared with China's." Well, it
does not seem so. During the same period, a speech purportedly by General
Chi Haotian, former minister of defence and vice-chairman of China's Central
Military Commission circulated on the Internet. He would have declared in
2005: "Hitler's Germany once bragged that the German race was the most
superior race on Earth, but the fact is, our nation is far superior to the
Germans."
It is not India alone, but China's own 'nationalities'
are also objects of Beijing's aggression and condescending attitude. Since
the time of the Nationalist Revolution, this has been known by non-Han in
China as the Great Han Chauvinism. Bapa Phuntsok Wangyal, the first Tibetan
Communist who was instrumental in bringing the PLA into Tibet in 1950, realised
that Han chauvinism "is one of the most serious hindrances to our nation's
current work on nationality relations." He warned several generations
of Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Zyiang and Hu Jintao.
After the Urumqi incidents, the Western powers
have remained cautious. While they are vociferous against the Burmese junta,
in the present case, they are more than subdued. To quote the spokesman of
the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "We are worried about the situation.
Obviously, we are calling for the end of the violence. We are having consultations
with our European partners on the events (in Xinjiang). We regret the number
of victims and we wish a return to peace as soon as possible."
President Hu's quick return to China demonstrates
great nervousness; this coupled with the age-old Chinese complex of superiority
renders the situation in China extremely unstable, not to say explosive. For
the last few years, Hu has been obsessed with 'stability'. The leadership,
particularly Hu, often speaks of a 'harmonious' society, probably in contrast
with the 'chaos' so greatly feared by the ancient emperors. The Chinese word
for 'chaos', luan meant society's condition when it fell into an uncontrolled
state. The emperors used to lose Heaven's Mandate to rule when 'chaos' prevailed.
The problem is that the present emperors do
not know any method other than force to solve internal issues, and force has
never worked in the long run.
- Claude is a French-born author and journalist
who lives in Puducherry.
