China’s Ethnic Violence
Tibetans and Uygurs chose the 2008 Olympics as the event to highlight their plight and heat up Beijing’s political kitchen.
Uygur militants gained international attention in August 2008 after an attack on a police station in the Silk Road city of Kashgar killed 17 police on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.
The Muslim Uygurs, who like many Tibetans are seeking independence, opted to also heat up Beijing’s political kitchen on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic to publicize their grievances against China’s rule. The massive parade and pageantry planned for the commemoration in Tiananmen Square is set to eclipse the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics. On such occasions Beijing likes to make a point of celebrating its ethnic minorities, who it says have benefited greatly from the economic and social progress that has been brought to China by the ruling Communist Party.
The riots in Urumqi and other cities across Xinjiang were triggered by the sexual molestation of Chinese Han women by Uyger workers in a Hong Kong-owned factory in Shaoguan, northern Guangdong that ended with two Uyger workers being killed.
The resulting explosive ethnic violence in Urumqi, that killed at least 156 and left more than 800 injured, the worst known bloodshed in China since June 4, 1989, was another reminder of the widespread social vulnerabilities and concern confronting the Communist Party ─ shared with the world when China’s Hu Jintao left the G8 summit in Italy before it started ─ an unprecedented move by a Chinese leader. Never before has a Chinese leader shortened an overseas trip because of domestic concerns.
China cannot afford a restless Xinjiang because the resource rich region makes a significant contribution to the mainland’s energy security. The province sits atop as much as 20 percent of domestic oil reserves and is expected to account for one-fifth of the mainland’s coal output. Xinjiang’s long borders with oil-producing Central Asian countries is what differentiates it from Tibet.
Beijing’s aggressive and ambitious plans to construct refineries, pipelines and power grids across the region could backfire if these facilities became terrorist targets. In addition, much of the oil and gas extracted in Kazakhstan is transported inland via a 3,000 kilometer pipeline that passes through Xinjiang.
Such has been the scale of the influx that Han, who accounted for just six percent of Xinjiang’s population in 1949, now make up more than 40 percent of the total population. Uygur resentment has grown increasingly nationalistic and separatist, emboldened by the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and the independence granted to three neighboring Islamic soviet republics.
Uygurs seeking independence used the Guangdong factory incident as the spark for the unrest in restive Xinjiang, an energy and resource rich province which accounts for one-sixth of the country’s territory, where the majority Uygurs feel exploited because the Han Chinese dominate economic and political life ─ a good reason for Chinese president Hu Jintao to leave the G8 summit in Italy before it started ─ to tend to the melting tip of the explosive ethnic iceberg in Beijing’s kitchen.
Uygur militants gained international attention in August 2008 after an attack on a police station in the Silk Road city of Kashgar killed 17 police on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.
The Muslim Uygurs, who like many Tibetans are seeking independence, opted to also heat up Beijing’s political kitchen on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic to publicize their grievances against China’s rule. The massive parade and pageantry planned for the commemoration in Tiananmen Square is set to eclipse the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics. On such occasions Beijing likes to make a point of celebrating its ethnic minorities, who it says have benefited greatly from the economic and social progress that has been brought to China by the ruling Communist Party.
The riots in Urumqi and other cities across Xinjiang were triggered by the sexual molestation of Chinese Han women by Uyger workers in a Hong Kong-owned factory in Shaoguan, northern Guangdong that ended with two Uyger workers being killed.
The resulting explosive ethnic violence in Urumqi, that killed at least 156 and left more than 800 injured, the worst known bloodshed in China since June 4, 1989, was another reminder of the widespread social vulnerabilities and concern confronting the Communist Party ─ shared with the world when China’s Hu Jintao left the G8 summit in Italy before it started ─ an unprecedented move by a Chinese leader. Never before has a Chinese leader shortened an overseas trip because of domestic concerns.
China cannot afford a restless Xinjiang because the resource rich region makes a significant contribution to the mainland’s energy security. The province sits atop as much as 20 percent of domestic oil reserves and is expected to account for one-fifth of the mainland’s coal output. Xinjiang’s long borders with oil-producing Central Asian countries is what differentiates it from Tibet.
Beijing’s aggressive and ambitious plans to construct refineries, pipelines and power grids across the region could backfire if these facilities became terrorist targets. In addition, much of the oil and gas extracted in Kazakhstan is transported inland via a 3,000 kilometer pipeline that passes through Xinjiang.
Such has been the scale of the influx that Han, who accounted for just six percent of Xinjiang’s population in 1949, now make up more than 40 percent of the total population. Uygur resentment has grown increasingly nationalistic and separatist, emboldened by the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and the independence granted to three neighboring Islamic soviet republics.
Uygurs seeking independence used the Guangdong factory incident as the spark for the unrest in restive Xinjiang, an energy and resource rich province which accounts for one-sixth of the country’s territory, where the majority Uygurs feel exploited because the Han Chinese dominate economic and political life ─ a good reason for Chinese president Hu Jintao to leave the G8 summit in Italy before it started ─ to tend to the melting tip of the explosive ethnic iceberg in Beijing’s kitchen.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 10:25 PM
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