RFA, 2 February 2012

Officials say Uyghur students are leaving after a middle school consolidation.

A countywide middle school consolidation in China’s volatile Xinjiang region has led to ethnic Uyghur students dropping out of classes as local authorities move to implement a bilingual education system based on the Uyghur and the official Mandarin Chinese languages. 

The Times of India, 2 February 2012

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army may be preparing for a limited conflict with China, says the US’ top intelligence official. In a testimony to the US Senate, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said, “Despite public statements intended to downplay tensions between India and China, we judge that India is increasingly concerned about China’s posture along their disputed border and Beijing’s perceived aggressive posture in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific region.”

RFA, 1 February 2012

A bid to beef up the region’s rural police force may fuel tensions.

An exile Uyghur group has slammed recent moves by the Chinese government to boost police numbers in rural areas of the troubled Xinjiang region, which has been rocked by ethnic strife in recent years between Turkic-speaking Muslims and Han Chinese migrants.

Rafto Foundation, 31 January 2012

The Rafto Foundation calls on the Norwegian MFA to raise the issue of Uyghur asylum seekers sentenced to life in prison and long prison terms in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China.

The Phnom Penh Post, 31 January 2012
By Mary Kozlovski

The United States is attempting to confirm recent media reports that as many as four of the 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers deported from Cambodia to China in 2009 have been sentenced to life in prison.

Radio Free Europe, 31 January 2012

Thailand and China have welcomed Twitter’s controversial new censorship policy.

Thailand’s Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap said on January 30 that Twitter ‘s new policy was a “constructive” development and praised the website for “cooperating with governments to make sure basic rights are not violated through the use of social media.”

CPJ, 31 January 2012
By Kristin Jones

In China, state control over the media hasn’t become more lax in recent years. Each year brings a new excuse for Communist Party censors to tighten the screws. The year of the rabbit brought the Arab Spring, and fears of a Jasmine Revolution. The year of the dragon brings a major political transition.

AP, 31 January 2012

BEIJING (AP) — Thousands of additional police officers are being dispatched to combat religious extremism and other security concerns in China’s volatile, heavily Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media reported Monday.

The Epoch Times, 31 January 2012
By John An & Matthew Robertson

The Chinese regime is recruiting 8,000 security officers to strengthen its grassroots “stability maintenance” police force in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. According to a report in the state mouthpiece Xinhua on Jan. 30, a policy of “one village, one policeman” (or sometimes more than one) will be carried out in rural areas.

The Washington Post, 30 January 2012

BEIJING — Thousands of additional police officers are being dispatched to combat religious extremism and other security concerns in China’s volatile, heavily Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media reported Monday.