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China Moves to Calm Restive Xinjiang Region

The New York Times, 31 May 2014

BEIJING — As the Communist Party struggles to tamp down a deadly wave of ethnic violence in Xinjiang, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has called for tighter state control over religion and for better assimilating Uighurs into Chinese society, including moving more Uighurs from Xinjiang to other parts of China, where they can live among the Han, the nation’s dominant ethnic group.

Mr. Xi spoke at a two-day work session on Xinjiang in Beijing, attended by the party’s top officials. He said the party and the state should establish “correct views about the motherland and the nation” among all of China’s ethnic groups, so that people of every background will recognize the “great motherland,” the “Chinese nation,” “Chinese culture” and “the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.”

The different ethnic groups of Xinjiang, the westernmost region in China, are “bound together like a pomegranate,” Mr. Xi said, referring to how the seeds are held tightly together in a fruit that is common in the region.

Photo

President Xi Jinping addressed a conference in Beijing on dealing with the ethnic unrest in Xinjiang, in northwestern China. Credit Li Xueren/Xinhua, via Associated Press
Mr. Xi’s remarks at the session were summarized in an article by Xinhua, the official news agency, that was widely printed in state-run newspapers on Friday.

Mr. Xi also defended the party’s recent policies in Xinjiang, even though those policies have led to frustration among many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people who mostly practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam.

“Practice has proved that our party’s ruling strategy in Xinjiang is correct and must be maintained in the long run,” Mr. Xi said.

The Xinhua article said Mr. Xi spoke of a “special policy” that he planned to put in place for the development of southern Xinjiang, which has a large Uighur population and is relatively conservative. That policy, he said, would use “special measures” to “deal with special things.” The article did not give specifics.

Another state news media report on Friday detailed extensive new security measures in Beijing, linking some of them to “antiterrorism.” Security forces in the Chinese capital have been on high alert in recent weeks for any political activity leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. The police have already detained or questioned dozens of liberal Chinese.

The report on Beijing security said that 850,000 civilian volunteers would begin patrolling city streets to help the police maintain stability, and that 100,000 people would help with information collection. The report said civilians would be paid 40,000 renminbi, or about $6,500, if they turn in information that is critical to security. People whose day-to-day work is done on the street, like newspaper vendors and shoe cobblers, would be asked to report suspicious activity to a “social service management system,” the report said.

Security officials in Xinjiang have also been taking new measures. According to an article on Thursday in Caixin, a respected newsmagazine, security forces were taking “temporary control” of popular online messaging services. Officials have said such tools can spread dissident thoughts. Citing a police official who was not named, the magazine said that officers would monitor and censor messaging platforms, including WeChat and QQ, as well as mobile phone texting. After riots in 2009, officials in Xinjiang blocked access to most websites for about a year and closely monitored and censored text messages.

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Most of China’s Uighurs live in oasis towns in the desert areas of southern Xinjiang, in border areas to the west, or in enclaves in the region’s capital, Urumqi. The Communist Party’s policies in Xinjiang have included developing natural resource industries, including oil, gas and coal extraction, an economic approach that mostly benefits ethnic Han. Officials have freely used mainly Han security forces to suppress ethnic unrest.

Officials have arrested moderate Uighur intellectuals, most notably Ilham Tohti, a professor in Beijing, who have called for fairer government policies and dialogue between Uighurs and Han. Mr. Tohti was charged in February with inciting separatism.

The party has also encouraged substantial Han migration into Xinjiang, including to large settlements called bingtuan, some decades old, that have military ties. The Han, including recent settlers, dominate most industries across Xinjiang.

Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as saying that in addition to generally trying to improve bilingual education and employment for Uighurs, a reverse migration should be encouraged: The state should relocate Uighurs to Han-dominant parts of China for education and work, in order “to enhance mutual understanding among different ethnic groups and boost ties between them.”

A similar policy of promoting Uighur migration and employment in Han companies was a major factor in setting off the deadly rioting in Urumqi in 2009, which killed about 200 people, most of them Han. The riots began after security forces confronted Uighur protesters in Urumqi who were demanding an inquiry into a deadly factory brawl in faraway Guangdong Province. That brawl had begun over rumors that Han men at the factory had tried to rape Uighur women working there.

In recent weeks, some people living in Han-dominated provinces have said security forces in some areas are coercing Uighurs living there to return to Xinjiang, out of fear that the Uighurs might carry out violent acts.

In his remarks, Mr. Xi also emphasized strengthening state control over religion, and presumably Islam in particular. He said officials “should focus on cultivating a team of patriotic religious people and taking effective measures to improve the quality of people of the religious circle.” The positions of religious leaders, he said, should be limited to those who “love the country and love their religion.”

Party leaders have said for years that the problems in Xinjiang are rooted in separatism, terrorism and extremism.

The deadliest recent burst of violence in Xinjiang took place on May 22, when attackers drove two cars into a market in Urumqi crowded with older Han and threw explosives from the cars. At least 39 people were killed, and 94 were injured. The four attackers died at the scene. The state media later announced the arrest of a fifth person. All the suspects had Uighur names, according to state news reports.

On March 1, five people from Xinjiang attacked people at a train station in Kunming, in southwest China, fatally stabbing at least 29 civilians and injuring at least 140 others. Security officers killed four of the assailants and arrested one person, according to official news reports.

Last October, a car with three Uighurs plowed into a crowd in Beijing, killing two tourists. The car burst into flames, and the people inside died. On Friday, a Chinese news report said prosecutors in Xinjiang were charging eight people in the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but because they have been aimed at civilians, many Chinese and some foreign officials say they are clearly acts of terrorism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/world/asia/chinas-leader-lays-out-plan-to-pacify-restive-region.html