A PUZZLE FOR THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE

In recent weeks, the situation has deteriorated again in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China. The intensification of the Uighur independence movement raises a number of issues for Beijing, affecting both the rights of national minorities and the territorial integrity of China.

It all started when a Chinese court sentenced 19 Uighurs to various prison terms for inciting ethnic hatred and religious extremism. According to media reports, such a penalty is imposed for visiting prohibited websites calling for a "holy war" and for "disturbing public order", which was expressed in the fact that Uighur activists burst into the houses of Chinese people in a state of "religious ecstasy" and break their household items.

The trial in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region was followed by riots, in which at least 35 people were killed. In particular, a group of men armed with cold arms attacked police stations, the local administration building and a building site in the city of Lukkun (Lukqun), located 200 km southeast of the administrative centre of Xinjiang - Urumqi. Then, about a hundred Uighur motorcyclists armed with knives attacked a police station in the city of Hotan. In addition, about 200 people tried to attack the downtown shopping district of the city.

In assessing what is happening, it should be noted that conflicts on national grounds are frequent in the XUAR. Half of the population is Uighur - Turkic Muslim people. The latest events took place on the eve of the fourth anniversary of bloody unrest in the area. On 5 July 2009, Urumqi was engulfed in violent clashes between Uighurs and ethnic Chinese (Han), and as a result, according to official figures, 197 people were killed and another 2,000 were injured.

In fact, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is considered part of Central Asia colonized by the Chinese in the past (not by Russians, as in the case of "Soviet" Central Asia). Since the incorporation of Uighur lands into China in the middle of the 18th century, the Uighurs have revolted more than four times. In 1944, they even managed to declare the Eastern Turkestan Republic, which, however, fell soon after losing the support of the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin decided not to seek confrontation with the Chinese Communists because of the "Uighur issue").

In order to change the demographic situation in the Xinjiang Uighur region, Beijing started resettling ethnic Chinese to the province, which increased the proportion of the latter from 5% in 1940 to over 40% today. Therefore, the Uighurs accuse the government, saying that its ultimate goal is to oust the Uighur ethnic group and erase its identity and culture.

Beijing, for its part, believes that Uighur separatism threatens the territorial integrity of the country. The Chinese believe that the Uighur nationalist movement has strong religious overtones, which is why Beijing seeks to establish total control over the Muslims of the XUAR. The life of the faithful Uighurs is almost entirely controlled by state religious committees, which, inter alia, approve the candidacies of Muslim clerics. The Chinese authorities introduce restrictive measures, which infringe the rights of Muslims to conduct services in mosques. For example, civil servants and persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to enter a mosque.

Beijing argues that in the autonomous region there is a terrorist organization called the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, which receives support from abroad, particularly from Pakistani Islamist militants. The "Islamic factor" manifested itself in the arrest of a certain Ahmad - the leader of a Uighur group, which operates under nationalist and Islamist slogans and organized, as claimed by the Chinese authorities, the recent attacks on government facilities and police stations.

In an effort to prove the religious extremism of the Uighurs, Beijing connects the June riots in Xinjiang with the war in Syria. According to the Chinese authorities, the Uighur separatists are fighting on the side of the Syrian armed opposition. The insurgents in the distant Arab country are allegedly training the Uighur extremists. It is these men, according to Beijing, who are being sent to the XUAR to organize uprisings and carry out attacks.

The World Uighur Congress, operating in Western Europe, calls such assertions of the Chinese side unrealistic. "For the Uighurs, it is very difficult to even get a passport, how can they escape to Syria?" congress spokesman Dilshat Reshit says. In an interview with The Epoch Times, the representative of the World Uighur Congress expressed the opinion that the recent events in Xinjiang are the result of the long-standing policy of China's communist government to suppress the national aspirations of the Uighurs, for the Uighurs resort to violent methods of resistance out of despair.

Yet it is obvious that certain circles in the West seek to use the Uighur movement to undermine and weaken China itself. In this sense, quotes from forums on overseas Chinese-language websites are very revealing. There are following comments there: "This time, it is obvious that it is not an ethnic conflict, but a popular protest against the government. This could be the start of a national uprising." Some Chinese support the Uighurs, expressing such judgments: "The Uighurs are not as patient as we, Han people, who have been tolerating this power for 60 years", "Uighurs brothers, well done! But be careful not to hurt ordinary people. Thank you from your brothers and sisters of Han nationality. No one believes what communist media write. The brains of the Chinese are beginning to return to normal."

It is also noteworthy that the Uighur issue is gradually put up for discussion by the global community. For example, in March of this year, the situation of the Uighur minority was discussed at a meeting in Geneva on human rights in China for the first time in UN history. Representatives of the diaspora of the Chinese territories of East Turkestan, Mongolia and Tibet, who attended the event, gave examples of how the Chinese government persecutes ethnic and religious minorities and violates their rights. The leader of the World Uighur Congress, Rebiya Kadeer, stressed that the Chinese government accuses the Uighurs of separatism, while they are demanding only what belongs to them by right ("The occupied land does not belong to the occupier ... You invaded our territory in 1949," Uighur leader said while addressing the Chinese side).

It is impossible to deny the fact that not only the Uighurs, but also Chinese Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tatars and Mongols, who are indigenous people of East Turkestan, quite rightly demand their rights and oppose the repressive policies of the Chinese authorities. Another question is that Beijing sees a real threat to Chinese statehood and territorial integrity in the factor that the separatist sentiment in the Xinjiang is used by some external forces to their advantage to restrict the growing influence of China in world politics and economics.

It is also true that trying to stem the tide of separatism and prevent the implementation of certain interests of external forces, Beijing is conducting a gradual reform policy in the region, giving priority to the economic improvement of Xinjiang. It is not in vain that Chinese propaganda likes to point out that the country's leadership has taken into account "the sad experience of the USSR", where overcoming the totalitarian system led to the collapse of the multinational state. In recent years, Xinjiang has really seen a significant economic breakthrough. Therefore, many Uighurs now give preference to sustainable economic development and the possibility of successful business rather than participation in a liberation struggle under the threat of reprisals.

A comprehensive analysis of all these aspects only convinces us that a compromise solution to the long-standing conflict in Xinjiang, it seems, can only be found on the basis of respect for the rights of Uighurs and non-interference of external forces in the internal political life of China.