Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
Uighur Minority Unrest in China
The July 2009 outbreak of violence in China’s
westernmost province is just part of a long
history of a people’s struggle for independence
There are about eight million Uighur people living in Xinjiang province in Western China. They are a Turkic people and they mostly follow Islam.
At the height of their power (744-
An Asia Times article (January 2002) reviewed some of the modern history of the region;
“In 1757, the Manchus of the Q’ing Dynasty (1644-
However, the Uighurs never accepted Chinese domination and there were frequent rebellions. “Uighur nationalists declared independence in both 1933 and 1944,” wrote Sean L. Yom, “both secession attempts lasted several years before being ultimately suppressed.”
The Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949 brought Xinjiang province and its Uighur people under the control of Beijing.
Dilution of Uighur Majority
Chinese government policy has been geared towards encouraging Han Chinese migration into Xinjiang to reduce the domination of Uighurs.
In April 2005, officials from Human Rights Watch gave testimony to the U.S. Congressional
Human Rights Caucus about the situation in Xinjiang: “Today, some 60 percent of Xinjiang’s
population is of Central Asian origin -
Starting in the early 1990s, Han Chinese people were given economic and land ownership incentives to move to the region. “Statistics indicate,” said Human Rights Watch, “that despite overall economic growth in the region, ethnic Chinese have tended to be the major beneficiaries.”
Uighur Separatist Movement Grows
Sean Yom wrote in The Asia Times that, “Since the early 1990s, Uighurs’ increasingly militant demands for independence have translated into a proliferation of separatist literature, numerous protests and riots, selected assassinations and kidnappings of both Uighur and Han Communist Party officials…”
Beijing has responded with what Human Rights Watch characterizes as a “systematic
and sustained attack, centrally controlled by the Chinese government and Chinese
Communist Party, on an ethno-
Violence Escalates in Xinjiang
Tim Johnson reported for McClatchy Newspapers (August 2008) on an attack carried out by Uighurs in the city of Kashgar. “…Two assailants in a truck mowed down a group of jogging policemen, then tossed grenades and slashed gasping survivors with knives in an attack that left 16 officers dead in this restive Muslim region in the nation’s far west.”
Eleven months later there has been an even worse outbreak of violence in the city of Urumqi.
BBC News reports (July 2009) that at least 140 people have been killed and 800 injured in a protest that turned deadly. There are very few foreign journalists in Xinjiang and those that are there are closely monitored by Chinese police so independent and accurate information is hard to come by.
As the BBC story points out, “Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students.
“The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.”
Image credits
Future Atlas
Sources
“Uighurs Flex their Muscles.” Sean L. Yom, Asia Times, January 23, 2002.
“Human Rights Situation of Uighurs in the People’s Republic of China.” Human Rights Watch, April 26, 2005.
“China Says Attack in Muslim West Kills 16 Policemen.” Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers, August 4, 2008.
“Scores Killed in China Protests.” BBC News, July 6, 2009.
“China: 2009 Marked by Political Hardening.” Human Rights Watch, January 20, 2010.
© Canada and the World, October 2010
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“Rather than relaxing restrictions imposed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, [a Human Rights Watch] report points out that the government imposed severe penalties against groups and individuals perceived as threats, ranging from Tibetans and Uighurs to legal aid workers.”
Uighurs refer the area in which they live as East Turkestan.
Uyghur is an alternative spelling.