Round The World
New Delhi, 8 April 2008
Unrest in
China
AFTER TIBET, ITS
XINJANG
By Monika Chansoria
(School of International
Studies, JNU)
However much the Chinese government may disagree, but the
crisis in Tibet
appears to be gradually spreading to other parts of the country. The sensitive
Xinjiang province too is experiencing the turbulence of political and social
unrest in the weeks following the violence incurred due to anti-government
protests led by the monks in Tibet.
Signs of ethnic unrest in China’s northwestern region of
Xinjiang have begun to emerge in the past few days with incidents of sporadic
protests by Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and of
police crackdowns in numerous locales of the province.
In addition to Xinjiang, there were fresh incidents of
violence in the Tibetan-inhabited autonomous region of Garze in southwest China’s Sichuan
province on April 4, when Chinese police opened fire during ‘rioting’ in the
area, as reported by the Xinhua news agency. Moreover, the riots that
broke out first in Lhasa and spread to other
Tibetan-inhabited areas in neighbouring Sichuan
and Gansu
provinces have left scores of people dead and injured.
China has accused Muslims in the nation’s
northwest region of trying to initiate a rebellion after protests broke out in
the Xinjiang province a few days back. The incident comes at a time when a
beleaguered Chinese government has been occupied in curbing and restricting the
Tibetan agitation.
Moreover, as the Olympic torch relay kick-started in Beijing amidst tight security fearing possible violent
disruptions by the Tibetan agitators, the Turkish police detained at least six
Uighur Muslims on April 3 at an anti-China protest during the torch relay near
one of Istanbul’s
most famous tourist sites.
The demonstrators were detained after they broke away from a
larger group of protesters and shouted slogans just a few feet away from a Turkish
figure skater who had just started to run with the torch. Around 200 Uighur
Muslims had converged ahead of the ceremony near the Blue Mosque and the Hagia
Sofia church. Some members of the Uighur expatriate community in Turkey have reiterated calls for the
independence of Xinjiang from China.
Meanwhile,
in the western Xinjiang city of Kashgar, a traditionally vital center of Islam
in the region, Chinese police went on to arrest 70 Uighurs in recent days in a
move aimed at safeguarding the city before the arrival of the Olympic torch,
scheduled to pass through Kashgar in June.
It appears that the World Uighur Congress, an organization
of the Muslim Uighur people, that has always been sympathetic to the cause of
the Tibetans seeking an independent Tibet, is making every effort to
cash in on the embarrassment caused to the Chinese government. The Tibetan
issue has clearly grabbed international focus since the past month.
In a statement, the Congress said that the Uighur
demonstrators were seeking the release of their leaders held in prison, an end to
the alleged religious repression and halting the transfer of Uighur girls as
labourers to other parts of China.
Like the
Tibetans, Uighurs too constitute a form of a predominant ethnic group in
Xinjiang and aspire political independence while holding profound umbrage
vis-à-vis Chinese control. Religious freedom has been a constant source of
tension in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has been accused of banning
students and party members from practicing Islam, and tightly controls and
polices the Muslim clergy.
Beijing has long claimed to be confronting
“religious extremist forces” and “violent terrorism” in the Xinjiang province. China faces an ongoing separatist insurgency
movement among the ethnic Uighur minority—a Turkic-speaking, predominantly
Muslim community—in the sensitive and remote northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang, abutting the Central Asian
republics.
Much like the Tibetans, the Uighurs in Xinjiang, too have
struggled for their cultural survival and distinct identity in the face of a
government-supported influx of Chinese migrants, as well as harsh repression of
political dissent or any other expression, however, lawful or peaceful.
Significantly, Xinjiang is very critical to the economic
ambitions of the PRC, in that the province makes up more than one-sixth of China’s
landmass, but more importantly has rich, untapped deposits of oil, natural gas
and minerals. In addition, China
also perceives Xinjiang as its gateway to the huge oil and gas reserves of
Central Asia with Chinese companies already seeking foreign partners to
construct pipelines from fields in Kazakhstan
and Russia.
The Chinese
authorities have not discriminated between peaceful and violent dissent and
their fight against “separatism” and “religious extremism” has been used to
justify widespread and systematic human rights violations against Uighurs,
including many involved in non-violent political, religious, and cultural
activities.
Beijing, in the 90s was very apprehensive about
the emergence of unrest and terrorism in Xinjiang, since the Uighurs share more
cultural affinity with Central Asia than with rest of China. The
Uighurs, who look and sound more like Turks than Han Chinese, advocate and
support the creation of an independent State for Xinjiang’s Muslims, much to China’s
antagonism.
Furthermore, questions crept up yet again on China’s human rights record when a Chinese court
on April 3 sentenced one of China’s
most prominent dissident and activist Hu Jia to three-and-half years in jail on
charges of subversion. Apparently, Hu spoke out for greater autonomy and
religious freedom for Tibet.
However, through its actions, Beijing
is sending out a clear message that it is not overtly concerned about the harsh
condemnation from various human rights groups in the West.
Reacting to the arrest of Hu Jia, European Union spokesman
in Beijing William Fingleton said, “We said very clearly before the trial that
he should not have been detained in the first place and that he should be
released immediately and this remains our position. We believe that the charges
of subversion against peaceful expression of opinion are not in line with the
(UN) Convention on Civil and Political Rights which the Chinese government has
committed to respect. ”
On its part, the Chinese authorities are seeking to demonstrate
to the outside world that the situation in Tibet is under their control by
announcing that foreign tourists would be allowed to visit the region from this
May 1. The ban had been imposed on foreign tourists and journalists from
visiting Tibet since the outbreak of violence last month.
In this Olympic year, the world community prospectively
looks towards Beijing with expectations that it takes initiative to improve its
human rights and religious freedom record. As for China, it is walking a very
tight rope and would want to aim at putting its best foot forward too.
Indubitably, Beijing is standing on the edge as the Olympics inch closer. For
the protestors, the timing is ideal to draw global attention to long-standing
political and social issues prevailing in numerous parts of China.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
|