Chinese Uighur Dispute
Introduction
Background
Xinjiang Uyghur is an autonomous region that is found in the North West of China. This region which spans over 1.6m km2 is the largest administrative division in the country. Xinjiang borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. There is plenty of oil reserve and is one of the largest producers of natural gas (Golden, 1990).
Xinjiang is populated by Turkic Uighurs, who that claim China suppresses their culture and Sunni Muslim faith with human rights abuses such as mass abortions, forced termination of marriages AND Han Chinese colonization (now 40% of population) and domination. Most Uighurs seeks autonomy within China, while some support Muslim extremism and independence (Mote, 2003, 550) Since the attacks on the US on September 11, the Chinese bureaucracy has seized on the pretext of the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism” to justify intensified repression against ethic Uighurs in Xinjiang. Beijing accused separatist groups of having connections with Osama bin Laden’s “global terrorist network” and of receiving training in Afghanistan, to wage a “violent campaign” for an independent Eastern Turkestan (Perdue, 2011, 51).
According to Mote, (2003), the history of the Uighurs is so controversial in the sense that most of the things in the community including the communities name and the spelling of the word Uighur” is hotly contested. The government of China has been recently interested with this territory which has appeared to be rich in both oil and natural gas. The government says that this part cannot whatsoever be separated from the China since it has been part of it for more than 2000 years. The government campaign on economic development in this place is aimed at rapid development of the place where it has filled the place with skyscrapers and pipelines and other developments. However, many Uighurs are of the opposing view of such a stance of the government and perceive the government and the Han people as “Colonizers” and occupiers of their territory.
Many in the Uighur community also claim that they are culturally and economically disadvantaged. In addition, they encounter widespread discrimination emanating from the massive influx of ethnic Han Chinese in that particular region. Since the extensive riots in Xinjiang in 2009 that resulted into more than 200 people being butchered in Urumqi city, the ethnic tensions have been simmering since that time. These tensions have subsequently regenerated into clashes which have mandated the Chinese community to initiate a heavy crackdown on the community (VOA, 2013).
The Uyghurs have further claimed to be experiencing cultural and religious discrimination by their Hans Chinese counterparts. This animosity emanated from the discovery of natural gas and oil in the region. Due to these essential resources, The Hans Chinese has trooped in the region with much vigor of exploiting these resources. This invasion of people is what particularly intensified the already worsening relationship between the Uyghurs and the Hans Chinese from the conflict of religion, social as well as cultural differences (Fairbank et al, 1980, 220). Additionally, this trooping of the Hans Chinese has resulted into not only the overuse and extraction of natural resources but also over extraction of land such a land and water. This has further regenerated into the Uyghurs to make their campaign move strong through violent moves so that they could reclaim their land to curb political and religious oppression. They have gone to the extreme so as to demand their own, independent Uyghur state (ICE, 2006, 1).
The Han Chinese is a group of people who originally come from Eastern China. They are the predominant ethnic group who constitute more than 91% of the population in China. In Xinjiang province, the Han have in recent times come to be recognized as the largest minorities, constituting of more than 40% of the total population. This ethnic group is religiously and linguistically diverse whereby, the majority of them have a strong belief in Buddhism, Taosm, or Confucianism. The specific language dialects of the Han Chinese are based on geographical location and include the Wu dialect, the Mandarin, Gan dialect, Cantonese, Min dialect, and Hakkads. This population dominates many workplaces, in fact, majority of government personnel are Han. This has basically resulted into the economic disparity between the Uighur and Han since the latter has more political advantage than the former (Tyler, 2004).
According to the views of Sun (2009) who is Han Chinese residing in Uyghur, there are more than 30 millions Hans Chinese in this state. Though some of these people were grown up in Xinjiang, majority of them migrated from the countryside in early 1970S. The main reason of their migration was to get out of the countryside that was poor into the urban town of Uyghur which they perceived as having a potential to sustain them.
The Chinese government by 2000 initiated what it had called “ago west policy” which pointed out that there are more interests than those of increasing growth in West China. These interests are not just about the essential natural resources but also extracting them as potential for the national economy. By doing this, China is particularly taking away the livelihood of Uyghurs and their survival means resulting into two situations, the Uyghurs being left to flounder on their own with no means of support and the community becoming increasingly dissatisfied and probably leading to an increase in the mentality of being an extremists ( Xinhua News, September, 6, 2005).
The Chinese government on the other hand has blanketed the capital Xinjiang, Urumqi with its security forces in an attempt to curb the escalating insecurity from the ethnic clashes of the two worrying sides. The Chinese government is also seen to input more resources in the development of this region than past times. However, in doing this, they have excluded the Uyghur community from participating in the development and decision making aspects. The development processes by the government is what has caused the massive trooping in of the Han Chinese in the region who are out to explore their fortunes. This has resulted into displacement and conflict of interest between the Uyghurs and Hans Chinese (Sean, 2009, 5).
With racial between the two groups still rife, there is a looming danger that the series of attacks and counter attacks experienced between Han Chinese and Uighur will cause more harm to people and the economy of not only of that region but in interior China as well (UN, 2013). This will be tricky and cumbersome for the government forces to deal with. If the authorities go on exerting massive power on the local residents who show discontent, it would be viewed as an act of prejudice against the minority (UN, 2013) This is because most of the members of Chinese forces are from the Hans Chinese. On the other hand, if the government opts to be more strict on Hans Chinese immigrants, the Uighur attitude on government favoritism and discrimination of the Uighur community will fuel the Uighur – Han violence in the region(New York Times, 2009, July, 8). Therefore, it would be important that the security forces to be seen as dealing fairly by preventing destructive actions and dealing firmly with the law breakers. In further calming down the public sentiments, the government should as quickly as possible release or charge people apprehended in connection with the clashes.
In spite of the Chinese government claim that the many protests and riots occurring in the region are instigated by international criminal organizations, these leaders should be able to think that most Uighurs were experienced with leadership roles in such places as schools, trade guilds, factories/work places, mosques and local party organizations. These aspects were match crucial in mobilizing mobs to take marches and protests in the streets, before, making the people’s emotions to take over (Rossabi, 2005, 18).
In spite of the efforts by the Chinese government to contain the escalating violence in that nation, the periodic violence and simmering tension between the two communities in Urumqi, which has been referred as the worst in China since 1950s, there is a likelihood that the condition will go on and even spread to other regions outside the Xinjiang province. The hard line stance of the government towards the Uighur has utterly failed to differentiate between supporters, terrorists, and sympathizers. Instead of just detaining rioters, the government should engage the community in development and peace projects in the region.
Work Cited
Fairbank, John, Kwang-ching Liu, Crispin, Twitchett, Denis Late Ch’ing. Cambridge
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Golden, Peter. B. The Karakhanids and Early Islam, in Sinor, Denis, The Cambridge History of
Early Inner Asia, Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0 521 2,4304 1
ICE Case Studies. Ethnic Conflict and case studies. 2006.
Available from http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/xinjiang.htm
Mote, Fredrick. Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press. p. 657.
ISBN 0-674012127. 2003.
Morris Rossabi. Governing China’s Multiethnic Frontiers. University of Washington Press.
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http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/what-should-china-do-about-the-uighurs/ .
Perdue, Peter. China marches west: the Qing conquest of Central Eurasia. Harvard University
Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-674-01684-X. 2005.
Sean Roberts. Ethnic Clashes in China: Uighurs vs. Han Chinese international Development
Studies Program and Cultural Anthropologist, George Washington University. 2009.
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uighurs. 1992.
Tyler, Christian. Wild West China. Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 2004.
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Available on http://archive2.globalsolutions.org/issues/uighurs_china
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http://www.voanews.com/content/us-deeply-concerned-by-violence-in-china-xinjiang province/1648512.html
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Annotated Bibliography
Sean Roberts. Ethnic Clashes in China: Uighurs vs. Han Chinese. International Development Studies Program and Cultural Anthropologist, George Washington University. 2009.
According to Sean Roberts, the Chinese govern has in recent times shown much interest Xinjiang, because of the new found resources of oil and natural gas. The government has in an attempt to contain the escalating insecurity and clashes put more security forces in the region. The author however sees this approach as being misplaced. Instead, the appropriate mechanisms, the author observes id to engage the community in the development as well as decision making process. Sean points out that the development processes by the government is what has caused the massive trooping of the Han Chinese in the region who are out to explore their fortunes. This has resulted into displacement and conflict of interest between the Uyghurs and Hans Chinese.
ICE Case Studies. Ethnic Conflict and case studies. 2006.
Available from http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/xinjiang.htm
According to ICE research team, the reason for the increased animist between the Uyghurs and the Hans Chinese is because the Uyghurs feels oppressed both politically and religiously from their Han’s counterparts. The Hans Chinese has basically trooped in the region with much vigor of exploiting these resources. This invasion of people is what particularly intensified the already worsening relationship between the Uyghurs and the Hans Chinese from the conflict of religion, social as well as cultural differences. Additionally, this trooping of the Hans Chinese has resulted into not only the overuse and extraction of natural resources but also over extraction of land such a land and water. This has further regenerated into the Uyghurs to make their campaign move strong through violent moves so that they could reclaim their land to curb political and religious oppression. They have gone to the extreme so as to demand their own, independent Uyghur state.
Mote Fredrick. Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01212-7.
2003.
In this description of the Imperial China, Mote observes that the Chinese government has suppressed the Uighurs culture and religious standings. According to this author, there are various human rights abuses in this region ranging from forced termination of marriages, abortions, high divorce rates and so on. In his observation, most Uighurs have sought autonomy with the government while some of them have supported separatists’ moves and Muslim extremism.
United Nations Global Solutions. Uighurs in China. 2013.
Available on http://archive2.globalsolutions.org/issues/uighurs_china
According to UN global solutions, the Chinese government should lessen its grip on the Xinjiang capital. In bringing more security forces and using force and intimidation to silence the community, they are creating more animosities between the two groups. Instead, they should include the local populace in the development and decision making aspects of the project.
