International-Affairs.org

The recent news about anti-Chinese riots in Xinjiang follow those in Tibet in 2008 and have similar causes. Xinjiang is in the far west of China. It should be seen as part of the wider Chinese Empire rather than an integral part of China. Its population was originally Uigher, a Central Asian people who are mostly Muslim, in contrast to the bulk of the Chinese population who are Han. It was originally occupied by China under the Ching Dynasty as a means of protecting China from incursions by the Central Asian tribes. It was essentially a buffer between China and the very real threats at the time from Central Asia, particularly from the Mongol tribes. However, in recent times the Chinese government has been persuading Han people with incentives and subsidies to migrate to Xinjiang and other parts of China’s western empire. The scale of migration has been such that the Uighers like the Tibetans are now a minority in their own lands. Full-scale Sinification of these provinces is the aim of China’s “West” Policy. While there can be no doubt that China has brought much needed infrastructural development to the “West”, the process of sinification has been of great detriment to the Uigher’s culture. As in Tibet in 2008, there is now a revolt against this sinification policy. This why the attacks have not just been on the visible signs of Chinese authority, particularly the police and government officials, but also on the Han population. The Han migrations are seen as a policy of ethnic cleansing. While the Chinese authorities can probably put this revolt down, the simmering discontent will continue and the repression of the Uighers intensify.