KUQA, China (AP) — In this ancient oasis town in China's restive west, assault rifle-toting police officers patrol the cobblestone lanes of ochre-brick houses in an ethnic Uighur neighborhood. China has blanketed parts of Xinjiang, home to Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs, with such heavy security that it resembles an occupied territory under martial law, complete with armed troops, spiked barricades, checkpoints and even drones. Communist Party leader Xi Jinping introduced the high-stakes campaign to integrate — or some say assimilate — Uighurs with Chinese-language schooling, more jobs and greater mobility in May. "All ethnic groups must understand one another, have mutual tolerance, appreciation, learn from one another, help one another and embrace one another like seeds of a pomegranate," Xi said at a high-level meeting. China is trying to bring Uighurs into the fold by encouraging them to leave their hometowns and mix with Han communities, while pledging to share the rewards Beijing has reaped from the riches of Xinjiang's oil and gas deposits with more jobs and better infrastructure. The strategy may include a reassessment of some of the policies that had favored ethnic minorities — such as limited exemptions to China's rules on how many children couples can have — in a bid to reduce distinctions between the ethnicities. "The administration of Xi Jinping wants to make a bold and yet risky attempt to increase inter-ethnic mingling," said James Leibold of Australia's La Trobe University, who has studied Chinese ethnic policy for over a decade. [...] Gardner Bovingdon, a Xinjiang expert at Indiana University, said the school only serves to project Chinese cultural influence into the fabled center of historical Uighur culture, with the government's top-down approach failing to address Uighur demands. In an apparent nod to such views, the regional party chief Zhang Chunxian indicated last month that Uighurs in southern Xinjiang would no longer enjoy more lenient family planning rules that allow them to have up to three children in rural areas and two in cities.
Comment on China's tight security clashes with unity drive
By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Tue, 09/02/2014 - 9:06am
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