Uighur resentment boils over
(From The Japan Times July 9 issue)

ウイグル人弾圧が引き起こした暴動

Ethnic riots that erupted in the capital of China's Xinjiang region reveal the extent of resentment that the mostly Muslim Uighur people harbor against the Chinese government's policy toward them. The riots, believed to be the biggest ethnic unrest acknowledged by Chinese authorities since the establishment of communist rule in 1949, could deal a big blow to the leadership of President Hu Jintao. The situation in the western region indicates that it is becoming more and more difficult for the Chinese government to continue the repression of an ethnic minority in the name of "stability and unity."

According to the police authorities of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, 156 people — 129 men and 27 women — were killed and more than 1,000 people injured in the Urumqi riots. The number of people detained reached 1,434. The death toll is expected to rise. The numbers of dead and injured have not been broken down into Uighur and Han Chinese.

The riots were triggered by a Han Chinese attack on Uighur workers at a toy factory in Guangdong province. Many Uighur workers were killed or injured. The July 5 riots invited a stronger reaction from Han Chinese. Tens of thousands of Han Chinese took to the streets of Urumqi in protest July 7. Reports said some of them attacked Uighur-owned businesses. A tense situation in the region is likely to remain.

In March 2008, China saw large-scale riots by Tibetans followed, in the next few months, by activities by Uighur separatists. Xinjiang authorities insist that the July 5 riots were organized by a Munich-based Uighur independence group and by Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled Uighur rights activist living in the United States.

It is clear that behind the July 5 riots are long-held enmities against the influx of Han Chinese, and the Chinese government's attempts to assimilate Uighur people into Chinese culture and suppress their rights to freedom of religion and expression. A crackdown on Uighur activities will further heighten ethnic tension. Chinese authorities should realize that the latest riots and last year's riots by Tibetans derive from the same roots.

中国・新疆ウイグル自治区の騒乱は、イスラム教徒の多いウイグル族が政府に抱く反感を示した。中国建国以来最大規模の民族衝突は胡錦濤国家主席の権力を脅かし、「安定と団結」の名のもとでの少数民族弾圧は困難になってきた。

広東省のおもちゃ工場で漢民族がウイグル族に暴行し、7月5日の暴動を呼んだ。

昨年3月のチベット騒乱後、ウイグル独立分離派は活発に活動していた。市当局は暴動が在独の分離派や在米ウイグル人人権活動家ラビヤ・カーディル氏の扇動によるものと主張する。

漢民族の流入、中国政府による同化政策、宗教や表現の自由の抑圧に対する長年の反感が、騒乱の背後にあることは明白だ。チベット、ウイグル共に暴動の根源は同じであることを中国政府は認識しなければならない。