The latest unrest in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang has so far only been reported by official sources which are likely to have minimized the troubles. Thus the fact that the state news agency Xinhua is reporting that 27 people, including nine security personnel, have died in the violence suggests that this is another serious outbreak of protest. The fundamental cause of anger among the region's Muslim Uighur population is well understood. When in 1949 China crushed the brief flowering of an independent Uighur state, known as East Turkestan, there was a sullen acceptance of Beijing's hegemony. However, as in Tibet, which the Chinese occupied a year later claiming it as an historic part of China, the distinctive local culture and language were kept alive. Indeed the Uighur take a particular pride in their language since historically it was the first Turkic dialect to have a written script. This writing was adopted by Mongol leader Genghis Khan and thus carried westwards in the huge sweep of Mongol invasions. Until the new Communist China's suppression of Uighur separatist aspirations, the region had endured a generally light yoke of Chinese rule. The distance from Beijing and the difficulties of communications meant that the region's devout Muslims were allowed to get on with their lives relatively undisturbed. Matters changed with the start of the Chinese “cultural revolution” in 1966 when Maoist fanatics sought to suppress any cultural or political differences in favor of a strict communist orthodoxy. The Uighur sought to defend their religion and cultural traditions and were ruthlessly suppressed. Not only that, but as with Tibet, the government in Beijing pursued a highly active policy of trying to flood ethnically different provinces with Han Chinese. This inevitably increased tensions, since the newcomers tended to dominate official posts and businesses and the Uighurs found themselves being treated as second-class citizens in their own land. Though still numbering around 45 percent of the provincial population (according to official figures — the real proportion may be higher), it is clear that the cultural and political pressures felt by the Uighur have reached dangerous levels in recent years. Past violence and unrest have been triggered by banal events such as small commercial disputes, but protests have spread swiftly. Beijing cannot carry on steamrolling in its attempt to achieve political and ethnic domination in Xinjiang. Nor is this a political protest movement imported from outside. Its roots lie deep in Uighur lands and traditions. Therefore, the greater the pressure Beijing exerts on the proud Uighur population, the harder the Uighur are going to push back. Unlike the Tibetans, with the charismatic figure of the Dalai Lama and a large community in exile in India, the Uighur do not have the same external focus or level of international advocacy. However, there is a growing movement in the Muslim world to take up their cause, just as it has taken up the plight of Burma's Rohingya minority. China's economic and political status may give it greater clout on the world stage, but it also increases its responsibilities. Beijing needs to address Uighur discontent and a good start would be to establish an independent investigation into the tensions in Xinjiang, and how they have been handled by the local Chinese authorities. This investigation ought to produce a report that will be published and which will include clear recommendations on how to address the grievances of the Uighur community.
