Uyghur Minority Chafing Under Chinese Oppression

In an article published April 15, 2008 from Khotan, China entitled, "A Second Restive Minority Faces China's Heavy Hand," the author argues that while Tibetan protests have grabbed headlines, the social unrest among China's 8 million Muslim Uighurs in the resource-rich far western territory have gone virtually unnoticed by the press.

Despite reports of police shootings and arrests at a protest demanding Uighur independence on March23, the world has paid little notice. China is doing its best to downplay ethnic tensions that threaten national security as well as the upcoming Beijing Olympics, claiming that the state has stabilized ethnic areas.

Human rights activists disagree. Nicolas Bequelin, a researcher for Human Rights watch in Hong Kong, claims China's policies are alienating, and that they are "efficient in that political political repression works. But they have ethnic tensions."

While Han Chinese live and work beside their Uighur neighbors, the interaction ends there. Muslims report discrimination, and are discouraged from practicing any religion. It is in the best interest of Han China to try to assimilate the Uighurs into their culture in order to protect their hold on the oil, coal, and mineral reserves in Uighur territories. However, their methods of assimilation border on the extreme - maintaining one's ethnic identity is not encouraged. People who attempt to help Muslims often end up dead at the hands of police during interrogation.

To further their aims, the Uighur people have created the World Uyghur Congress to draw attention to the plight of the Uighur people. To this point, they have been successful at maintaining the elements of their society that set them apart from the Han Chinese. How long the Han Chinese will allow this to continue is another story.

Susan