CHINA-INTERNAL: XINJIANG-UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION
Four senior Uighur officials, writing in a front-page
article in the official Xinjiang Daily newspaper on April 27, 2017, said young
members of China's Uighur Muslim minority should "love the
motherland" and learn Mandarin." They asked young people to
reflect on why Uighurs are labeled "terrorists" adding "A small
group of devils create violence and terror in order to split the motherland and
destroy ethnic unity. Because of this, we regularly face round-upon-round
of safety checks, sometimes we finding it hard to stay in hotels or to rent
housing." The article said “Young Uighurs should reflect on how the party
had created a "harmonious, prosperous, happy and safe" life for
minorities in Xinjiang, they said, adding that a failure to grasp the nation's
common language of Mandarin was a "disgrace." "Siblings,
the great motherland has granted us a blessed, heavenly life, how can we follow
those devils to abandon our motherland?" Officials have also launched
a propaganda campaign, asking people to "warmly love the party,
motherland, and the big family of the Chinese people" and "oppose
splittism, extremism and violence."
(Comment: While such campaigns are common, but in the
current effort, an unusually large number of Uighur officials are reported to
have come forward to ask fellow Uighurs to do more to support counterterrorism
and to weed out "two-faced" people. Party Secretary Chen Quanguo has
also beefed up already expansive security, increasing identification checks and
expanding a network of police posts.) |