Xinjiang conflict

This article is about recent unrest and fighting in Xinjiang. For the uprisings and battles in Xinjiang during the 1930s and 1940s, see Xinjiang Wars.

Xinjiang conflict
Part of Terrorism in China and the War on Terror[7]

Xinjiang, highlighted red, shown within China
Date1949–
Location
Xinjiang
Belligerents

People's Republic of China (from 1949)

Chinese Communist Party
People's Police
People's Armed Police
People's Liberation Army
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

Republic of China (until 1950s, limited involvement)

 Kuomintang
National Revolutionary Army (1931–1947)
Republic of China Army (1947–1950s)
Ma clique (1931–1949)
Xinjiang (1912–1933; 1944–1949)

Xinjiang (1933–1944)

People's Anti-Imperialist Association

East Turkestan independence movement


East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association[3](denied by ETESA[4][5])

Supported by:

 First East Turkestan Republic (1933–1934)

Supported by:

Kingdom of Afghanistan Kingdom of Afghanistan (1933–1934)
Commanders and leaders

Xi Jinping (CCP General Secretary, CMC Chairman: 2012–present)

Ma Xingrui (CCP Regional Secretary: 2021–present)
Chen Quanguo (CCP Regional Secretary: 2016–2021)
Previous leaders
Previous leaders
Units involved

Xinjiang Militia

Xinjiangese Armed civilians and volunteers

Xinjiang Army (1933–1944)

Xinjiang Army (1912–1933; 1944–1949)

New 36th Division (1932–1948)

Various

Supported by:

Kingdom of Afghanistan Kingdom of Afghanistan Volunteers (1933–1934)
Casualties and losses

1,000+ dead c. (2007–2014)[9][10]
>1,700 injured[11]

330,918+ arrested c. (2013–2017)[12]
Part of a series on the
History of Xinjiang
Ancient period
Medieval and early modern period
Modern period

The Xinjiang conflict (Chinese: 新疆冲突, Pinyin: xīnjiāng chōngtú), also known as the East Turkistan conflict, Uyghur–Chinese conflict or Sino-East Turkistan conflict (as argued by the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile),[13] is an ethnic geopolitical conflict in what is now China's far-northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkistan. It is centred around the Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group who constitute a plurality (or 'relative majority'[a]) of the region's population.[15][16]

Since the incorporation of the region into the People's Republic of China, factors such as the mass state-sponsored migration of Han Chinese from the 1950s to the 1970s, government policies promoting Chinese cultural unity and punishing certain expressions of Uyghur identity,[17][18] and harsh responses to separatism[19][20] have contributed to tension between the Uyghurs, and state police and Han Chinese.[21] This has taken the form of both terrorist attacks and wider public unrest such as the Baren Township conflict, 1997 Ürümqi bus bombings, protests in Ghuljia, June 2009 Shaoguan Incident and the resulting July 2009 Ürümqi riots, 2011 Hotan attack, April 2014 Ürümqi attack, May 2014 Ürümqi attack, 2014 Kunming attack as well as the 2015 Aksu colliery attack. Uyghur organizations such as the World Uyghur Congress denounce totalitarianism, religious intolerance, and terrorism as an instrument of policy.[22]

In 2014, the Chinese government launched the Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism in Xinjiang. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping Administration's policy has been marked by much harsher policies, including mass surveillance and the incarceration without trial of over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority ethnic groups in internment camps.[23][24][b][c] Numerous reports have stated that many of these minorities have been used for prison labour.[25] International observers have labelled the forced Sinicization campaign to be an instance of crimes against humanity,[26][27] cultural genocide,[28][29][30][31][32] as well as physical genocide.[23][33]

The Chinese government has denied charges of genocide and other human rights abuses, characterising the centres as deradicalisation and integration programs and were the subject of dispute at the 44th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); 39 countries condemned China's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang in June 2020.[34] Similarly, in July, a group of 45 nations issued a competing letter to the UNHRC, defending China's treatment of both Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.[35] Various groups and media organizations worldwide have disputed denials that human rights violations have occurred.[d]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sf1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Potter 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Zenn, Jacob (7 September 2018). "The Turkistan Islamic Party in Double-Exile: Geographic and Organizational Divisions in Uighur Jihadism". Terrorism Monitor. 16 (17). Jamestown Foundation.
  4. ^ Shohret Hoshur; Joshua Lipes (2 November 2012). "Exile Group Denies Terror Link". Radio Free Asia.
  5. ^ "We Strongly Dismiss the Slanderous Article Against Our Association; It Is an Example of Irresponsibility". East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association. 12 September 2018.
  6. ^ Reed & Raschke (2010), p. 37.
  7. ^ "China's 'War on Terror': September 11 and Uighur Separatism". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  8. ^ MacLean, William (23 November 2013). "Islamist group calls Tiananmen attack 'jihadi operation': SITE". Reuters. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  9. ^ Collins, Gabe (23 January 2015). "Beijing's Xinjiang Policy: Striking Too Hard?". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016. China's long-running Uighur insurgency has flared up dramatically of late, with more than 900 recorded deaths in the past seven years.
  10. ^ Martina, Michael; Blanchard, Ben (20 November 2015). "China says 28 foreign-led 'terrorists' killed after attack on mine". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017. China's government says it faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists in energy-rich Xinjiang, on the border of central Asia, where hundreds have died in violence in recent years.
  11. ^ Wong, Edward (25 August 2009). "Chinese President Visits Volatile Xinjiang". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  12. ^ "Criminal Arrests in Xinjiang Account for 21% of China's Total in 2017 | Chinese Human Rights Defenders". Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  13. ^ Ala, Mamtimin (11 August 2021). "Independence is the Only Way Forward for East Turkestan". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  14. ^ Burchfield, Robert W., ed. (1998) [First edition published 1926 and edited by H. W. Fowler]. "Majority". The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (Revised 3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 477. ISBN 0-19-860263-4. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  15. ^ Ismail, Mohammed Sa'id; Ismail, Mohammed Aziz (1960) [Hejira 1380], Muslims in the Soviet Union and China (privately printed pamphlet), vol. 1, translated by U.S. Government, Joint Publications Service, Tehran, Iran, p. 52{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) translation printed in Washington: JPRS 3936, 19 September 1960.
  16. ^ Dwyer (2005), pp. 1–3.
  17. ^ "Borders | Uyghurs and The Xinjiang Conflict: East Turkestan Independence Movement". Georgetown University. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  18. ^ "Devastating Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. Vol. 17, no. 2. April 2005. p. 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2018. Post 9/11: labeling Uighurs terrorists
  19. ^ Phillips, Tom (25 January 2018). "China 'holding at least 120,000 Uighurs in re-education camps'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  20. ^ Huang, Echo. "China is confiscating the passports of citizens in its Muslim-heavy region". Quartz. New York. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  21. ^ Kennedy, Lindsey; Paul, Nathan (31 May 2017). "China created a new terrorist threat by repressing this ethnic minority". Quartz. New York. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  22. ^ "About". World Uyghur Congress. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  23. ^ a b Ramzy, Austin; Buckley, Chris (16 November 2019). "'Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  24. ^ 'Eradicating Ideological Viruses': China's Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang's Muslims (Report). Human Rights Watch. 9 September 2018. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  25. ^ "What happens when China's Uighurs are released from re-education camps". The Economist. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  26. ^ ""Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots": China's Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims". Human Rights Watch. 19 April 2021.
  27. ^ a b ""Like we were enemies in a war"". Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  28. ^ Adam Withnall (5 July 2019). ""'Cultural genocide': China separating thousands of Muslim children from parents for 'thought education'"". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  29. ^ ""'Cultural genocide' for repressed minority of Uighurs" – The Times 17 December 2019". Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  30. ^ Zand, Bernhard (28 November 2019). ""China's Oppression of the Uighurs 'The Equivalent of Cultural Genocide'" – 28 November 2019". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  31. ^ Shepherd, Christian (12 September 2019). ""Fear and oppression in Xinjiang: China's war on Uighur culture" – Financial Times 12 September 2019". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  32. ^ Finnegan, Ciara (2020). "The Uyghur Minority in China: A Case Study of Cultural Genocide, Minority Rights and the Insufficiency of the International Legal Framework in Preventing State-Imposed Extinction". Laws. 9 (1): 1. doi:10.3390/laws9010001.
  33. ^ Ramzy, Austin (20 January 2021). "China's Oppression of Muslims in Xinjiang, Explained". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  34. ^ Amt, Auswärtiges. "Statement by Ambassador Christoph Heusgen on behalf of 39 Countries in the Third Committee General Debate, October 6, 2020". Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  35. ^ "Joint Statement delivered by Permanent Mission of Belarus at the 44th session of Human Rights Council". www.china-un.ch. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  36. ^ "State Department Lawyers Concluded Insufficient Evidence to Prove Genocide in China". 19 February 2021.
  37. ^ Wong, Edward; Buckley, Chris (19 January 2021). "U.S. Says China's Repression of Uighurs is 'Genocide'". The New York Times.
  38. ^ "Biden 'Appalled' by New Images of Xinjiang Camps, Calls UN Chief's Visit a Mistake". Bloomberg.com. 24 May 2022.
  39. ^ "'Credible case' of China genocide against Uighurs". 8 February 2021.
  40. ^ "China: Leaked Xinjiang files likely accurate, experts say – DW – 05/24/2022".
  41. ^ "The US says China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Here's some of the most chilling evidence". USA Today. 2 April 2021.
  42. ^ "'Malicious Farce' – China's Latest False Denial of Genocide Evidence". 22 January 2021.
  43. ^ "The Uighur 'influencers' working for Beijing's propaganda machine". 8 November 2022.
  44. ^ "Was your fridge made with forced labour? These Canadian companies are importing goods from Chinese factories accused of serious human rights abuses". Toronto Star. 22 January 2021.


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