(1) KYRGYZ SUPPORT OVER SEPARATISTS 29 April 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has pledged to support China in its protracted battle against Muslim separatism, the People's Daily reported yesterday. (2) KYRGYZ PRESIDENT IN CHINA 28 April 1998, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Akayev said his government "stands wholly on the side of China and firmly opposes national separatism and religious extremism." (3) WANG'S LIFE IN EXILE COULD BE DIFFICULT 20 April 1998, Reuters Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement now in exile in Taiwan, said on Monday Beijing's release from prison of dissident comrade Wang Dan merely opens a new chapter in Wang's suffering -- exile. ... The Uighur-minority student from far the western Xinjiang region sprang to fame at the height of the protests in May 1989 when he argued with Premier Li Peng in a televised meeting. (4) THE TULIP CAME FROM WHERE? 27 April 1998, Reuters (5) OFFICIALS PREDICT DIFFICULTIES IN PROVINCIAL CO-OPERATION 15 April 1998, South China Morning Post, DANIEL KWAN Regional officials are casting doubts over the concept of co-operation between eastern and western provinces. ... Alarmed by the widening gap between the prosperous east and impoverished regions in the west, Chinese leaders have been advocating increased East-West co-operation. (6) CCP SPECIAL OFFICE SET UP TO CURB SOCIAL UNREST 27 April 1998, CND-Global The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set up an "Office on Maintaining Social Stability" ... which will also combat infiltration by hostile foreign forces and ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet. (7) CHINA PUBLISHED A COLLECTION OF 142 ANCIENT MAPS April 10, 1998, CND-Global (8) KYRGYZ PASSPORTS TO REFLECT NATIONALITY OF HOLDERS 24 March 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE (9) NO PLANS TO END ONE-CHILD POLICY 26 March 1998, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The mainland has no intention of ending its one-child policy despite an encouraging decline in population growth in the past 18 years. ... "Birth rates in some central and western provinces and remote and poverty-stricken areas remain well above the national average."
(1) UYGHURS CLASHED WITH POLICE IN GHULJE 24 April 1998, EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER According to the reports of local people, on April 20-21, Uyghur pro-independence fighters clashed with the Chinese paramilitary police in the city of Ghulje of Eastern Turkistan/Uyghuristan. (2) THE UNITED NATIONAL FRONT OF EASTERN TURKSITAN ISSUED A STATEMENT 23 April 1998, Turkistan-L list RFE/RL correspondents report from Almaty that an Uyghur organization in Kazakhstan called The United National Front of Eastern Turkistan has issued a special statement accusing "Chinese communists in oppression of the Uyghur nation in their own homeland, Eastern Turkistan". The leaders of Vatan Uchquni staff in Almaty told RFE/RL correspondents about the contents of the statement issued yesterday. (3) TWO CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN KASHGAR 24 April 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center
The WUNN electronic newsletter is published by
Eastern Turkistan Information Center
WUNN editors: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev,
Bill Mitchell
The WUNN is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghurs related issues. Eastern Turkistan or Uyghuristan are the name used by the Uyghurs, the indigenous people of the territory. Eastern Turkistan is the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China at present.
Eastern Turksitan was colonized by the Manchu Empire in 1877, and was made its Xinjiang province in 1884. Two Eastern Turkistan Republics existed in Eastern Turkistan in 1933-1935 and 1944-1955. Xinjang Uyghur Autonomous Region was established by the communist Chinese government on October 1, 1955.
WUNN brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community.
Credits must be given to all sources cited. ETIC is responsible only for the reports from its own sources.