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Uighur Press on Eastern Turkestan |
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China Using
Separatists in Contest for Central Asia Influence
30 May 2002
Summary
China is using its heightened crackdown
against Uighur separatists to emphasize the
similarities between its Islamic militant problems and
those of Central Asian states. Beijing is trying to
regain the influence it lost in the region to
Washington and Moscow after Sept. 11. The biggest
beneficiary from this competition may be the Central
Asian states themselves.
Analysis
Communist Party and security officials
from China's northwestern Xinjiang province held a
press conference for foreign journalists May 27 to
discuss terrorism, separatism and economic development
in the region. The officials reiterated Beijing's call
for the United States to hand over some 300 ethnic
Uighurs from Xinjiang who were captured while fighting
alongside the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The Chinese also revealed that Pakistani
authorities had detained the third-ranking member of a
separatist Uighur organization and returned him to
China. The press conference followed reports a week
earlier that officials in Kyrgyzstan had detained two
suspected Uighur separatists who are accused of
assassinating a key moderate Uighur leader and
shooting members of a Chinese delegation in the
country in 2000. The two were also handed over to
Chinese authorities.
China has intensified its crackdown on
suspected separatists in Xinjiang since Sept. 11,
emphasizing that such actions are necessary not only
to maintain stability in the province but also to
ensure the success of the international campaign
against terrorism. By reiterating that China shares
Islamic problems with other Central Asian nations, and
that it is willing to tackle them through such
measures as intelligence cooperation, extradition of
suspected militants and military aid, Beijing is
attempting to regain lost ground in Central Asia
without appearing as if it is trying to impose itself
on the region.
Copyright © 2002 Strategic Forecasting
LLC. All rights reserved.
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