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China steps up pre-anniversary
crackdown on Xinjiang separatists
BEIJING, Aug 25 (AFP) - China Thursday said it has
stepped up a crackdown on pro-independence and
separatist activities in its Muslim-majority Xinjiang
region ahead of the 50th anniversary of its takeover
of the restive area.
China's top official in Xinjiang also confirmed the
arrests of a handful of activists who he said have
carried out terrorist, separatist or extremist
activities endangering national unity and social
stability.
"They want to sabotage our 50th anniversary
celebrations, but we can't passively wait for these
things to happen so we have actively strengthened
pre-emptive measures," said Wang Lequan, Communist
Party secretary of Xinjiang.
The German-based World Uighur Congress alleged that
authorities have been carrying out mass arrests of
pro-independence Uighurs in the region ahead of the
October annexation anniversary.
Wang denied mass arrests but said authorities always
come down hard on individuals engaged in extremist
activities.
"We hit hard at those who have emerged," Wang said.
Wang confirmed a report that police have arrested 10
members of a separatist group in the Aksu district
Monday which has allegedly carried out "violent
activities" since the late 1990s.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uighur Congress,
said he was outraged at the crackdown, saying China
has no legitimate right to rule the region known as
East Turkestan to many of the eight million Uighurs
who live there.
"This is a political joke, to forcibly impose this
so-called autonomous ruling on an ethnic group which
has never recognised China," Raxit told AFP.
Uighur separatists, who maintain a distinct ethnic
identity from the Chinese, have been fighting to
re-establish an independent state of East Turkestan in
Xinjiang since it became an autonomous region of China
in 1955.
They accuse the ruling Chinese of political, religious
and cultural repression in the name of
counter-terrorism efforts that were significantly
stepped up after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the
United States.
Wang, who is also a member of China's powerful
Politburo of the Communist Party, said Xinjiang's
economy has improved markedly under Chinese rule over
the past five decades along with Uighurs' quality of
life.
"With the care and support of the Central government
and the aid and assistance from all the Chinese people
... the region has gained tremendous achievements in
economic and social development," he said. Ismail
Tiliwaldi, the ethnic Uighur governor of Xinjiang,
also justified the arrests of two Uighur writers for
the sake of stability in the region. One of them,
Nurmehemmet Yasin, was sentenced to 10 years in jail
for inciting Uighur separatism in February, after
publishing a short story about a bird trapped by
humans that killed itself in captivity. He said
writers who use literature to "incite the masses and
to split the country" are loathed by Uighur people and
would be dealt with according to law. "They are
detested in Xinjiang and will be treated like rats on
thestreets," he said. Xinjiang is strategically
important to China because of its huge energy reserves.
The region has an oil reserve of 20.86 billion tons,
or 30 percent of China's overland oil reserve, 10.3
trillion cubic meters of natural gas, or 34 percent of
the country's total and 2.19 trillion tons of coal, 40
percent of China's total.
Wang said separatist activities must be nipped in the
bud because the region needed a stable environment to
develop its economy.
"We need to be alert always and to pay careful
attention to these activities. China is very much in
need of a stable environment."
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