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TRUE GOALS OF "OPENING THE NORTH-WEST"
Editorial
By Abduljelil Qaraqash
Three main goals of the Chinese government's policy of "opening the north-west" can be described as, first, to speed-up plundering of natural resources of territories populated by national minorities; second, to manage the population growth in China's inner regions by moving Chinese migrants to the western part of the country; and third, to prepare for gradual transfer of the Chinese to the Central Asian countries through East Turkistan.
The development of the Chinese industry led to the increasing demand in raw materials, and, especially, in energy resources like oil, gas, and coal. China began to prospect, extract, and use mineral resources of East Turkistan for the development of China's inner provinces since the occupation of East Turkistan in 1949. But, the scale of such development was not very large because of China's financial constraints and its primitive industrial technology. For instance, the annual crude oil production in East Turkistan did not exceed 10 million tons before 1990. Moreover, China was cautious of ever present strong national feelings in the region.
But, over the last ten years, the oil produced in Dacheng and other places in China's inner provinces became insufficient for the energy hungry Chinese economy. Chinese authorities began to look at East Turkistan as the main source of energy resources in the future.
It is well known that East Turkistan is rich in natural resources, especially in oil, gas, and coal. At present, more that 100 varieties of oil products are produced in East Turkistan. According to the book "Our homeland is the golden land" published in East Turkistan, East Turkistan has 17.6 billion ton of coal deposits, one third of China's total coal deposits. According to the estimates of Chinese geologists, total oil reserves in East Turkistan are estimated at more than 10 billion ton.
Under the pretext that "all natural resources belong to the state", the Chinese authorities have been exploiting the wealth of East Turkistan for the benefit of the Chinese state and the ethnic Chinese for the expense of the local people of East Turkistan. The true "hosts" of this wealth currently have an annual income about 100 US dollars. In contrast, the average annual income of the Chinese is four times larger than that of the local people. It is officially recognized by the government that more than 20% of most poor families live in East Turkistan.
China is trying to attract foreign investments for the development of East Turkistan. But, these investments are primarily used in regions of East Turkistan like Urumchi, Shihenze, Kuytung, Chochek, and Bortala, which are densely populated by Chinese migrants, thus, benefiting mostly the Chinese population.
The second goal of the policy of "opening the north-west" is to relieve the pressure of the excessive population in inner provinces by moving Chinese migrants to East Turkistan. A secret document No. 9 of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued in 1991 says: "Our state is a developing country with the enormous population. The main features of our country are the large population, weak economy, and low per capita income. Rapid growth of population is a hard burden for our economy. If we do not restrict rapid growth of population, the natural resources will exhaust and the ecological environment will deteriorate, and we will have great problems".
In April of 1991, Chinese President Zhang Zemin said "Development of our state was quite rapid after the third congress of the 11th calling. Although we lead the world in producing food products, cotton, coal, steel, and electricity, our country occupies the lowest positions in the world in per capita terms. The excessive population growth leads to the deterioration of the social situation and the environment, and it is very difficult to predict the future consequences of the population growth on our state".
The third goal of the "opening north-west" policy is to turn East Turkistan into a base for the further expansion to the west, into former Soviet Central Asia, where China wants to impose its military, political, and economic control. "Shanghai Five" initiative and Chinese investments in developing the Aktobe oil field in Kazakhstan with a possible construction of a pipeline from central Kazakhstan to China are the examples of China's growing aspirations for the dominance in the Central Asian region.
Over the last 5 years, the average per capita income of the local population of East Turkistan stayed at about the same level or even decreased. For example, a report by the Hotan Prefecture Chinese communist party committee issued on May 16 says that the average annual per capita income in Hotan was 720 yuan, 120 yuan down from that of the previous year. Situation in other regions of East Turkistan does not differ much from that in Hotan. In addition, there were incidents when houses and lands of Uighurs in Kashgar, Aksu, and other regions along the Tarim river were forcibly confiscated by oil companies. The local Chinese authorities are far from supporting the interests of the local people. Instead, they collaborate with oil companies from inner provinces for the exchange of bribes.
The present situation of Uighurs in East Turkistan demonstrates that the aim of the Chinese government is to plunder the wealth of the region for the expense of the local people. "Opening north-west", like many of its predecessor campaigns, does not bring any benefits to East Turkistan; on contrary, it only brings increasing negative pressure on its fragile environment, more Chinese migrants from inner provinces, and the additional misery to the Uighur people.
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ETIC REPORT 2000 
