Discontent among China's minorities runs deep

Rather then undertaking an impartial investigation into the recent violence in far-western Xinjiang province, China is instead poised to launch a serious crackdown on Uighur communities there. Beijing has deployed at least 20,000 troops in and around the region's capital Urumqi. The ethnic violence between native Uighurs and Han Chinese residents erupted on July 5, following what appeared to be an initially peaceful protest organised by Uighur students in response to the inaction of the government following the deaths and injuries of Uighur factory workers in Guangdong province on June 26.

The Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority group who, just a generation ago, accounted for the majority of the people in the remote region - until the Han Chinese moved in. Relations between the Chinese State and the Uighurs have been largely defined by repression of the Turkic language and of the native people's Islamic practices. The Muslims there have consistently questioned the legitimacy of Chinese government rule in their historic homeland. Mistrust between the Chinese State and the Uighur community remains high, and judging from the recent incidents, reconciliation is nowhere in sight.

As in the case of the Tibetans, the Uighurs' efforts at asserting their traditional identity are deemed subversive by the Chinese authorities. But unlike the Tibetans, the Uighurs are not well known and do not benefit from popular support around the world for their cause. Virtually the whole of Hollywood supports Tibetan political rights, autonomy and cultural identity, as does a large section of the American public. There is no such awareness of the Uighurs' cause.

On July 8, Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to sound sensible and reasonable, concluding at the end of the Politburo meeting: "It is necessary to isolate and strike at a tiny minority, while uniting with, educating, and winning over the majority. It is imperative to sternly crack down, according to the law."

But in spite of the lip service about a thorough inquiry into the violence, Beijing doesn't appear to be interested in investigating all aspects of the violence and its causes. Moreover, the state-run media continues to churn out footage and news that focuses almost exclusively on Uighur attacks on Han Chinese.

Of the 184 dead so far, 35 are Uighurs. The violent demonstrations also left more than 1,000 injured in the capital, according to government figures.

In addition to Beijing reinforcing its own perception that the Uighurs are an ungrateful people, mobile phone and Internet services were blocked within a few hours of the riots erupting. Chinese authorities in the region have announced they will seek the death penalty for protest organisers.

A skewed and incomplete picture of the violence has been spewed out to the Chinese public and international community, seemingly to justify the upcoming, across-the-board crackdown

Instead of addressing the root cause of the resentment, the Chinese government, without providing any evidence, has accused former political prisoner, Rebiya Kadeer, of orchestrating the unrest. Kadeer is a prominent Uighur rights activist in the US.

Even more absurd is the blaming of the US Congress, as well as al-Qaeda, for instigating the violence. Like many countries, including Thailand, China has capitalised on the US-led global "war on terror" to meet its own perceived security needs. It has succeeded in getting Washington to designate the East Turkestan Independence Movement as a terrorist organisation. But human rights activists have derided the move. They warn that it will give Beijing a free hand to do whatever it wants in the name of counter-terrorism.

Unfortunately, Americans have come to know the Uighur people after it was revealed that some of them were detained at Guantanamo Bay. However, the number of detainees was less than two-dozen and the US government concluded back in 2003 that the Uighurs were not part of the global jihadist movement, but were simply a nationalist movement. They also know that returning them to the Chinese would amount to condemning them to certain death.

By lumping Uighur nationalists among the world's terrorists, Beijing is doing a serious disservice to the global effort against terrorism, as well as to the victims of the recent clashes.

No doubt, the world needs to condemn in the strongest terms the violent actions of a number of Uighur demonstrators. This applies also to those Han Chinese who reacted in retaliation. Violence in any form should be opposed.

 The immediate cause of the protests in Urumqi and other cities was the lack of government response to the deaths and injuries of the Uighur workers in Guangdong Province on June 26. But the discontent expressed by the demonstrators goes much deeper than the deaths of the workers. It has more to do with the six decades of Chinese rule in the Uighur homeland that is commonly referred to as East Turkestan.

China is going to have to do more than pour money into developing the region's rich oil and gas deposits, while at the same time financing the influx of Han Chinese into the historically contested region. This migration policy - a standard Chinese tactic - has systematically eroded the Uighur's identity and wellbeing, according to human rights groups.

In short, China must work towards a political solution that gives not only the Uighurs but also the Tibetans and other minority groups more say in the running of their lives.