Reflections on Chinese Policy in Xinjiang - Uighur Autonomous Region An eyewitness account of 5 July 2009 and the aftermath By R.A. Reflections on Chinese Policy in Xinjiang - Uighur Autonomous Region An eyewitness account of 5 July 2009 and the aftermath By R.A. 2011 Publishedby IslamicHumanRightsCommission www.ihrc.org.uk Eyewitnessto5July,2009 ReflectionsonChinesePolicy in Xinjiang By“R.A.”First publishedin Great Britain in 2011 by IslamicHuman RightsCommission PO Box 598,Wembley,HA97XH © 2011 IslamicHumanRightsCommission All rightsreserved.Nopart of thisbookmaybe reprinted orreproducedor utilised in any formorby any meanselectronic, mechanical,orother means,nowknown orhereinafter invented,including photocopying andrecording, or in any information storage or retrievalsystem,without permissionin writing fromthepublishers. ISBN 978-1-903718-80-3 2 CONTENTS Foreword ............................................................................................................................... 4 1. Background ....................................................................................................................... 5 2. Kashgar - 5 July 2009 ................................................................................................... 22 3.Aftermath ........................................................................................................................ 39 Endnotes .............................................................................................................................. 85 3 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION FOREWORD This essay comes from an eyewitness to events in Kashgar, Xinjiang of the so-called riots and Chineseauthority’scrackdownonprotestson5July2009. Those events are an indelible stain on China's recent record of community relations and human rights. As the country celebrates 90 years of the founding of the Communist Party, China's leadership must urgently re-evaluate its progress towards an egalitarian state that respects its variousculturesandbeliefsandprovidessecurityandprosperityforall.Placedastheemerging world power, China can be an example of how an anti-imperialist narrative can be realised as a transformativealternativetoabankruptedliberalnationstate. Currently, China has a long way to go in dealing with the type of issues highlighted in this account. As the deprived and marginalised communities of the world battle all forms of colonialism, China needs to practice the anti-imperialism it has preached within its borders. There is an opportunity here for a new and better world to be accelerated. We pray China takes theopportunitytohelpfoundit. IslamicHumanRightsCommission,July2011 4 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION BACKGROUND The beginning of the peaceful protest of a few hundred Uighur students marching towards People Square in the heart of Urumqi- the capital of Xinjiang province in China - revealed nothing about what might have happened nor what was about to follow in the evening hours andthefollowingdays.HoldingChineseflagsUighurstudentsleftXinjianguniversitytoprotest their outrage for what has become later widely known as the Shaoguan incident, a civil disturbance that took place overnight two weeks earlier on 25 June in Guangzou province, China’smanufacturinghub. Photograph 1: Documented on a bystander's cell phone - Uighurs holding Communist flags Two weeks had elapsed between the incident in Guangzou until 5 July, andtherewasnosignor indication that social unrest- the biggest since Tianamnen Square and Beijing in 1989- was underway. The sun was already low and the air was oppressively hot when I arrived at Urumqi's long distancetrainstationon27June2009.Businesswasasusual;multicolouredsilkdressedwomen wearing headscarves strolling around, streets markets giving way to the grey skyline, dusted streets and houses shadowed (obscured) by construction sites indicating that in Urumqi the breakwiththepastandthemovetowards“modernity”hasbeganalongtimeago. Uighurs and Hans but also minorities such as Kazaks,Tungans and Kyrgyz have lived together inUrumqiastheyhavedoneforatleast50years.Urumqi'shistorycanberealizedonitspeople's faces;dark,fairandwhitefaces.Andsometimesblueeyeswithblondhair;amosaicofdifferent ethnicgroups,racesandculturesgeographicallylocatedinthecrossroadoftheoldSilkroadon whichAsiaandEuropebalanced. For the most part Hans and Uighur have coexisted in segregation distributed in a clear pattern throughoutUrumqionasouthtonorthaxis.However,intheregionofXinjiangextremeviolence has erupted at a number of occasions with sporadic bombings, uprisings and clashes between civiliansandarmedforcesandlessoftenbetweenUighurandHanethnicgroups. 5 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION OnceacrossthestreetsofUrumqionecan'tavoidnoticingthatthecityconsistsofmanydifferent waysofliving.FortheChineseHanemerginglowermiddleclass-immigratedfromtheEastof ChinatoXinjiangagenerationortwoago-thisisanageofaspirationwhereopportunitieshave multiplied but so did disappointments. A three year old car looks older than the neighbour’s brandnewcar.Amobilephonewithoutafewmillionmega-pixelcameraintegratedisdated. Photograph 2: Chinese Han quarter of Urumqi Expectations and hopes for them and their children are high but everything costs money.AsaHaninUrumqi puts it, “Life will not always be like this. Right nowit'sthehardesttimefor us. Our children will grow up with more choice, they will not face so much the pressure and the competition” Photograph 3 For most Uighurs this is a passing phase where their culture is fading towards obscurity. Once occupying what was meanttobethecentreofthe world they're now conquered by fear and anxiety not to be left out as hordes of Chinese Hans start up businesses benefiting from the government’s“MoveWest” policy. 6 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION Photograph 4 Photograph 5 Young Uighur men on the lookout for tourists ran up and locked elbows with the few tourists plunging and tumbling into the streets of the Da Bazaar (Big Market) offering any service from black market money changing to cheap accommodation, train tickets etc. Ahuddle of children and Uighur beggars followed whom they approached with their hands outstretched asking for help. I hesitated for a while before a Uighur man-born and raised in Urumqi- accompanied me through the market. He spoke in fluent English with an American accent, “Sir, these Uighur peopleinthemarket'sarebindiks(cheaters).Theycomefromthecountrysideandcan'tfindajob inUrumqisotheyengageintootheractivitiestoearnaliving.Youbetterbuywhatyouneedand thenmoveawaytoavoidproblems...” 7 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION Photograph 6 Despite the seeming calm in the next few days, dark clouds gathered over Xinjiang suggesting thatsomethinghadgonewrongwhencoffinswithdeadUighurmigrantworkersweresentfrom Guangzou back home to the sleepy city of Zanmin which is situated half an hour drive from Kashgar. Zanmin is a small city of about 20,000 inhabitants where alike most Uighur towns - in thesouthwestprovincefarfromthetouristictrackoftheSilkRoadandwithoutanyindustryto boostthelocaleconomyexceptsmallscalefarming-thereisnotmuchhappening.Uighurshere hardlyspeakbasicMandarinasmostofthemcomehardlyintocontactwithChineseHan.Living standardsarelow,unemploymentisrockethigh,lifeslowandnotmanyrealoptionsforyoung Uighurs who want to enter the labour force but to migrate for education purposes or in search forwork. In order to prevent the serious threat of the too-rapid urbanization of the eastern provinces and to control the massive internal migration from the villages and small towns to the big cities the Chinesegovernmenthaveimposedsincethe1950saseriesofmeasuresandlegislationtoprevent 8 REFLECTIONS ON CHINESE POLICY IN XINJIANG - UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION unauthorized immigration. The so called house registration system excludes migrants from registeringtoadistantcommunewhilstpublicandgovernmentservicesincludinghealth,social benefits, pensions, free education and housing keep people tied to their place of residence and occupation. Although most of the public sector jobs and the vast majority of skilled and unskilled jobs are only available to permanent residents free migration is still possible but any unauthorized immigrantcanonlyfindworkinconstruction,restaurantsorashousekeepers. This temporary mobility to the East coast though not encouraged was tolerated by the governmentasitwasseenasratherbeneficialbecauseitsimultaneouslyadsorbedthesurplusof rurallabourandimprovedthelocaleconomiesasmostoftheruralmigrantswouldsendmoney backhometosupporttheirfamilies. Nevertheless, excluded by the house registration system and denied public social services offered only to permanent residents, migrant workers often endured abusive conditions, to summarizeafew,suchas;non-existentcontracts,wageexploitation,physicalviolenceandunfair treatment, deadly accidents, absence of medical and accident insurance, low standard on-site housinganddiscriminationbyemployers. Moreover, because of their temporary status official legislation fails to effectively address and take action against these violations posing thus a potentially serious threat to public order and socialstability. ThenewChinesegovernmentformedin2003hasplacedmoreemphasisonmigrant'srightsand rural development in China. It considers rural migration and urbanization as the most feasible solutionstotheproblemsofunderdevelopmentinruralareasandthedemandforlabourinthe cities.Inordertosatisfythegrowingdemandforlabourintheindustrialcitiesinandaroundthe big cities but also to effectively eliminate such injustices the Chinese government has begun to make the necessary policy adjustments. One of the policies towards closing the gulf in incomes between the rich East and poor provinces was to promote a temporary, controlled in-migration of workers across the country depending on labour demands in different regions. Government recruitingagenciesimplementthenationalprogramtorelocatethousandsofpeasantsandpoor peoplefromthecountrysidetothecoastalprovincesforaperiodoftimeusuallyvaryingfroma few months to a few years and then sent back to their homeland. The Government campaign wouldensurequalityandgoodtermsandstabilityfortheworkers. 9