Central Asia

“Freedom for Uighurs. Freedom for Tibet. We must fight together.”
Can Asgar, a leader of the Uighur diaspora in Munich

In the midst of widespread protests following the Olympic Torch in London and Paris, two other anti-Chinese government demonstrations by Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang Province and in Istanbul, Turkey have recently occurred.

The first and more serious of the two Uighur protests’ occurred from March 23-24 in and around the city of Hotan, which is about 625 miles southwest of Urumqi, and reportedly involved over 600 protesters.  Even though this event took place around the same period of unrest in China’s Tibetan regions, there was no evidence of any direct link or organized coordination between the two incidents.  The Xinjiang Province protest was purportedly catalyzed by a prominent, local jade businessman’s death in police custody.  Little information was given into the nature of the protests, for instance their level of intensity or peacefulness, but the participants did demand from authorities the halting of a proposed ban on head scarves, greater autonomy to Uighur-populated regions, and the release of Uighur exiles and political prisoners.  It was reported that ‘several hundred’ people were rounded up and arrested during the protests, but an exact number was not given and it is unknown what has happened to those taken into custody.  Chinese authorities stated that the protestors were acting ‘under the flag of separatism.’

On April 3, before the more widely covered protests in London and today’s in Paris, a group of about 200 Uighurs stated a protest in Istanbul, Turkey, which will host the Olympic Torch later this week.  The protesters held up a sign urging “Turkey, Stand by Your Brothers.”

I have not come across much evidence which showcases Uighur, Tibetan, and one may want to include Taiwanese, collaboration in protesting for greater autonomy against the Chinese government, but these protests are no doubt piggy-backing on each other.  Can Asgar, from above, stated ‘we all have the same problem,’ referring to the Uighurs and the Tibetans.  With the Olympic Torch literally shining a light on their situations, it will be important to follow how these movements may either work together, copy each other, or follow each other in protesting the Chinese government’s policies in their region.

Lastly, how much do you feel these faraway protests in London, Paris, Istanbul, etc. affect the Chinese government?  Do you think they feel threatened enough to make real policy change?  Or do you believe they will just try to weather this storm and wait it out, believing Europe and the West will eventually fall back into their old, quiet murmur?  Does China even have a price for granting the Tibetans and Uighurs greater autonomy?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Foreign Policy Association, Central Asia General, Central Asia Newsroom, Human Rights, Xinjiang, Central Asia Beat, Foreign Policy Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.