This is precisely what I was worried about, (well, one of my concerns), when I noted the unrest and subsequent crackdown in Xinjiang.
I really don’t think anyone ever expects a Uighur homeland to exist as a nation, and I further believe that Uighurs can live in peace and prosperity without one. Han migration, forced or not, will continue, but incessant poverty must not. There is a lot of wealth in those areas, and the party girls and boys are out at the clubs spending bank every weekend at least, and probably every night. Some of those gains must be spread out or there will never be peace. While I don’t believe the old trope that the Uighurs should be thankful for the benefits of modernization, (they have watched these benefits become potential, of course, while largely being denied use and access), the opportunities of a modern society are available, now, if only the leadership will embrace the rule of law in business and the economy.
All anyone wants is a fair shake, I believe. All of the yelling and accusations would decrease many times over if only every effort was made to improve legal systems of justice, so that people can work and build things for themselves. I saw an article in Time Magazine, which I usually do not read, but in any case it mentioned a prominent Uighur businessman who was shut down, arrested, and ‘died while in custody’ within a couple weeks. If cases of injustice like that become widespread then all a people can do is protest.
Well, I won’t hold my breath for Rule of Law Day. Not with this happening right now. State secrets and a government-controlled bargaining organization flexes its muscles somewhere deep within the misshapen mass of power. Huh. You don’t say.
Both the Uighurs and the Tibetans have population and location issues that cannot be surmounted. Each group is small and located in extremely inhospitable locales. The Buddists may seem to have a relative advantage, based on the fame of their Leader, the one the only, I am not going to risk publishing the name. Sorry. Chilly in here, isn’t it?
However, the Uighurs have an ace in their pocket: Religion. The US has always been the bad guy, of course, but times are changing. And those of Muslim faith have gotten pretty sick and tired of any ‘foreign’ forces mistreating Islam followers:
“There is a lot of sensitivity among the Turkish public about the Uighurs. They consider them as real brothers,” says Sami Kohen, a political affairs columnist for Milliyet, a Turkish daily.“Turks originally came from that part of Asia to Anatolia, and the language that Uighurs use is much closer to the language that Turkey speaks than others in Central Asia,” he continues.
The Turkish president’s official flag, for example, has 16 stars on it, representing “Turkish states” established throughout history. One of the stars commemorates the Uighur state that existed around the 8th century.
Let’s see if China can manage not to come across as belligerent in this spat. The problem is that China keeps all statistics so close to their vest, that no one trusts their commitment to the truth. That’s why certain people can mention hundreds of dead and…there is no satisfactory response. Rejection of interference into our internal affairs, maybe? Well, they are a Muslim people, and so that isn’t going to work when you are talking about chronic injustice.
[Edited]