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Xinjiang

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By William Tucker

Chinese state media outlet Xinhua is reporting that rioting near the city of Kashgar has left ten people dead. The report states that police killed two of the rioters and are searching for two other instigators. As of this writing there has been no word as to what sparked this recent unrest, but Xinjiang has long been a problematic province for Beijing. Also called East Turkistan by the locals, Xinjiang is home to the ethnic Uighar population which has linguistic and cultural ties to central Asia. The Chinese government has been offering incentives for ethnic Han, which represent the bulk of the Chinese population, to move to Xinjiang. Beijing’s reasoning is that migration of Han Chinese to the west will help dilute the political aspirations of the local population. Instead, the ethnic Uighar’s have become more active, and restless, in challenging China’s government.

The killing of two alleged rioters may well cause further unrest in the region. Another aspect to consider is how unrest in other parts of China may start to feed off one another. Certainly the protests in Tibet and Sichuan, coupled with protests in the east among the ethnic Han, are cause for concern in Beijing. This isn’t to say that the government is yet facing any sort of existential crisis, but the unrest in such a wide variety of provinces occurring at the same time is noteworthy. Chinese unrest, along with the governments response, will continue to be of interest. Especially as the 2012 government transition gets underway.