This study surveys the evidence for organized, violent separatist resistance to Chinese rule in Xinjiang, a region three times the size of France located in the northwestern corner of the PRC. Since several major violent events in the 1990s, concern has risen over the possibility that a violent separatist or terrorist movement may be emerging among the Turkic Muslim population of this region. Stories in the international media have sounded this warning steadily if sporadically over the past decade, and in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the PRC government has publicly linked groups comprised of Uyghurs from Xinjiang to al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations. The United States and the United Nations have agreed to some extent with China?s assessment and designated one of the groups on China?s terrorist list, ETIM, as an international terrorist organization.After summarizing the 250-year history of various kinds of resistance in Xinjiang, this study catalogs major violent incidents since the 1990s in Xinjiang and in the Central Asian republics. It then discusses the Uyghur groups and individuals listed as separatists or terrorists. On the basis of a critical analysis of international press reports and PRC government materials, the study concludes that while ethnic tensions in Xinjiang are indeed serious, the sense of imminent crisis commonly conveyed by these reports is exaggerated. In particular, the study notes that the frequency and severity of violence have in fact declined since the late 1990s, perhaps due to Chinese efforts at interdiction.This is the sixth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.

This book focuses on measures pertaining to the three-pillar implementation strategy of R2P and examines how and to what extent the three pillars have been practised. Rich in its geographical scope, this edited book provides a critical analysis of R2P practice over the last two decades by focusing on representative cases from different regions. Analysing not only recent and/or underexplored cases but also widely studied cases from a fresh and alternative perspective, it sheds light on the depth and scope of the norm as well as the variety of actors involved and how they impact R2P practice. Diverging from most accounts, this edited book does not approach the cases as a ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of R2P. By studying the background to the conflicts and making assessments on a pillar-by-pillar basis, each chapter addresses the root causes, traces the process of implementation, investigates the actions of the actors involved, identifies elements of success and failure and finally questions the sustainability of the protection provided to date. Meanwhile, the conceptual chapters complement the case analyses through an overall evaluation of R2P’s first two decades and the progress achieved so far with the aim to draw lessons for future implementations of R2P.

In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, China began to tout its own terrorist problem in the predominantly Muslim-populated province of Xinjiang. Claims that the province's separatists and extremists threaten China's national security seem contrary to literature focusing on the region's ethnic minorities. Yet Xinjiang has historically been a restive, rebellious province, and only in recent years came fully under Beijing's sphere of control. Throughout the 1990s sporadic political violence occurred in Xinjiang, and as the geopolitical situation in Central Asia changed, Beijing's claim that Muslims were a threat to its national security became a legitimate question. An evaluation of the elements that produce an environment ripe for mass organized political violence on such a scale as to threaten China's sovereignty can provide a useful understanding of the current state of affairs within Xinjiang. This thesis concludes that, while each element exists and has existed in varying degrees since Chinese rule of the region began, all of the elements have not been simultaneously at a level to produce the level of violence that would threaten China's sovereignty.

'Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on the North Western Border of China is one of the most important regions of China. In terms of area, XUAR is the largest province of China with Uyghur Muslims as the majority. Uyghur Separatists have been demanding an independent state out of China.' (Publisher)

"The April 1990 armed uprising in Baren marked an increase in Uyghur Muslim violence in Xinjiang, China. Two justifications ethnic separatism and religious rhetoric are given. The Uyghurs, who reside throughout the immediate region, are the largest Turkic ethnic group living in Xinjiang as well as being overwhelmingly Muslim. This combination of ethnicity and religion also involves the movement of religious and political ideologies, weapons, and people. The desired outcome by groups that use violence is, broadly speaking, a separate Uyghur state, called either Uyghuristan or Eastern Turkistan, which lays claim to a large part of China. While some Uyghurs want a separate state, others want to maintain cultural distinction within an autonomous relationship with China, and others are integrating into the Chinese system. There is no single Uyghur agenda. The violent outbreaks in Xinjiang occur sporadically, and the groups that claim responsibility are frequently splintering, merging, and collapsing. Some of the Uyghur groups make claims that are difficult to substantiate. Nonetheless, the Uyghur grievances against the Chinese government have old roots. Some of the newer elements include Turkey's unofficial support and Muslim funding and training from abroad. The heavy-handedness of the multiple "strike hard" campaigns by the central Chinese government in Xinjiang simultaneously tamps down violence in the short-run but fuels a sense of injustice and mistnist among the Uyghurs in the long-run. Beginning in 1996, regular "strike hard" campaigns were used to fight crime and threats to order by mobilizing police, but are used in this decade to deal increasingly with "separatism, extremism and terrorism." A heavy police presence is a constant in Xinjiang."--Abstract from DTIC web site.