Terrorist violence is not an ethnic problem

Editor's Note: The following is part of an interview Zhu Weiqun, director of the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body, gave with the www.ifeng.com website on China's anti-terrorism struggle in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the country's work on ethnic issues.

The occasional occurrence of terrorist events in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is a result of the interaction of such factors as historical roots, the international environment, religious extremism, and economic backwardness in the southern part of Xinjiang, and these factors cannot be completely eradicated within a short period of time.

The ideological basis of terrorism in Xinjiang is the separatism that originated from the pan-Turkism among Russian Tatar intellectuals in the 19th century and the pan-Islamism of the debilitated Ottoman Empire. Their combination after infiltrating into China's Xinjiang has given birth to the idea of separating the Uygur-majority region from China and setting up an East Turkistan state. With the support of foreign forces, Xinjiang's separatists held aloft the separatist banners of an "East Turkistan Republic" in 1933 and an "East Turkistan People's Republic" in 1944, planting the seeds for separatism in the region in the following decades.

The emergence of a few independent states to the west of China's Xinjiang following the disintegration of the Soviet Union greatly inspired separatists in the region. Under the Uygur banner, these separatists harbored an ulterior desire to set up an independent "Uygur state" in Xinjiang. The United-States-led wars in the Middle East in the name of anti-terrorism have caused protracted social turbulences in Central Asia, which not just fueled fierce anti-US sentiment but also spurred the growth of religious extremism among some local residents. However, the US has adopted double standards toward terrorists and religious extremists, leading a harsh crackdown on those who take aim at the US, but tolerating and even conniving with those terrorist activities targeting the countries disliked by the US. For example, since 2006, disregarding the Chinese government's demand for their repatriation, the US has transferred at least 22 Chinese terrorist suspects detained in Guantanamo to other countries and helped them evade the deserved punishment of China's laws. The US' actions have undoubtedly incited the growth of various kinds of terrorist groups in Central Asia, from which some separatists in China receive ideological indoctrination and military training.

The infiltration of religious extremism into China's Xinjiang has made it an ideological hotbed for terrorist groups in China. By popularizing the launch of a "holy war" to eliminate "heretics" and set up an Islamic political-religious state, the religious extremism in Xinjiang enjoys a certain popularity among some less-educated young Uygur people. This, together with some policy deviations from the government, has resulted in the resurfacing of separatism and religious extremism in the years after China's adoption of the reform and opening-up policy, posing a threat to local social stability. Religious extremism has already risen to be a threatening international phenomenon and joint efforts from the international community are thus needed for its complete elimination.

Due to natural and historical factors, Xinjiang, especially its southern region, has achieved slower economic and social development and the living conditions of local residents has stayed at a comparatively lower level compared with other parts of the region, which, together with the difficulties local young people have in getting a job after graduation, has caused discontent among them. In recent years, the local authorities have taken a series of employment measures that have achieved certain effects, but time is still needed to address the unemployment issue for local people. Economic backwardness in the Uygurs-mostly southern region of Xinjiang has offered soil for the growth of separatists and religious extremists.

Despite the fact that some Uygur terrorists have plotted some terrorist events in Xinjiang in recent years, this does not mean the occurrence of terrorist violence in the region is a result of the ethnic problem. The Uygur ethnic group has made enormous contributions to China's economic and social development. The accelerated outflow of people, including Uygurs, from China's west to other parts of the country since the reform and opening-up, has contributed to their economic development. Their return to Xinjiang with the wealth they created, as well as knowledge of modern life has also driven Xinjiang's development and progress.

China's anti-terrorism is a comprehensive and systematic job that needs joint efforts from all ethnic groups, including the Uygur people. A handful of violence-minded criminals should not be taken as representative of the whole ethnic group to which they belong. Uygur people, like other ethnic groups, are our brothers and sisters who love the Chinese nation, and they also detest terrorist events that cause loss of life, and enormous losses to people's livelihoods and properties. The Uygur people are also the victims of terrorist attacks created by a handful of Uygur terrorist, separatist and religious extremist forces.

While handling unexpected violent activities created by some Uygur suspects, we should refrain from linking these activities to the ethnic or religious problem, and they should instead be handled in strict accordance with laws. Whoever tramples on the interests of the people, whichever ethnic group or religion they are from, should be punished in accordance with laws. We should at no time regard common economic or civil disputes involving other ethnic groups as an ethnic or religious problem.