Ethnic tension rising in Chinese province

Ethnic tension rising in Chinese province

KUQA, China (AFP): Officials in Xinjiang sing a sweet song
with a repetitive refrain -- that life among four dozen ethnic
groups that make up China's far northwestern province is one of
untroubled harmony.

Behind their utterances, however, is deep anxiety about social
friction, anger amongst some minorities at the easier life
enjoyed by ethnic Chinese, and a wellspring of support for
separatism that could wrench the province out of Beijing's
control.

The biggest single ethnic group here is the Uighurs, Moslems
originally from central Asia.

The official line is that the Uighurs, along with the Han --
who make up ninety percent of the Chinese nationwide -- and
another 47 "national minorities" are all part of the rich
tapestry of Xinjiang ethnicity.

The region's chairman, Abdulahat Abdurixit, is the first to
hail "the unity of the peoples of Xinjiang."

"There are no problems between the nationalities," echoes
Balati Aishan, first magistrate in Kuqa, a small town in the east
of the region, where the population is 87 percent Uighur. Tursun
Sadir, chief of Aksu district, which includes Kuqa, speaks
readily of the area's "harmony".

Speak to Yusufu, a 20-year-old Uighur from Korla, a little
further west, and a starkly different story is heard.

"The Chinese have one objective: to muzzle our people," he
says, pausing to take a sip of tea in the living room of his
little earthen house, the walls festooned with rugs which fail to
hide the dilapidation.

His friend Aimet adds: "The Chinese say the region is getting
richer and richer. That's true but they are the ones who are
getting richer, while we just get poorer."

"We are just about fit to explode," warns a young man with
brown hair and green eyes, selling lamb kebabs in the regional
capital, Urumqi.

"The arrogance, the colonial attitude of the Chinese are
becoming more and more unacceptable," he complains as a muezzin,
or Moslem cantor, calls the faithful to prayer.

According to official figures, the Han and the Uighur make up
37 and 47 percent respectively of Xinjiang's population of 16
million. The region enjoyed growth of 11 percent last year,
buoyed by a strong agricultural sector, but also expansion in
coal and oil.

In recent years, seeking to ease ethnic friction and avoid a
populist call for a "Chinese Turkestan," the central authorities
have made some liberal gestures, notably on religion.

"More and more young people are going to the mosque," says
Oblikim Damullah Hadji, Kuqa's grand Imam.

"Nearly every demand to make a pilgrimage to Mecca is
accepted," adds Li Shimin, director of the external affairs
bureau in Korla.

Some of Kuqa's Moslems are less impressed, saying some Moslem
leaders who veer from the Communist Party line are ostracized and
in some cases imprisoned. "There are frequent raids on the
faithful," one told AFP.

For Memetiming Zhakel, the mayor of Urumqi, "the central
government's policy on minorities is very favorable."

He offers as proof family planning rules that are relatively
liberal for China, allowing for between two and four children per
family, according to circumstances.

However the massive influx of Han Chinese into Xinjiang in
recent years, lured by the region's economic development, has led
the native Uighurs to fear that they will soon be in the
minority. "We are already there, the statistics are rigged,"
argues Yusufu.

The region's president counters that the migration is
"necessary and positive" and will not overturn the region's
ethnic makeup.

"The Hans will never be a majority because the Uighurs'
birthrate is higher," he explains.

Privately some non-Han officials do not rule out a
deterioration in ethnic relations.

Encouraged by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and
bolstered by aid from fellow Moslems in the neighboring central
Asian republics, the separatists occasionally resort to violence.

"There are examples, but they are rare," says Tursun Sadir,
citing a series of explosions in Aksu last July.

"The separatist phenomenon is not new and there are a mere
handful of these people. Most inhabitants of Xinjiang oppose them
and would never support them because they know that stability is
a prerequisite of economic opening up," Adbulahat Abdurixit, the
region's chairman, assured.