China: Assimilating or radicalising Uighurs?
At a Glance
19-11-2014
The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), a restive province in China's western periphery, is populated in almost equal proportions by Turkic-speaking Uighurs and Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese. The Uighurs, who are predominantly Muslim, call the region East Turkestan. Since October 2013, when China witnessed its first terrorist suicide car attack on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, for which the East Turkestan Islamic Movement claimed responsibility, the province has been haunted by a series of deadly assaults. Beijing has responded with its version of the 'war on terror' and the reinforcement of a range of policies aimed at 'better assimilating Uighurs into the mainstream Chinese society'.
At a Glance
About this document
Publication type
Author
Policy area
Keyword
- acculturation
- Asia and Oceania
- autonomous movement
- China
- culture and religion
- economic geography
- EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
- educational system
- ethnic discrimination
- family
- family policy
- freedom of religious beliefs
- GEOGRAPHY
- independence of the judiciary
- LAW
- mixed marriage
- Muslim
- organisation of teaching
- organisation of the legal system
- POLITICS
- politics and public safety
- protection of minorities
- religious discrimination
- repression
- rights and freedoms
- social framework
- SOCIAL QUESTIONS
- terrorism