by Tom Watkins

NEITHER CHINA NOR America is an island. What happens in one country impacts the other and often, all humanity. This makes China’s minority “problem” a world problem.

The leadership of China met in Beijing in November, 2013, minutes away from where a SUV plowed through pedestrians and crashed in flames at Beijing’s Forbidden City. The attack, carried out below a portrait of Mao, involved ethnic Uighur minority people in an apparent suicide terrorist rampage and killed five people while injuring thirty-eight.

Now, days before China’s nominal legislative body is to meet, at least 29 innocent people are dead and 130 injured after gang of knife-wielding men attacked a train station in a Kunming Railway Station in Yunnan province, China. Obviously our hearts go out to the victims and the families of this horrible tragedy. The world condemns in the strongest terms this terrible and cowardly terrorist attack. Be clear, Uighur extremists/terrorists have demonstrated that they can launch an attack far away from their base of operations in the far western region of Xinjiang.

Shortly after the attack, China blamed militants from the restive far western region of Xinjiang. Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighur people. (pronounced WEE’-gur)

The tension between the Chinese government and Uighur’s and Tibetans is palpable.

Let’s be clear: America’s record in its treatment of minorities is less than stellar. From stealing the land from Native Americans and nearly eliminating their population, to enslaving people from Africa, to abusing Chinese laborers, the list of atrocities is long. Yet, it is just this history that tells me that unless China addresses the wants and needs of the minorities within its borders in a fair and humane fashion, there will always be a boiling pot ready to explode beneath the surface.

China’s rise seems chiseled into the consciousness of most Americans and others in the West. China represents an ancient civilization that continues to evolve and change. It is said that more than 400 million Chinese have moved from abject poverty to the equivalent of a Chinese middle class over the past three decades. This should be celebrated by all. By just about any measure considered, China is on the rise and is re-emerging as the “Middle Kingdom” of old. London-based Goldman Sachs Asset Management macro-economist Anna Stupnytska says, “The rise of the Chinese consumer will be the most important trend in the coming decade.”

Yet, there are other trends that bear watching, and understanding how they are managed will help define China and the world. Some 91 percent of China’s 1.3 billion people are classified as ethnic Han. Many mistakenly view China as homogeneous while those that look at the Chinese underbelly see a rich, ethnic blend that is seething under the dominate ethnic rule of the Han nationality. Few outside China realize that there are 55 ethnic minorities officially recognized within China. These include the Miao Bai, Dai, Xibe, Jingpo, Usbek, Hui, Mongolian, Yao, Li Wau, Manchu, Dong and Uighurs, to name just a few. Minorities make up a small percentage of the 1.3 billion Chinese but constitute a large portion of the internal tension.

Through the more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization there have been numerous minority uprisings against majority rule. The Uighurs (also spelled Uygur or Uigur), and the Tibetans are the two Chinese minorities that the world will be hearing more about in the future. I hope for the sake of the Chinese, Uighurs, Tibetans and all of humanity that we do not hear of these ethic groups as a result of conflict, terror and bloodshed. However, I suspect we will.

The Uighurs are a Turkish people and constituted a major empire in centuries past. The Uighurs converted to Islam several centuries ago. The Uighur population is disputed and ranges from 8 to 15 million strong. They are found throughout China but are concentrated in the Xinjiang (meaning “New Territory” or “New Frontier”) Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Xinjiang is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Mongolia to the northeast, and Kirghizstan and Tajikistan to the northwest and west. To the west and southwest lie Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the south are Tibet and India. To the east—1,500 miles away—lies Beijing, China. Xinjiang is so remote that it is obscure or nonexistent to most in the West. The Uighurs refer to this area by its historical name, East Turkistan or Uyghuristan.

Many call the Uighurs the Tibetans’ Muslims. The Uighurs, like the Buddhist Tibetans, are asking for more accommodations for their disparate culture and beliefs. The Chinese will respond that many Uighurs are a terrorist faction in bed with al-Qaeda and bent on violent separatist activities. There have been historical crackdowns on the Uighurs that have been stepped up since 9-11. Some believe the Chinese have used the “international war on terror” as justification to tighten the grip on the Uighur people. Human rights groups contend the Chinese government exaggerates Uighur terrorist threats so it can clamp down on the Uighurs and arrest and torture those they suspect of being dissidents.

Like the Tibetans, the Uighurs believe the Chinese government has instituted cultural genocide against them. The Chinese would respond by claiming that since the 1949 liberation, old feudal religious habits and privileges have been abolished and control by the “reactionary ruling class” removed so that today the Uighur people enjoy a higher standard of living and more economic opportunities. The Chinese Government sees some Uighurs as terrorists espousing separatist ideology linked with the larger Islamic Jihadist goal to overthrow existing governments and install a religious theocracy. They claim it is for these reasons China must clamp down.

Tibetans

There has been tension between the Chinese Han majority and the Tibetan minority for centuries. This resulted in deadly riots in Lhasa, Tibet, in 2008. The Tibetan people feel the situation under Chinese Han rule is repressive and suffocating. Over the last several years Tibetans have taken to self-immolation in a desperate attempt to bring the world’s spotlight onto their plight. This method of protest demonstrates the profound sense of personal anger, helplessness and hopelessness experienced by Tibetans today.

The Chinese government blames Tibetans outside China—particularly the Dalai Lama—for stirring up trouble. The Dalai Lama disputes these claims and states that he advocates a “middle way” with Beijing, seeking autonomy but not independence or a separate country for his people. The Communist Chinese government rejects criticism of its control, claiming that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and higher standards of living directly attributable to its rule.

Given these extreme differences between the ethnic minority Uighurs, Tibetans and the Chinese government, it is only a matter of time before the scab will be removed and the internal Chinese festering sore will come into full view. When the scab is removed, it is likely to be ugly and difficult for the world to ignore. Will the cause be seen as oppression, cultural genocide, employment and economic deprivation as charged by the Tibetans and Uighurs? Perhaps the spark will be internal uprisings of people longing for independence, which is viewed as an act of civil war by the Chinese government.

China’s history has been plagued by foreign invaders and internal divisions. Perhaps the greatest fear that all “Chinese Rulers” have is losing control and splintering China like their old ally, the Soviet Union. The Chinese have vowed to never again be divided by external or internal forces. These realities dictate that we will be hearing more about the Tibetans and Uighurs in the future.

To many, the U.S.-China economic seesaw has the Asian giant in the ascending position. It is argued that China will pass the U.S. as the world’s largest economy soon, if it hasn’t already. The U.S. government is in debt with more than $1 trillion borrowed from China to keep its economy going. It appears that it has become increasingly more difficult to bite the hand that feeds us. It is said, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

These new realities have created a, “moral laryngitis” in America that serves China’s interests well, as the Chinese government regards Tibetans and Uyghurs as troublemakers attempting to disrupt that country’s “harmonious rise.” The thinking of the ruling Communist party is, the less noise made by America and other Western countries regarding these issues, the better.

So, while Uighurs and Tibetans attempt to draw the world’s attention to their plight, America finds itself biting its lip.

Non Interference

I do not raise these issues to cast aspersions on China or to interfere with their internal affairs. I do not wish to denigrate the remarkable progress China has made throughout recent history. I do not wish China to fail. To the contrary, as I have written on many occasions, the world needs China to succeed. Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in China does not stay in China. Unrest among ethnic Chinese minorities in China will impact not only China, but the entire world.

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope for a peaceful solution to China’s domestic problems. May God rest the souls slaughtered by hatred.

Tom Watkins has a life-long interest in China and has traveled extensively in China for nearly a quarter century to build cultural, educational and economic ties. He serves on the University of Michigan Confucius Institute Board of Advisors is an advisor to the Detroit Chinese Business Association and serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation international Advisory Board. He can be reached at tdwatkins88@gmail.com or follow Watkins on twitter @tdwatkins88.