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China's Plan in Xinjiang Seen as Key Factor in Uighur Crackdown

Asim Kashgarian

   WASHINGTON - While the international attention on China's treatment of
   Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang has focused mainly on ethnic and religious
   issues, Beijing's economic development plans in the strategic region
   also play a key role in shaping the conflict, some experts and
   observers say.

   Home to more than 11 million Turkic-speaking Uighurs, Xinjiang covers
   an area of 1.66 million square kilometers that accounts for one-sixth
   of China's land mass. Its oil, natural gas and coal reserves make up
   more than 20% of China's energy reserves, turning the region into a
   national powerhouse.

   The government in Beijing since 2017 has launched a major campaign of
   mass surveillance and the detention of over one million Uighurs and
   other Turkic minorities in the so-called "re-education" camps.

   Darren Byler, a Seattle-based anthropologist at the University of
   Washington who studies the Uighurs, charged that Chinese government's
   economic development programs in Xinjiang to access natural resources
   have allowed a huge influx of majority Han migrants to the region. This
   has triggered more conflict with Uighurs who fear a demographic change
   in their land.

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