Rise of East Turkestan Militants and Beijing Olympics

The Chinese Communist Party has invaded East Turkistan since the end of WWII. East Turkistanis have been suppressed in many aspects, such as no regligious freedom, strict population control, isolation from the world, deprivation of education opportunities, racial discrimination, colonization by Mainland Chinese, etc.

Normal East Turkistanis have remained rather neutral and wish to receive more religious freedom. They still represent the majority of East Turkistanis in the so-call "Xinjiang/Uighur" region (formally known as East Turkistan/East Turkestan in history). Reportedly, however, Uighur militant groups (such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement) have grown larger and have developed some linkage with al-Qaida. These militants receive training from the al-Qaida and desperately want East Turkestan to regain its previous status as an independent state.

Human rights group, such as Amnesty International, have repeatedly suggested to the Chinese Communist Party that its suppression of human rights in the region is not a solution to the East Turkistan problem. In fact, such suppression only turns a normal East Turkistani into an aggressive militant.

Some other sources (such as the Council of Foreign Relations), however, do not believe the claim by the Chinese Communist Party that Xinjiang separatist groups, including the ETIM, really threaten Chinese control of the region. The potential for the Uighur conflict to radicalize certainly, on the other hand, makes the Beijing Olympics much more unsafe than most people would expect.


The above photo is from http://www.uygur.org

Reference

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=17802

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9179/#7