Primer on Xinjiang
Xinjiang is big – it’s larger than France, Spain, and Germany combined. It lies nestled between the Karakoram range and the Tibetan plateau, writes Ananth Krishnan in The Comrades and the Mullahs . Throughout its history, it was looked at as a buffer zone by the Chinese, separating China proper from Central Asia. That probably explains why though it has been part of China for centuries, Xinjiang has never truly been integrated into China. (Their Muslim identity hasn’t helped either). Ironically, the Chinese reforms of the 80’s allowed slightly greater ethnic autonomy (at least, on paper), created conditions for the Uighur identity (natives of Xinjiang) to solidify, set off the movement for self-determination, something they had been promised in the 1950’s. China responded with a two-fold approach – a rapid attempt to integrate the Xinjiang economy with the hinterland, and to tighten security control over the region. In 1997, riots happened in Xinjiang, and the Chinese governm...