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HIRABAYASHI Hiroshi
President, CEAC
"CEAC Commentary"
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"CEAC Commentary" presents views of members and friends of CEAC on an East Asian Community and other related international affairs. The view expressed herein is the author's own and should not be attributed to CEAC.
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Frequent Indiscriminate Terrorist Attacks Hit the Xi Jinping Administration
By SUGIURA Masaaki
Political commentator
A series of terrorist attacks hit China's President Xi Jinping as if they had challenged his administration, which continues to oppress ethnic minorities. The political and diplomatic policies of President Xi Jinping, who is committed to "the great revival of the Chinese nation," has fallen into a total deadlock, due to external and internal factors: the United States-led encirclement, and uncontrollable terrorist attacks. This is the first time since the establishment of the Communist Party's Dictatorship that a series of Uyghur terrorist attack occur. The events can be attributed to the warped aspects of high-speed economic growth, such as widening economic gaps between rich and poor people and ethnic discrimination, and this situation involves structural causes.
These show that President Xi Jinping's heavy-handed politics is being rejected both internally and internationally. That is, this is exactly the stage to test his political capability and competence. When President Xi visited a local police station in Kashgar, northwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on April 28, he cited the Chinese historical tactics of fighting Japanese pirates who attacked the coastal area of China from the 13th to 16th century by bamboo spears in order to direct counter-terrorism actions. That gave me the impression that his stance on anti-terrorism measures would be off the mark, even if you consider that he dislikes Japan so much.
In fact, a deadly blast at a railway station in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, occurred on April 30, just two days after President Xi's visit to the police station in Kashgar. A bamboo spear cannot prevent bombing. The terrorist attack on the morning market in a park in Urumqi broke out immediately after President Xi called for international cooperation in counter-terrorism actions at the Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which was held in Shanghai from May 20 to 21. This barrage of terrorist attacks seems to be intended to lose President Xi's face and damage and undermine his administration.
Clearly, a certain organization may be giving terrorism orders, considering the situation. The succession of terrorist attacks may have been deliberately planned. Of course, indiscriminate terrorism itself should be condemned, but it boils down to the fact that if you trace the origin of the serial terrorist attacks, iron fist politics always begets strong reactions by power. President Xi does not understand this basics of politics. Terrorism by the Uyghur ethnic minority has deep roots. China has conducted all of its 46 nuclear tests in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region since it launched its first nuclear test in 1964. Every time I wrote related articles, I was concerned about the safety of the people in the autonomous region, but I had no information whatever about the region in those days.
However, according to a World Uyghur Congress report, 750,000 people died, affected by nuclear radiation exposure. Another information source says that nearly 100,000 people died. Apart from these specific numbers, the Chinese government may have repeated nuclear tests as if they would have meant to exterminate the Uyghurs. It is a shocking oppression of an ethnic minority. In October 2013, a family of three crashed into the Tiananmen Square by car in desperation because Beijing did not listen to their petition concerning their complaint about the local government. It was a tragic terrorist attack. The Uyghur bore the Chinese government a deep grudge for its cold treatment and their emotions began to run high.
The largest incident involving the Uyghurs in recent years was the July 5, 2009, Urumqi riots, which caused the deaths of 197 Uyghurs. This July, five years will have passed since the tragic event. Reflecting on the riots, the then-Hu Jintao administration adopted an appeasement integration policy for the Uyghurs. The central government sought to improve living standards through economic development. President Hu Jintao also carried out an ethnic assimilation policy in parallel and relocated Han Chinese into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, this policy led to a failure. It was only Han Chinese with connections with local governments who could be successful and become wealthy through their business. Amidst this situation, the economic gaps between rich and poor people widened and young unemployment rose. President Xi Jinping switched to a policy of fierce oppression against the Uyghurs, thinking that "if you give them even a little patience, they will take advantage of it."
This incited Uyghur's ethnic emotions. A specialist in Uyghur studies says, "Young female Uyghurs who had worn jeans and T-shirts before began to wear a veil." China's oppression turned the Uyghurs back to Islam and Islamic fundamentalism is becoming increasingly influential. Some are concerned about the dangerous possibility of the Uyghurs being linked with Al-Qaeda in the Middle East, which is also a terrorist network of Islamic fundamentalism. Chinese authorities claim that the deadly terrorist attack on Urumqi railway station on April 30 was carried by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an extremist Muslim group aiming at Uyghur separation from China's control. Some point out that the same group may also have been involved in the terrorist attack on the morning market in a park in Urumqi on May 22.
President Xi Jinping is said to aspire to earn his place in history by achieving China's unification with Taiwan. However, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region looks like separation-oriented and the issue of China's unification with Taiwan is far from being realized. Frequent minor terrorist attacks are occurring, although they are inconspicuous under the shadow of major serial terrorist attacks. In this situation, you cannot live in China in comfort and it has even become dangerous to travel in the country. What the vicious cycle of terrorism and oppression will bring about is the political and social impoverishment and exhaustion of China, which means the country's stalemate. More and more rich people are dividing their assets in foreign countries and corruption is rampant among senior members of the Chinese Communist Party.
October 1 of this year will mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. However, undoubtedly, the harmful effects of the Chinese Communist Party's dictatorial rule are currently becoming serious. You cannot rule out the possibility of President Xi Jinping resorting to war as the best way to integrate the Chinese People's Liberation Army, being afraid of being a "last emperor." Japan should not spare any deterrence efforts.
(This is the English translation of an article which originally appeared on the e-Forum "Hyakka-Somei" of CEAC on 23 May, 2014, and was posted on "CEAC Commentary" on 17 June, 2014.)
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "CEAC Commentary," the latest of which are as follows, please refer to:
http://www.ceac.jp/e/commentary.htm
No.86 More Broken Windows Are Found around the Globe
by TAKAHATA Akio, Journalist
(16 April 2014)
No.85 The Growing Effect of the Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Campaign Strategy
by SUZUKI Keisuke, Member of the House of Representatives
(19 February 2014)
No.84 The Achievements of APEC in Indonesia 2013
by YAMAZAWA Ippei, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University
(26 December 2013)
No.83 The Case for a Positive View of the state of Current East Asia as in a "Shakedown Period"
by ISHIGAKI Yasuji, Delegate for Japan to AALCO
(21 October 2013)
No.82 China's and South Korea's Criticism against Japan's Monetary Policy Wide of the Mark
by SUZUKI Keisuke, Member of the House of Representatives
(22 August 2013)
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