"CEAC Commentary" introduces news analyses andopinions in Japan on topics related to regional
cooperation and integration in East Asia, but they do
not represent the views of CEAC as an institution.

June 17, 2014

Frequent Indiscriminate Terrorist Attacks Hit theXi Jinping Administration

By SUGIURA Masaaki
A series of terrorist attacks hit China’s President Xi Jinping as if they had challenged hisadministration, which continues to oppress ethnic minorities. The political and diplomatic policies ofPresident Xi Jinping, who is committed to “the great revival of the Chinese nation,” has fallen into atotal deadlock, due to external and internal factors: the United States-led encirclement, anduncontrollable 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 thewarped aspects of high-speed economic growth, such as widening economic gaps between rich andpoor people and ethnic discrimination, and this situation involves structural causes. These show thatPresident 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, onApril 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 themark, 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 twodays 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 FourthSummit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), whichwas held in Shanghai from May 20 to 21. This barrage of terrorist attacks seems to be intended tolose 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 theserial 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 thesafety of the people in the autonomous region, but I had no information whatever about the region inthose days. However, according to a World Uyghur Congress report, 750,000 people died, affectedby 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 wasa 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 througheconomic 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 alittle patience, they will take advantage of it.” This incited Uyghur’s ethnic emotions. A specialist inUyghur 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 isbecoming increasingly influential. Some are concerned about the dangerous possibility of theUyghurs 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’sunification 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 ofmajor serial terrorist attacks. In this situation, you cannot live in China in comfort and it has evenbecome dangerous to travel in the country. What the vicious cycle of terrorism and oppression willbring about is the political and social impoverishment and exhaustion of China, which means thecountry’s stalemate. More and more rich people are dividing their assets in foreign countries andcorruption is rampant among senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. October 1 of thisyear 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 towar as the best way to integrate the Chinese People's Liberation Army, being afraid of being a “lastemperor.” Japan should not spare any deterrence efforts.
(This is an English translation of the article written by Mr. SUGIURA Masaaki,
Political commentator, which originally appeared on the e-forum “Hyakka-Somei” ofCEAC on May 23, 2014.)