The Omnibus

Issue date: 9/2/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Sandra Falter

Chinese President Hu Jintao called for a "prosperous and harmonious" Xinjiang province on Tuesday, Aug. 5 during his first visit to the country's western Uyghur region since the bloodshed in July.
The ethnic disturbances began in late June after two migrant Uyghur workers were killed in a brawl between Uyghurs and Han at a toy factory in Guangdong, a province in southeast China.
This sparked protests against racism in Urumqi, hundreds of miles away from the toy factory.
The Uyghurs are a predominately Muslim minority group in China with different cultural practices, while the Han Chinese are the majority ethnic group in China with approximately 91.9 percent of the population.
Deaths from the riots between these two groups range from 200 to near 1000.
President Hu expressed appreciation for the armed forces, militia and police for their efforts in suppressing the July 5 ethnic riots in Urumqi, the capital of China's northwestern Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
Hu called for reform, development, ethnic unity and stability in the region.
Hu also holds positions as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the China Central Committee and is chairman of the Central Military Commission.
He said Xinjiang must focus on economic development, social stability, and promoting ethnic unity and common prosperity while putting aside ethnic differences.
During his tour, Hu visited villages, farms, communities, factories and barracks in Aksu.
He also met with military personnel, hospital workers, local officials and religious leaders and with the widow of a policeman killed by rioters in Urumqi.
"In the future, Xinjiang's development will be better and faster" said Hu.
He added that the central government "attaches great importance to the well-being of ethnic groups" and claimed that the riots were "a serious criminal act masterminded by separatist forces at home and abroad."
State-run CCTV reported that Hu also said all separatist forces are doomed to failure, and that the central government would support social and ethnic development. China Daily, also a state-run publication, reported that more than 200 people charged in connection with the riots could be tried this week.
Officials said 156 people were killed as the Uyghurs ran through the city of Urumqi, beating and stabbing the Han Chinese.
The Uyghurs contend that trigger-happy security forces mowed down many protesters.
No ethnic breakdown of those killed has been given.
Erkin Alptekin, a German-based Uyghur leader, told the Associated Press that "our countrymen in China" reported that 600 to 800 Uyghurs were killed in the few days of the riots and 3,000 were arrested.
Li Zhi, the highest-ranking Communist Party official in Urumqi, told reporters, "To those who committed crimes with cruel means, we will execute them."
He also insisted that the riot was stirred up by U.S.-exiled Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her overseas supporters.
Kadeer denied masterminding the violence, and many Uyghurs scoff at the idea that they were puppets of groups abroad.
The riots were so severe that Hu Jintao cut short his trip to Italy where he was to participate in the G-8 summit international meeting in July. His goals to show that China has a harmonious society as the 60th anniversary of Communist rule approaches seem to be lost.

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