Muslim Protests in W China As Potentially Explosive As Tibet

While the world's legion of PC types focus their attention on the Dalai Lama and the anti-Han -- ethnic Chinese -- protests in Tibet,

the potentially much more dangerous and combustible --

due to the presence of political Islam, and its pronounced fascination with violence as an early, if not first, resort as a means of agitation --

unrest among the Muslim Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang gets relatively little, if any, global media attention,

as the Beijing Olympics approach, and China tries to batten down the hatches with its restive "minorities" ...

Therefore, it's good to see this piece in the NYTimes that talks at least a little about what I see as a likely much more explosive --

the Dalai Lama at least has a strong rhetorical commitment to NON-violence --

situation in Xinjiang ...

Herewith some of the more interesting tidbits, found, as almost always in the Times, towards the END of the story ... ;-) ...

Like Tibetans in Tibet, Uighurs have historically been the predominant ethnic group in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

In both Tibet and Xinjiang, indigenous groups have chafed at the arrival of large numbers of Han Chinese, the country’s predominant ethnic group, who have migrated to western regions with strong government support.

Uighurs, like Tibetans, have complained that recent Han arrivals now dominate their local economies, even as the Han-run local governments insert themselves deeper into schools and religious practices to weed out cultural practices that officials fear might reinforce a separate ethnic or religious identity.

In telephone interviews, Han residents of Hotan and nearby areas said there was a long history of distrust and tension between the Han and Uighurs.

Some Han migrants said that the atmosphere remained volatile and that the Uighurs had been inspired by the Tibetan unrest.

“Some jobless people here have heard about the situation in Tibet, and they also want to make trouble,” said Wang Guoliang, a Han grocery store owner in Hotan. “They want independence and they want to expel the Han, whom they dislike.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/world/asia/03china.html?_r=1&oref=slogin