Aljazeera Throws Ice Bucket on Chinas New Silk Road. Rather than focusing on the potential upside of the New Silk Road in terms of increased economic growth all along its length Aljazeera chooses, as usual, to look at the downside. That is all well and good. There is every reason in the world to take a balanced view of things and look at the bright side as well as the dark side of any issue, otherwise dangerous mistakes will be made. But is the Aljazeera piece fair and balanced? I would say no. The article focuses almost entirely on the demographics of Xinjiang and its relative poverty. First off a few myths need to be exploded. One is that in recent years there has been a vast influx of Han Chinese into Xinjiang. In actual fact between 1995 and 2014, a period of 20 years, the percentage of Han Chinese in Xinjiang has risen from 38% to 41%, not quite the tsunami most Western reports like to indicate. The real demographic change occurred decades ago when China stabilized and Chinese of all nationalities had the ability to move about more easily. So the major change in Xinjiang demographics occurred in the four decades between 1950 and 1995, not the two decades between 1995 and 2015. The second myth is that Xinjiang is one of the poorest regions of China. Actually, based on per capita GDP (PPP) Xinjiang ranks in the middle tier of Chinese provinces and administrative areas above many provinces in China proper such as Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Anhui, Gansu, etc. So lets see, the two major premises of the article, that there is a rapid influx of Han Chinese into one of Chinas poorest regions are just plain wrong. But what about the Uighurs? Arent they being oppressed and denied the fruits of Xinjiangs wealth. The truth is that most Uighurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang live in rural districts and most Han in urban areas such as Urumqi and Kashgar. There is obviously going to be income disparities between Uighur Chinese and Han Chinese as a result. Nonetheless billions of dollars are flowing into Xinjiang to improve the living conditions of the Uighur population. This is not to say there are no tensions between Uighur and Han Chinese. There are always tensions between different groups within a multinational country such as China. Those tensions and conflicts can give rise to dissatisfaction that will occasionally result in social disturbances. It happens in the US and everywhere else in the world. The problem in China is that certain forces (i.e. the US, Islamist Jihadists, Uighur separatists) recruit a very small percentage of the population to engage in terrorist acts to try and exacerbate tensions in order to sow discord and incite communal violence. This tactic is used all over the world by US Imperialism. It is a tried and true method to divide and conquer, destabilizing a country in order to eventually impose regime change. Actually the New Silk Road, will reverse these tendencies by further integrating Xinjiang into both the Chinese nation and the global economy. If proper policies are implemented all residents of Xinjiang will prosper. That is the real reason there has been an increase in terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, to prevent that from happening. aljazeera/indepth/features/2014/09/perils-china-silk-road-revival-2014913123241888153.html
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 16:12:44 +0000