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Xinjiang, Central Asia and the Implications for China's Policy in the Islamic World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Lillian Craig Harris
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Extract

Until the collapse of the Soviet Union ignited an explosion of interest in Central Asia, most outsiders considered the region a political backwater, an amorphous place of exotic peoples whose time of greatest power had long passed and whose future could have little impact on international affairs. This perception began to change during the 1980s when China's concern over the stirrings of ethnic separatism in Xinjiang helped focus international attention on Islamic revivalism in Central Asia.

Type
Focus on Xinjiang
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 133 , March 1993 , pp. 111 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1993

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References

1. Interview with Middle East specialists, Beijing Institute for International Strategic Studies, November 1990.

2. A Middle East Society of China was establshed in July 1982 at a symposium in Kunming. Described by Xinhua as the first of its kind in China, the meeting attracted 100 Chinese Middle East specalists who discussed the situation in the Gulf, Middle East petroluem and co-ordination of research. (“Middle East Society of China established,” NCNA 072010, 20 July 1982.)

3. Private communication from a Western diplomat in Beijing, March 1992. China's belief in the vulnerability of the CIS is openly established. According to Beijing Review (BR), “Should economic reform fail in Russia, a chain reaction might ensue. As warned by many experts, there is a limit to the people's patience. Once their patience wears off, large-scale social turmoil could sweep the CIS” (“CIS faces uncertain future,” BR, 23–29 March 1992, p. 12).

4. Interview at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Beijing, March 1992.

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11. Essential reading for anyone seeking a grounding in the history of modern Xinjiang includes Barnett, A. Doak, China on the Eve of Communist Takeover (New York: Praeger, 1963), ch. 17Google Scholar; Whiting, Allen S. and Shih-ts'ai, Sheng, Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot? (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1958)Google Scholar; and Lattimore, Owen, Pivot of Asia (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1950Google Scholar. Among valuable recent studies are Benson, Linda, The Ili Rebellion: The Moslem Challenge to Chinese Authority in Xinjiang, 1944–1949 (Armont, NY: M.E. Sharpe 1990Google Scholar; Forbes, Andrew, Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986)Google Scholar; and McMillan, Donald H., Chinese Communist Power and Policy in Xinjiang, 1949–1977 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979)Google Scholar.

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27. Though all Xinjiang is classified an “autonomous” region, the province is sub-divided into various other prefectures and autonomous prefectures such as the “Bayangol Mongol Autonomous Prefecture” which borders Qinghai, the Turpan Prefecture south of Urumqi, the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture on the Monglian frontier and Kashi Prefecture in the far west.

28. For the response to an internal document issued in late 1991 ordering a general crackdown on those making use of “nationality or religious issues,” see Che, Chu, “CPC's ironhanded policy toward nationality and religion,” Zhengming (Hong Kong), 1 01 1992, pp. 12–13Google Scholar, in FBIS-CHI, 9 January 1992, p. 25.

29. See, for example, Gladney, Dm, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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31. Kaye, Lincoln, “China feels the chill,” Far Eastern Economic Review, 9 01 1992, p. 14Google Scholar.

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48. In March and April 1992 I persistently asked, during formal interviews and personal conversations in Beijing, Yinchuan, Xian and Xinjiang, whether my interlocutors could think of any circumstances under which China might take military action in Central Asia. The universal response was an almost horrified “no,” which seemed to be primarily emotional.

49. See Montaperto, Ronald N., “Whither China? Beijing's policies for the 1990s,” Strategic Review (Summer 1992), p. 30Google Scholar.

50. Xiaodong, Zhang, “Central Asia on the rise,” p. 13Google Scholar.

51. Ming, Yuan, “‘Historic missed opportunity’ recalled,” Minzhu Zhongguo (Democratic China), 02 1992Google Scholar (JPRS-CAR, 11 June 1992, p. 81).