Xi Jinping visits Xinjiang, the "front line against Islamic terrorism"
Kashgar ( AsiaNews) - Chinese President Xi Jinping has made his first visit to the northern province of Xinjiang, which he called "the front line against terrorism" because of the presence of ethnic Uyghur, a Turkic speaking Muslim faith people, which the government is trying to control as possible. Xi 's visit comes only a few weeks after the beginning of a political conference to be held in June in Beijing, convened to decide the new policies to be applied in the region.
Xi visited an anti-terrorism military unit and training
barracks: "You
must have the most effective means to deal with violent terrorists. The more
you sweat in training, the less you bleed in wartime".
The Communist leader also visited a village near Kashi to
"experience" the daily life of the Uyghurs. Speaking to primary
school teachers he asked them to "speak good Uyghur, in order to help
young people to speak better Mandarin Chinese. It's important to [have] bilingual education
for minority children. [They] will be able to find jobs easier in the future by
mastering the Chinese language, and more importantly they will contribute more
to national unity".
Xinjiang province is one of the most turbulent in all of China. It is the homeland of ethnic Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim people that has always sought independence from Beijing.
The central government has sent hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese to the region to try to make them the dominant ethnic group. It has also imposed serious restrictions on freedom of religion, Muslim practices, the teaching of the indigenous language and the local culture.
Since 2009, a special system of Chinese police and army control has been in place, imposed by Beijing after the riots in which nearly 200 people lost their lives. As a result of the violence, hundreds of people were detained and dozens were sentenced to death.
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