By Zachary Keck
All evidence suggests that China is losing its new war on Uyghur terrorism.
China appears to be losing its “people’s war” against Islamist terrorism carried out by Uyghurs in the western province of Xinjiang.
Back in May, Xinjiang’s Party chief Zhang Chunxian announced the CCP was launching a one-year campaign to “safeguard stability and resolutely prevent malignant violence and terrorist attacks.”
The campaign was launched after a spat of terrorist attacks across China starting late last year. One attack in May in Urumqi–the capital city of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region–killed 39 people injured 94 others.
In the first month of the new terror campaign, China said it arrested 380 individuals, executed 13 others, broke up 32 “violent terrorist” gangs and confiscated 264 devices capable of detonating 3.15 tons of explosives.
Then, during July– the holy month of Ramadan– Chinese authorities in Xinjiang province banned Muslim students and civil servants from participating in the holiday, including forbidding fasting. “No teacher can participate in religious activities, instill religious thoughts in students or coerce students into religious activities,” one school in the province posted on its website.
This has done nothing to stop the violence in the area. While the CCP forbids foreign journalists from reporting in Xinjiang province, making information scarce, China announced on Sunday that “37 civilians were killed and another 13 injured in a terrorist attack Monday in Shache County, Kashgar Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.” Chinese state media also reported, citing the police, that 35 of those killed were ethnically Han while the other two were Uyghurs. If anything, these numbers probably understate the level of violence.
Read the full story at The Diplomat