Xinjiang Never to Separate from China

The history tells us that Xinjiang has always been a part of China since a long time ago. This truth can not be changed because of some separatists’ lies and the riots agitated by them.

The Xinjiang July 5 riot brought great pains to the people living in Xinjiang. The thugs have been arrested and the influence has gradually faded away. But good people should never forget the prime criminal behind the riot – the separatists who absurdly thought of separating Xinjiang from China.

Truth That Can’t Be Changed

Xinjiang has become a part of China since the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). In 60 BC, the emperor of Han set up a government in Xinjiang, taking over the military, civil and foreign affairs of Xinjiang. Also in the Han Dynasty, the famous Silk Way was opened, connecting the current capital of China Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) with Europe, which was then dominated by Rome. The Chinese porcelain, silk, tea and many local products as well as scientific and cultural achievements were spread to the western world through that passage. Some relics of the old Silk Way can also be seen in today’s Xinjiang, showing the great importance of Xinjiang to China starting from a long time ago.

After the Han Dynasty, several other dynasties appeared one by one, but Xinjiang was always a part of China. In 1955, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was established, six years after the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. Under the leadership of the new government, Xinjiang is going through its best period in the history. In 2004, a year before the 50th birthday of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Xinjiang’s GDP reached 220.02 billion yuan (USD 32.23 billion at present exchange rate, the same below), 57 times of that in 1955. The GDP per capita was 11.12 thousand yuan (USD 1.63 thousand). The fiscal income of the government was 14.8 billion yuan (USD 2.17 billion), 85.5 times of the year of 1955.

After 2004, Xinjiang never stops its pace of development. According to the statistics of 2008, Xinjiang’s GDP was 420.341 billion yuan (USD 61.529 billion). The per capita GDP was 19.893 yuan (USD 2,911.92), nearly 200 times of that in 1955.

Besides, Xinjiang has been the largest production place of cotton, hop, tomato and crude oil in China for about 15 straight years.

Separatists’ Plots Never Succeed

Such wonderful achievements are neglected by the separatists, who always try to figure out that the Xinjiang people are living bad lives under the ruling of the Chinese government. The lies can not stand on their feet in front of the truth.

The separatists advocating the independence of Xinjiang are represented by Rebiya Kadeer and her “World Uyghur Congress” and “East Turkistan”, including “Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement” and “Eastern Turkistan Liberation Organization”. The latter two organizations are infamous terrorism organizations having direct connections with the Al Qaida and are hated by the peace-loving people all over the world.

Rebiya Kadeer and her “World Uyghur Congress”, which should be blamed for the Xinjiang July 5 riot, always denigrate the Chinese government’s policies for Xinjiang or Uyghur people. But anyone coming into Xinjiang and seeing the prosperity of cities and countryside and the happy lives of people of different nationalities there will find that what the separatists say are just lies.

The Xinjiang separatists also united with the Tibet separatists represented by Dalai Lama to separate the Chinese domain from China. But their actions are doomed to suffer failure from the start.

After the July 5 riot, Wu Shimin, deputy director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission said that the real purpose of this riot was to seek the independence of Xinjiang. “That’s impossible!” said he.

“The riots were not because of ethnic policies and they were not related to any religion either, because none of the clergy in Xinjiang mosques were involved,” said Wu. 

After the riot, many countries’ governments, like Turkey, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand, Russia and so on, declared that it is an internal affair of China and the foreign governments had no rights to intervene in it.

Separatism Serious Disrupts Xinjiang’s Development

The Chinese government is trying its best to build Xinjiang into a better home for every people living there. The separatists, who declare that the independence of Xinjiang is “good” for Xinjiang, try every means to disrupt the development of Xinjiang.

On September, the Chinese State Council issued a white paper titled “Development and Progress in Xinjiang”, saying that the Xinjiang separatists, especially the “East Turkistan”, “have seriously disrupted Xinjiang’s development and progress”.

“The ‘East Turkistan’ in and outside Xinjiang, without any regard for the well-being of the diverse peoples of Xinjiang, have been trumpeting national separatism, and plotted and organized a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence, seriously jeopardizing national unification, social stability and ethnic unity, thus seriously disrupting Xinjiang’s development and progress. They have seriously undermined the environment for investment, as evidenced by the drastic reduction in investment from other parts of the country,” said the paper.

In 2002, the United Nations Security Council added the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” to its sanction list of terrorist groups. In recent years, the “East Turkistan” forces have continued separatist activities under the banners of “democracy,” “human rights” and “freedom,” trying to escape strikes against them or to clear themselves of the name of terrorism.

In 2004, the “East Turkistan” forces patched together the World Uyghur Congress outside of China. Since then, they have plotted and organized a number of separatist and sabotage actions.

Since 2008, the “East Turkistan” forces have started a new round of sabotage activities, and created a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence aimed at the Beijing Olympics. Some foreign media, like the US-based Time Magazine, published articles to blame the violence.

The Xinjiang July 5 riot produced a serious adverse impact on Xinjiang’s tourism, which is one of the pillar industries for Xinjiang, causing a sudden drop in both the number of tourists and revenue of tourism.

In addition, precious resources have been dispersed due to the riot. Plenty of human, material and financial resources have had to be put to guard against and combat crimes of terror and violence in order to safeguard the security of the country and social stability.

Though some separatists are quite rampant now, they can not stop Xinjiang from becoming better and better as the time goes. Their absurd dream of separating Xinjiang from China will never come true.