China, the only nation, moving forward is evil

[Genesis]

I'm angry and drunk right now, so I will let off some steam that's been building for God knows how long.

Look at these headlines:

Bullet trains help China tighten its grip on Xinjiang province's people and resources

Read more: Bullet trains help China tighten its grip on Xinjiang province's people and resources

Urumqi, China: The new bullet train slices past the edge of the Gobi desert, through gale-swept grasslands and past snowy peaks, a high-altitude, high-speed and high-tech manifestation of China's newly re-imagined Silk Road meant to draw the country's restive west ever tighter into Beijing's embrace.

With growing determination, China is spreading its wings to the west, across its own vast and resource-rich province of Xinjiang, and towards Central Asia and its huge reserves of oil and natural gas.

The $23-billion, high-speed train link, which is still being tested, is just one symbol of that broader determination: to cement China's control over its Muslim-majority Xinjiang region through investment and economic growth, to secure important sources of energy and escape any risk of encirclement by US allies to the east.

Tightened grip: Uighur women walk past barricades at the entrance to a shopping district in the city of Aksu, Xinjiang province. Photo: Ng Han Guan

The train will run from Lanzhou to Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi; for the longer-term, China is even talking about trying to extend the high-speed network through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey to Bulgaria.

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"The high-speed railway will build the foundation for the Silk Road economic belt," Erkin Tuniyaz, vice-chairman of the regional government, told reporters after a recent news media trip on the train. "Xinjiang will be the biggest beneficiary of the Silk Road. It will help it open up further, increase trade, tourism and other exchanges with neighbouring countries. It's a historical opportunity for Xinjiang."

Indeed, as the US enacts a strategic rebalance or "pivot" toward East Asia and withdraws troops from Afghanistan, China is responding with its own "pirouette" in the opposite direction, turning its face toward Central Asia and the West, says James Leibold, a regional specialist from Melbourne's La Trobe University.

Touring Xinjiang in April, President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying that the long-term stability of Xinjiang was vital to the entire country's "unity, harmony and national security, as well as to the great revival of the Chinese nation". Yet Mr Xi's western gambit is arguably bound up in a basic contradiction.

For all is not well in Xinjiang, traditional home to the Muslim Uighur people, where discontent with China's iron rule runs high and a new terrorist threat has emerged in recent months, apparently inspired by a dangerous blend of separatism and radical Islam. A gruesome knife attack at a railway station in the city of Kunming in March and a bomb attack on a street market in Urumqi on May 22 killed 66 people and brought the region's troubles onto the world's front pages.

While the dream of a new Silk Road speaks of open borders and the free movement of people and goods, China's response to that discontent and violence has been a tightening of its already strangling controls over Xinjiang: mass surveillance and closed borders, ever-stricter controls on religious practice and a "strike hard" campaign against extremism that has already led to hundreds of arrests and more than 20 executions since May, all on terrorism-related charges.

Mr Xi is gambling on his ability to manage that contradiction but, so far, the signs are not good, some observers say.

Mr Xi has effectively doubled down on China's long-standing policy towards Xinjiang, a strategy that has three fundamental strands: strict control meant to identify and eliminate separatists; massive economic investment meant to win over other people; and a large-scale migration of China's majority Han people into Xinjiang - an ethnic dilution of the Uighurs' hold on what they consider to be their homeland.

The high-speed train, which will cut travelling time from Lanzhou to Urumqi from 20 hours to eight, is both a symbol of that investment and a useful tool if the government wants to encourage even more Han migration west.

Mr Xi has vowed to promote ethnic unity and provide more jobs for local people in Xinjiang. But at the same time, an intensified crackdown on conservative Islam has sparked resentment among many Muslim Uighurs.

Xinjiang is hiding huge deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, gold and other minerals. In 1949, when the Communist Party swept to power in China, Han Chinese made up less than 7 per cent of Xinjiang's population; today, they comprise 40 per cent. Uighurs, at 43 per cent, are now a minority in the region, with other, mainly Muslim ethnic groups, making up the remaining 17 per cent of the province's population.

Many Uighurs feel like second-class citizens in Xinjiang, culturally, socially and economically discriminated against by the now-dominant Han. The capital, Urumqi, is a deeply divided city where the two groups barely mix and ethnic riots in 2009 killed at least 200 people.

Nor has money helped. The opening up of the Chinese economy in the 1990s, coupled with significant investment in industry and infrastructure in Xinjiang, brought fast economic growth and higher living standards to the region, but those gains disproportionately benefited the Han people - and so fuelled more Uighur discontent.

Freed from strict government controls, state-owned enterprises run by Han managers overwhelmingly hired Han workers, often openly discriminating against Uighurs and attracting a new wave of Han migrants from what is known as "mainland China".

Within the region, experts say the economic divide between the Han-majority northern city of Urumqi and the mainly Uighur, more rural south is both sharp and growing.

Implicitly acknowledging the existence of that divide, officials say the government is also hoping to promote a "southern Silk Road" that would pass through southern Xinjiang and revitalise ancient trading posts such as Kashgar and Hotan. Plans to establish textiles factories hold out the promise of jobs, while the eventual extension of the high-speed train on a new route to the south is supposed to promote what the Communist Party calls a more "modern" way of thinking.

"The building of the Silk Road, the south route, will help the ethnic groups become more open and modern," says Lai Xin, a senior official at Xinjiang's Development and Reform Commission, a key policy-making body. "As long as modern things enter Xinjiang, it will affect people's way of living and production, and will change their way of thinking. We have to do something. We can't leave them alone just because their way of thinking is backwards."

Yet, as two Uighur scholars in Urumqi studied a map showing a new line for a high-speed passenger train, and the old railway line soon to be largely devoted to freight traffic, they could not escape a wry conclusion: "The resources from Xinjiang are going one way, and people from the mainland are coming the other way."

"If done well, the Silk Road could have a huge impact on Xinjiang and bring real development momentum," one of the scholars says.

"But it is doubtful how much benefit the Uighur people will get. We need good policies, otherwise it will cause the divide between ethnic groups to widen even further - and that would be a disaster."

Bullet trains tighten China’s embrace of restive Xinjiang

URUMQI, China — The brand-new bullet train slices past the edge of the Gobi desert, through gale-swept grasslands and past snowy peaks, a high-altitude, high-speed and high-tech manifestation of China’s newly re-imagined Silk Road meant to draw the country’s restive west ever tighter into Beijing’s embrace.

With growing determination, China is spreading its wings to the west, across its own, vast and resource-rich province of Xinjiang, and toward Central Asia and its huge reserves of oil and natural gas.

The $23 billion, high-speed train link, which is still being tested in winds that can sometimes reach up to 135 mph, is just one symbol of that broader determination: to cement China’s control over its Muslim-majority Xinjiang region through investment and economic growth, secure important sources of energy and escape any risk of encirclement by U.S. allies to the east.

The train will run from Lanzhou to Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi; for the longer term, China is even talking about trying to extend the high-speed network through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey to Bulgaria.

“The high-speed railway will build the foundation for the Silk Road economic belt,” Erkin Tuniyaz, vice chairman of the regional government, told reporters after a recent news media trip on the train. “Xinjiang will be the biggest beneficiary of the Silk Road. It will help it open up further, increase trade, tourism and other exchanges with neighboring countries. It’s a historical opportunity for Xinjiang.”

knife attack at a railway station in the city of Kunming in March and a bomb attack on a street market in Urumqi in May left 66 people dead and brought the region’s troubles onto the world’s front pages.

While the dream of a new Silk Road speaks of open borders and the free movement of people and goods, China’s response to that discontent and violence has been a tightening of its already strangling controls over Xinjiang: mass surveillance and closed borders, ever-stricter controls on religious practice and a “strike hard” campaign against extremism that has resulted in hundreds of arrests and more than 20 executions since May, all on terrorism-related charges.

Xi is gambling on his ability to manage that contradiction, but the signs are not good, some observers say.

Xi has effectively doubled down on China’s long-standing policy toward Xinjiang, a strategy that has three fundamental strands: strict control meant to identify and eliminate separatists; massive economic investment meant to win over other people; and a large-scale migration of China’s majority Han people into Xinjiang — an ethnic dilution of the Uighurs’ hold on what they consider to be their homeland.

The high-speed train, which will cut traveling time from Lanzhou to Urumqi to eight hours from 20, is both a symbol of that investment and a useful tool if the government wants to encourage even more Han migration west.

Xi vowed to promote ethnic unity and provide more jobs for local people. But at the same time, an intensified crackdown on conservative Islam has sparked resentment among many Muslim Uighurs.

Xinjiang is nearly as big as Alaska, its mountains and deserts hiding huge deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, gold and other minerals, but the province has just 22 million people. In 1949, when the Communist Party swept to power in China, Han Chinese made up less than 7 percent of Xinjiang’s population; today, they comprise 38 percent. Uighurs, at 47 percent, are now a minority in the region, with other, mainly Muslim ethnic groups, making up the remaining 15 percent of the province’s population.

Second-class citizens
Many Uighurs feel like second-class citizens in Xinjiang, culturally, socially and economically discriminated against by the now dominant Han. The capital, Urumqi, is a deeply divided city in which the two groups barely mix and ethnic riots in 2009 left at least 200 people dead.

Nor has money helped. The opening up of the Chinese economy in the 1990s, coupled with significant investment in industry and infrastructure in Xinjiang, brought fast economic growth and higher living standards to the region, but those gains disproportionately benefited the Han people — and so fueled more Uighur discontent.

Freed from strict government controls, state-owned enterprises run by Han managers overwhelmingly hired Han workers, often openly discriminating against Uighurs and attracting a new wave of Han migrants from what is known as “mainland China.”

Within the region, experts say, the economic divide between the Han-majority northern city of Urumqi and the mainly Uighur, more rural south is sharp and growing.

Implicitly acknowledging the existence of that divide, officials say the government is also hoping to promote a “southern Silk Road” that would pass through southern Xinjiang and revitalize ancient trading posts such as Kashgar and Hotan. Plans to establish textile factories hold out the promise of jobs, while the eventual extension of the high-speed train on a new route to the south is supposed to promote what the Communist Party calls a more “modern” way of thinking.

“The building of the Silk Road, the south route, will help the ethnic groups become more open and modern,” said Lai Xin, a senior official at Xinjiang’s Development and Reform Commission, a key policymaking body. “As long as modern things enter Xinjiang, it will affect people’s way of living and production, and will change their way of thinking. We have to do something. We can’t leave them alone just because their way of thinking is backwards.”

Yet, as two Uighur scholars in Urumqi studied a map showing a new line for a high-speed passenger train, and the old railway line soon to be largely devoted to freight traffic, they could not escape a wry conclusion. “The resources from Xinjiang are going one way, and people from the mainland are coming the other way,” one said to the other.

Restrictions on the ability of Uighurs even to get passports, as well as the way the Han Chinese have so far monopolized the fruits of development in Xinjiang, do not bode well.

“If done well, the Silk Road could have a huge impact on Xinjiang and bring real development momentum,” said one of those scholars, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to journalists and was fearful of inviting punishment.

“But it is doubtful how much benefit the Uighur people will get,” he said. “We need good policies, otherwise it will cause the divide between ethnic groups to widen even further — and that would be a disaster.”

A previous version of this article cited 2010 Census data to describe Xinjiang’s population breakdown. This version has been updated with data from the 2013 Xinjiang Statistical Yearbook.



Xu Yangjingjing contributed to this report.

Some HK bull crap.

“The government is really ridiculous — we have no weapons and they still attack us,” says 19-year-old student Jimmy Tang. At noon on Sunday, Tamar Park brimmed with protesters, many of whom had braved pepper spray and arrests the night previous. By 9pm, the streets surrounding Tamar all the way to Wanchai station on Lockhart Road were thronged with protesters — with phalanxes of police charging down the street.

On September 5, after the National People’s Congress decision concerning universal suffrage in 2017, the Hong Kong edition of China Daily pronounced Occupy Central with Peace and Love at a dead end; others agreed, including Chan ki-man, one of Occupy’s founders whose faith began to flounder.It now appears reports of Occupy Central’s death have been greatly exaggerated, to coin a phrase.

On Saturday students managed to hop the barricades around Civic Square, a site once known as a symbol of peaceful protest but off limits since the July protests. Around 50 students made it in and were cordoned off by police; the students, low on supplies, traded plastic bottles for pepper spray. At 1:00 am Sunday morning, Occupy, bolstered by the student protest, officially began with an announcement on the OCPLHK website. There were 74 arrests overnight — ahead of the Wednesday schedule.

The Sunday protests, early on, could not have been more tame. Stalls were set up handing out masks and goggles to deal with the expected onslaught from police as concerned participants offered water and fruit. That was the beginning of Occupy Central, but within a few hours (by 5 pm) it would morph into a protest shutting down the streets. Gridlock and protests expand to surrounding areas with the main force breaking through police cordons. At 8 pm, after the protesters had taken most of Admiralty, a Hong Kong protester named Marco who had been on the front lines for two days said, “Students are still inside there… we want to go through to save them, because they’ve been there for the whole day.” On the ground, police had retreated to cordons inside buildings.

The tear gas came at around 5 pm, but the protests continued to grow and events soon became aggressive. Police cars and vans were abandoned on the streets and protesters vandalized them with anarchy symbols and let the air out of their tires so that they could not be reclaimed.

Beijing shrugged off the original student protests and arrests with the usual overly casual indifference and vague threats. When presented with the accusations from the pro-Beijing papers and the Chinese state media, older protester Allan Chang — decked out in a yellow raincoat, surgical mask, and goggles — threw his hands in the air and said, “I don’t even know what to say about that.” Protester Martin Leung simply said, “We all hope we will get the final victory”.

Early on in the day, the protesters were very much on the defensive, sitting or standing and chanting in front of police with protest leaders giving advice on how to deal with what was coming later in the day. At around noon, a first aid worker named Lee said that she was receiving mainly heat stroke victims and that she hoped it would stay that way. That, unfortunately, was too much to hope for after the tear gas and pepper spray started flying in the afternoon and well into the night. The original police barricades were turned into stairs and the street was flooded and successfully occupied.

In an oddly timed dichotomy, not far from the main Occupy area was an unrelated meeting of perhaps three dozen people. Among big red tents and folding chairs, the groups sang traditional Chinese songs, waved mainland flags, and played flutes to celebrate “Support the Decision of the National People’s Congress According to the Law.” The feeling there was very much a pro-Beijing environment. My interview attempts were met by people rushing in and telling perspective interviewees not to speak to me and that I’d “put them in a bad light.”

Beijing will have to respond to Occupy Central, and it will not be a response the protesters will like; if, indeed, the protesters have frightened or annoyed the local government, Beijing is too far away to worry, but close enough to cause more damage.

At the protest’s start, bags were put up for organic rubbish and plastic bottles, plastic ties were put on barricades to prevent use, and the medical tents were ready to receive the oncoming injured — hardly the stuff of a violent coup. But, as the night wore on, the calls of “police, thank you for keeping us safe” tapered, and voices screaming “disgrace” took over. Much speculation has preceded this moment, and many are wondering how long the protesters can hold out against the wishes of the local government and the power of Beijing. Occupy began today, and it could end tomorrow. And while the act of protesting in a large group for a common ideal is something the people of Beijing can only hope to dream of, it’s still something Beijing can take away from Hong Kong.

we are the only nation, where building the thing Indians, a democracy and major nation, dreams of can be considered destructive, crazy, and what was the phrase, oh yea, a sinister plot, a communist plot.

We are the only nation that through using HK as a trading hub that their people gained power and we are a threat.

That we are a evil force because we are not returning to 89, and we are just firing tear gas to clear the crowd so people can return to work. Which btw, every other nation, including every Western nation does too.

We are the only nation, where rejecting a foreign idea while also being able to provide for the people is evil.

We are also the only nation that even the small *** island that is the UK dare to threaten when we are far more powerful than they are in every index.


Yea, China full of first, at least they can't say we reversed engineered this crap.

 

[Europa]

just imagine what will happen to russia if some russians usurp power by falsely framing vladimir putin and putting him along with his family behind bars

who else can be more patriotic russian than putin?

china's putin was framed and put behind bars by some in beijing
guess who was china's putin, google it

 

[longyi]

My advice to all Chinese is stop reading western medias altogether. If you must, be very skeptical.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Because for the West the only good China is a weak/poor China like the ROC.

 

[TaiShang]

Why surprised, let alone, be angry, my friend? After hundreds of years of Western hostility, how come China can be caught off-guard by their insincerity, hypocrisy and falsity?

If China finds a cure for cancer tomorrow, these mechanized anti-China hate-lovers will come up with some creative invention to talk trash about China.

China can only reply back by not getting angry or hasty, but by becoming stronger and more unified. This is what the leadership is acutely aware of.

US and the larger West is the largest threat, no question about that. But to destroy that threat is only possible if China achieves 100% immunity by getting stronger in every field.

Being mindlessly criticized keeps agile and boosts performance. So, just keep the larger picture in sight: What has been achieved over the past six decades when stakes were no less high than they are today.

 

[zip]

You irked almost all neighbours within short time of six months made all the difference otherwise everyone praising your development model ..Blame your dont care attitude towards other smaller countries around you for all ills ..

 

[terranMarine]

Take it with a pinch of salt if you will. Rejoice with these "negative" headlines about China, for we are taking "great leap forward" reviving the "sinister" empire. Resistance is futile, all your possessions belong to this overlord

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

You irked almost all neighbours within short time of six months made all the difference otherwise everyone praising your development model ..Blame your dont care attitude towards other smaller countries around you for all ills ..

Once India is on the rise, get ready for incessant and petty thrashing from the west. Or you can remain poor and they will leave you alone.

'Evil' communist China had to fight off the entire U.N in Korea when Chinese were poor. We also had to deal with an Invasion from India when Chinese were in famine. Also remember the eight nation alliance that descended on a dying Qing dynasty with their Indian sepoys.

So please stop complaining about 'bullying' when you were so much worse when the balance of power was on your side.

 

[Genesis]

The answer is in your post,someone was angry and drunk and drew 9 dash lines.

interesting, so while Indians keep saying India should never back down, we should? Keep in mind while India did exist before the British, but that's history, so you adding territory after independence is based on history. If our claims are in valid due to history than so are yours.

 

[Bobby]

China wants to grab entire Asia....evil intention

 

[terranMarine]

Time to carve that chicken neck with our axe

 

[Kolaps]

I'm angry and drunk right now, so I will let off some steam that's been building for God knows how long.

.............................................................

As I said before, China should asked US permission.

Because for the West the only good China is a weak/poor China like the ROC.

You forget: And under Christian ruler too.

My advice to all Chinese is stop reading western medias altogether. If you must, be very skeptical.

I can't I do it.

All Taiwan media are "Western media"

Even the mainland media, follow the narrative from the Western media too, unable to have self investigation and opinion.

just imagine what will happen to russia if some russians usurp power by falsely framing vladimir putin and putting him along with his family behind bars

who else can be more patriotic russian than putin?

china's putin was framed and put behind bars by some in beijing
guess who was china's putin, google it

The CCCP is more Russian than Putin.

If Putin lost a public election, CCCP will rule Russia again as they are the second biggest political party.

And reestablish the Soviet Union.

 

[Infra_Man99]

Propaganda, hypocrisy, and gigantic egos are the norm in the Zionist West.

The Zionist West constantly uses the moral pretext to justify everything they do and slander their opponents or any independent entity. The Zionist West constantly exaggerates their achievements, exaggerates others' problems, downplays their problems, and downplays others' achievements. The Zionist West constantly insists on consuming more than everyone else on a national and per person rate. It's called cheating your way to the top while looking good.

This is why the Zionist West's media are censored in China. This is why the Zionist West's governments and private organizations are constantly monitored and restricted in China. This is why anyone who seeks the truth must be very careful when trusting the Zionist West's media, governments, and corporations.

If China naively trusted Google's "Don't be evil," then China would be thoroughly exposed to NSA and Google espionage and secret plans to disrupt and control China. It is a good thing China's leadership and many followers are not naive fools. They know the evil hidden behind big, happy smiles.

 

[Aepsilons]

I'm angry and drunk right now, so I will let off some steam that's been building for God knows how long.

Look at these headlines:

Bullet trains help China tighten its grip on Xinjiang province's people and resources

Read more: Bullet trains help China tighten its grip on Xinjiang province's people and resources


Bullet trains tighten China’s embrace of restive Xinjiang



Some HK bull crap.





we are the only nation, where building the thing Indians, a democracy and major nation, dreams of can be considered destructive, crazy, and what was the phrase, oh yea, a sinister plot, a communist plot.

We are the only nation that through using HK as a trading hub that their people gained power and we are a threat.

That we are a evil force because we are not returning to 89, and we are just firing tear gas to clear the crowd so people can return to work. Which btw, every other nation, including every Western nation does too.

We are the only nation, where rejecting a foreign idea while also being able to provide for the people is evil.

We are also the only nation that even the small *** island that is the UK dare to threaten when we are far more powerful than they are in every index.


Yea, China full of first, at least they can't say we reversed engineered this crap.

Drunk? What you drinking btw?

Angry? Go run or hit a boxing bag!

 

[terranMarine]

Drunk? What you drinking btw?

Angry? Go run or hit a boxing bag!

want to volunteer to be his bag ?