Xinjiang Province: News & Discussions

[Informant]

This is only going to backfire.

 

[-SINAN-]

No need to dicuss personally with a terrorist-symphatizer from a terrrorist-loving third-world hole.
Report: Turkey Financing Top Global Terror Groups
Turkey has become a principal financial hub for terrorists under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has helped Iran skirt sanctions, supported jihadi groups in Syria, and provided financial backing to Hamas, according to a new report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Turkey, a key U.S. ally, “has turned a blind eye” to terror financing and is potentially on the verge of crossing the line to becoming an official state sponsor of terrorism, according to the Friday report, which cites the Erdogan government’s close ties to some of the world’s top terror organizations and operatives.
The report comes just a day after 84 U.S. lawmakers and former government officials urged President Barack Obama to confront Erdogan over his harsh repression of political opponents.
As Turkey’s support for terrorism expands, the Obama administration has remained silent out of fear of offending Erdogan, whom the White House considers a strategic asset, according to the report authored by FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department.
The Obama administration “has remained on the sidelines, expressing relatively mild concern about the crackdowns on law enforcement officials and the jailing of journalists, while electing not to mention terrorism finance issues publicly,” the report states.
“Washington’s silence stems from fears of a fall-out with Turkey, which has been a crucial ally over the years, and is situated strategically at the intersection of Europe and the Middle East,” according to the report. “But Turkey’s actions constitute a direct challenge to Washington’s sanctions regime.”
The report catalogues in detail Turkey’s cozy relationship with jihadi groups, terrorist operatives, and the Iranian regime.
Last year, “Turkey was involved in a massive sanctions-busting scheme with Tehran,” according to the report. “Now known as ‘gas-for-gold,’ the scheme helped the Iranian regime gain some $13 billion” despite international sanctions meant to stop such deals.
Additionally, over 2,000 Iranian companies are reportedly registered in Turkey, where pro-Erdogan political elites have been accused of facilitating large cash transfers with Tehran.
Turkey’s top intelligence agency is also believed to be working with Iran in a bid to “scuttle intelligence operations” aimed at stopping Iran’s nuke program, according to the report.
Erdogan has also gone to great lengths to bolster extremist rebel groups in Syria, according to the report, which cites “mounting evidence suggests that Turkey has been directly or indirectly arming, training, and even financing Sunni jihadi groups” in the country.
Turkey reportedly sent 47 tons of weapons to Syrian rebels during a six-month period in 2013, according to the report.
There are “few questions that it has been Turkish policy to provide support to a range of rebel factions,” the report states. “Turkey now appears to allow a broad spectrum of anti-Assad forces, including those with radical ideologies, to operate on Turkish territory.”
“Jihadi personnel and finances” have been identified as flowing from Turkey to Syria.
Israeli military officials have additionally claimed that “Syrian al Qaeda groups were training in three separate bases in the Turkish provinces.”
Erdogan has also been exposed for having a close friendship with Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi Arabian businessman who has faced sanctions for his financial ties to al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and other terrorist fronts.
Hamas has become another ally of the Erdogan government, which has held meetings with the terror group’s senior leadership and allows one of its key operative to work in Turkey.
Senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri has been living in Turkey, “where he has been allegedly involved in the financing and logistics of Hamas operations,” according to the report, which states that “al-Aruri may be raising funds on Turkish soil that go to support terrorism.”
This coincides with “broader Turkish support” for Hamas, including political cover and financial backing.
The Turkish government’s growing ties to terror have come amid a corruption scandal that has rocked Erdogan’s AKP political party, which has “purged the investigators, prosecutors, and journalists involved” in exposing the corruption.
FDD’s Schanzer warned that left unchecked by the United States and the rest of the international community, “Turkey’s terrorism finance problems could fester further.”
“These problems have already raised questions about whether Turkey currently serves as a barrier to extremism from the Middle East,” Schanzer said.

Bs. article as always... no source, no evidence just words. Most possibly Jewish media.

@TaiShang search and find as many as article you can find.... and open a thread with them...

All of it will be lies. no evidence, no source.... just BS news... lies and slanders nothing more. Turkey's power is increasing... we are jeopardizing others interests, so they use the media. Just like how they used the media to legalize the invasion of Iraq... But it's not going to work on us.

 

[dlclong]

Constaniople, as it is Istanbul now.. conquered byTurks in 1453 some 560 years ago.
Today it's inhabited with over 12 million Turks.

I you are done with Constantinople, maybe we can compare your invasion of East Turkestan in 50 years ago... which was largely inhabited by Uyghurs.

"Invasion of East Turkestan in 50 years ago"
Ridiculous, so-called East Turkestan, where? The so-called East Turkestan rebellion in November 1933 established the puppet government, in January 1934, the KMT Hui Muslim 马仲英Ma Zhongying eliminated. The mere existence of two months.

Xinjiang, Han Dynasty ruled by the central government,named西域都护府.
Until the Tang Dynasty, The ninth century AD，Tang Dynasty collapse, the end of Han people rule in Xinjiang time,
During this period, there have been intermittent and again rule.
Ming Dynasty ruled only a small part,


Qing dynasty, the Manchu-led troops defeated Junger Mongolia, Xinjiang, a significant reduction in the Mongols, Uighurs in Xinjiang talent to become the major ethnic groups。
China's central government has once again become the territory, Perhaps you will say Qing Dynasty was Manchu , but today over 99% of Manchu people agree China，They are Chinese identity.
In 1911, the Qing emperor to abdicate, the Republic of China was founded, Xinjiang, like other Provence
, as controlled by local warlords,盛世才 Sheng shicai, the long rule of Xinjiang, in the meantime, the so-called East Turkestan, there are just two months。
You Ottoman Turks, how long occupied Constantinople ? Do not think that the earth is u “big Turks”.

 

[-SINAN-]

Invasion of East Turkestan in 50 years ago"
Ridiculous, so-called East Turkestan, where? The so-called East Turkestan rebellion in November 1933 established the puppet government, in January 1934, the KMT Hui Muslim Zhongying eliminated. The mere existence of two months.
Xinjiang, Han Dynasty ruled by the central government,named西域都护府.
Until the Tang Dynasty, The ninth century AD，Tang Dynasty collapse, the end of Han people rule in Xinjiang time,
During this period, there have been intermittent and again rule.
Ming Dynasty ruled only a small part,
Qing dynasty, the Manchu-led troops defeated Junger Mongolia, Xinjiang, a significant reduction in the Mongols, Uighurs in Xinjiang talent to become the major ethnic groups。
China's central government has once again become the territory, Perhaps you will say Manchu Qing Dynasty was established,, but today over 99% of Manchu people agree China，They are Chinese identity.
In 1911, the Qing emperor to abdicate, the Republic of China was founded, Xinjiang, like other Provence
, as controlled by local warlords,盛世才 Sheng shicai, the long rule of Xinjiang, in the meantime, the so-called East Turkestan, there are just two months。

I will research this subject more, then i will come and discuss with you.

 

[itaskol]

I will research this subject more, then i will come and discuss with you.

the east turkeystan were created under the help of soviet union.
it was a failed rebellion

 

[Edison Chen]

Zhang Chunxian, party chief of Xinjiang, at a meeting in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song

Xinjiang party chief Zhang Chunxian has vowed to use an iron fist to stop terrorists, while also pledging to use an education campaign to engage ethnic Uygurs more effectively.

Zhang vowed to respond to violence "firmly' and "precisely" during a visit to a military outpost in Urumqi with armed forces commander Wang Jianping yesterday, according to local news portal Tianshan.net.

In the meeting, Zhang said the paramilitary police played an essential role in the long-term stability of the region.

Xinjiang has become the front line in Beijing's national anti-terrorism crackdown, with the central government blaming the recent spate of violence around the country, including bombings and knife attacks, on separatists seeking to establish an independent Islamic state.

However, human rights groups and the mainly Muslim Uygurs say Beijing's hardline stance against religious practices and human rights violations in Xinjiang are only driving more people to extremism.

Several Uygur academics last week expressed support for the anti-terror campaign, saying militants sowing dissent and attacking innocents did not represent the majority's views.

President Xi Jinping, while urging tough punishment for terrorists, called for a campaign to better engage and integrate Uygurs in the region during a visit in April.

He encouraged the minority group to learn both their mother tongue and Chinese, and called for more development and jobs.

Earlier this week, government websites in Xinjiang issued notices that officials, civil servants and students were banned from participating in Ramadan, a holy month of fasting for Muslims.

The Turpan city website warned "civil servants and students cannot participate in fasting and other religious activities".

The Xinjiang Tarim River Basin Management Bureau posted photos of Muslim cadres at a meal to celebrate the anniversary of China's Communist Party on a date coinciding with Ramadan.

 

[TaiShang]

Trouble makers will be tamed or severely punished, which will relieve the region from a backward culture of religious and ethnic fanaticism, and offer greater opportunities for the peace-loving majority of the citizens of Xinjiang.

 

[TaiShang]

Educating some members from Turkey on China's Xinjiang is a tall task, if not impossible.

By the way, if they really had a solution to China's terrorism problem, they would first apply it to their own disintegrating foreign policy and declining regional status: LOL

How not to win friends: Turkey’s foreign policy falls apart

Ankara likes to present many of its neighbors, including even Iran, as friends “despite few differences in opinion” but Turkish diplomats start accepting that ambitious Turkish foreign policy has largely backfired. Turkey is not talking to Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, is having troubled relationships with Lebanon and Iran, and has failed to restore diplomatic ties with Israel and Armenia. Meanwhile, there is still long way to go to establish healthy relationships with Greece, Russia and the European Union at some point.

 

[-SINAN-]

Educating some members from Turkey on China's Xinjiang is a tall task, if not impossible.

By the way, if they really had a solution to China's terrorism problem, they would first apply it to their own disintegrating foreign policy and declining regional status: LOL

How not to win friends: Turkey’s foreign policy falls apart

My pathetic Chinese friend... you are doing the same thing Atatwolf does... go on post BS articles... like it or not. We are the top dog in the region.

 

[third eye]

As a Pakistani, I have great respect for my Chinese friends, but this is shocking and disappointing- China restricts Ramazan fasting in Xinjiang - World - DAWN.COM

Though off topic but just out of curiosity.

Both your flags - Country of origin and country of locations are N Korea.

Does North Korea also have citizens of Pakistani origin ?

@Aeronaut, @Web Master

 

[B+ Dracula]

Need to differentiate b/t GOOD LAWS vs BAD LAWS
A GOOD LAW:
addresses a need; is readily understood in purpose and in operation;conforms to our principles;enjoys overwhelming support; affects and protects everyone; and reflects what is best about us — not what is worst
BAD LAWS:
are the laws that goes against NORMS of Society & banning them results in Abuse of Law, and that abuse of law makes them Bad Laws, Culture / religion/ traditions evolve in thousands of years, so banning them instantaneously by one order are example of Bad Laws.

for example,
- KITE FESTIVAL &
- FORMULA ONE RACING &
- Spanish Bull Racing in Streets Cost life, doesn't mean to Ban them by legislation

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Zhang Chunxian, party chief of Xinjiang, at a meeting in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song

Xinjiang party chief Zhang Chunxian has vowed to use an iron fist to stop terrorists, while also pledging to use an education campaign to engage ethnic Uygurs more effectively.

Zhang vowed to respond to violence "firmly' and "precisely" during a visit to a military outpost in Urumqi with armed forces commander Wang Jianping yesterday, according to local news portal Tianshan.net.

In the meeting, Zhang said the paramilitary police played an essential role in the long-term stability of the region.

Xinjiang has become the front line in Beijing's national anti-terrorism crackdown, with the central government blaming the recent spate of violence around the country, including bombings and knife attacks, on separatists seeking to establish an independent Islamic state.

However, human rights groups and the mainly Muslim Uygurs say Beijing's hardline stance against religious practices and human rights violations in Xinjiang are only driving more people to extremism.

Several Uygur academics last week expressed support for the anti-terror campaign, saying militants sowing dissent and attacking innocents did not represent the majority's views.

President Xi Jinping, while urging tough punishment for terrorists, called for a campaign to better engage and integrate Uygurs in the region during a visit in April.

He encouraged the minority group to learn both their mother tongue and Chinese, and called for more development and jobs.

Earlier this week, government websites in Xinjiang issued notices that officials, civil servants and students were banned from participating in Ramadan, a holy month of fasting for Muslims.

The Turpan city website warned "civil servants and students cannot participate in fasting and other religious activities".

The Xinjiang Tarim River Basin Management Bureau posted photos of Muslim cadres at a meal to celebrate the anniversary of China's Communist Party on a date coinciding with Ramadan.

Terrorists only understand the language of force.

 

[TaiShang]

When China says it, means it.
***

Xinjiang to build cities from scratch in restive regions

Global Times

Urbanization vs. terror

After hours of driving along the highway from Korla to Luntai in the Bayingol Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, located in southern Xinjiang, rows of modern apartments gleaming with white paint suddenly appear to break up the monotonous landscape in the Gobi Desert.

They are the residences of the 29th regiment of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), which has 14 divisions and 175 regiments across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. According to the central government's blueprint, each of the divisions is capable of building a city and each of the regiments can build a township.

After decades of efforts to reclaim the wasteland and develop the economy, the XPCC has turned its focus to southern Xinjiang, an area mainly inhabited by ethnic Uyghur people, that has been frequently attacked by terrorists.

The city of Tiemenguan, built by the XPCC in 2012. Photo: Courtesy of the XPCC

Going south

"The XPCC's development focus is building cities and gathering people together in the new era. The priority is building more cities and townships in southern Xinjiang as a means to maintain social stability and boost local development," Xu Weihua, the deputy political commissar of the XPCC, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview in Urumqi.

Southern Xinjiang's development lags behind northern Xinjiang by at least 10 years, according to estimates by some scholars. The "urbanization rate" (the proportion of people living in the urban area) of Kashi (also known as Kashgar), Hotan and the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture stood at less than 30 percent by the end of 2012. Most locals are farmers and herdsmen working in the agriculture sector.

The XPCC has so far established seven cities, with three of them, Alar, Tumshuq and Tiemenguan, located in southern Xinjiang. Alar, Tumshuq were built in 2004, and Tiemenguan was built in 2012.

According to Xu, the 14th division of the XPCC plans to build a new city in Hotan, and pick up a batch of well-developed regiment farms or those with strategic significance, to build townships and further develop them into cities when conditions are mature.

More than 80 percent of the population in southern Xinjiang comes from ethnic minority groups. "Building cities and townships there is an urgent task and our priority, as the XPCC can use its economic and cultural advantages to help local people enjoy a modern and civilized social life," he said.

The XPCC has been pouring money into improving the livelihoods of ethnic minority groups. This year it plans to invest 543 million yuan ($87.42 million) to support the development of 19 regiment farms, with more than 30 percent of the workers at these farms coming from ethnic minority groups.

The efforts included helping local women in Hotan's Pishan farm develop a hand knitting business, and financing local youth to start their own businesses. Pishan is the hometown of the five suspects in the bombing of an Urumqi street market in May 22, which left 39 people dead and 94 injured.

"The establishment of cities and townships will also enhance the 'lifeblood function' of the XPCC, and reduce the central government's burden of fiscal transfer payments to the corps," Xu said.

The XPCC is China's only special social organization that has its own administrative and judicial bodies as well as armed police and militia groups. But it has no authority to collect taxes, so industrial and service enterprises affiliated with the XPCC need to pay taxes to local governments. In 2007, the Xinjiang regional government decided to refund some of the tax revenues generated by the XPCC's industrial firms to the XPCC, but some local officials said the policy has not been well implemented.

"A lack of tax revenues has limited the XPCC's development momentum. By setting up cities or townships, they could have the authority to collect taxes and achieve faster development," Pan Xingang, the head of the Institute of Economic Research with the XPCC, told the Global Times.

Aside from Shuanghe, which was established in April 2014, the other six XPCC cities generated 41 percent of the XPCC's total GDP in 2013.

Local residents in some newly established cities have also enjoyed double-digit income growth. For instance, the per capita income of urban residents and farmers in southern Xinjiang's Tiemenguan were 23,676 yuan and 16,206 yuan in 2013, higher than Xinjiang's average level of 19,874 yuan and 7,296 yuan during the same period.

Cities under the administration of XPCC

New role

The XPCC's role has always been highlighted when Xinjiang's social stability is under threat. It was established in 1954, repeating China's historical experience of stationing troops to reclaim the wasteland and guard frontiers in Xinjiang, a practice that can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-AD25).

During its early days, the XPCC built water conservancy works and reclaimed wasteland along the borders and edges of the Tianshan Mountain and the Taklimakan Desert. It also gradually formed a modern industrial system.

"The XPCC has laid a solid foundation for Xinjiang's economic development in its early stages," Pan said.

In Shihezi's Museum of Army Reclamation, many visitors are attracted by a worn-out winter coat with 296 colorful patches. This principal collection of the museum, together with trowels, human-hauled ploughs and stone mills, tells a story of how the oldest generation of the XPCC made efforts to build the city from almost nothing on the Gobi desert.

The XPCC was dissolved in 1975 amid the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), and top policymakers decided to revive it in 1981 after separatist activists tried to undermine social stability in Xinjiang. The XPCC, as Deng Xiaoping put it, is "the core of stabilizing Xinjiang."

During President Xi Jinping's inspection tour in Xinjiang late April, he also visited the XPCC and called to strengthen its role due to the new conditions. "More efforts are needed to build the XPCC into a stabilizer of the country's border areas, a melting pot that integrates various ethnic groups and a model region that showcases advanced productivity and culture," Xi said.

Nowadays the XPCC's contribution to Xinjiang's economic development is not as much as it was 60 years ago. It accounted for 17.4 percent of Xinjiang's GDP in 2013, compared to contributing one-third of the region's agricultural and industrial output in the 1960s.

"Pursuing economic growth should not be the XPCC's major task," Wang Dahao, an Urumqi-based writer and observer of Xinjiang issues, told the Global Times. "After years of creating material wealth for the local people, the XPCC should play an increasing role in delivering spiritual wealth."

As southern Xinjiang is mostly Uyghur, building cities there could aid the XPCC in promoting modern culture, said Wang. "But to achieve this goal, the XPCC also needs to bring in more minority people and increase the proportion of ethnic minority people in its total population," he added.

Developing southern Xinjiang has also been put on top of the agenda of the central government in the wake of a series of bloody terror attacks.

Measures such as creating jobs and improving education are seen as fundamental solutions to addressing the threat of terrorism. The central government has decided to roll out free high school education in southern Xinjiang. Shenzhen has also donated 1 billion yuan for the establishment of Kashgar University, the first comprehensive university in southern Xinjiang. New textile factories and steel mills are under construction in Kashi's special economic zone.

"Education is not confined to schools or universities, it's also in factories," said Pan. "By creating more jobs and attracting Uyghur youth to work in factories, the organizational culture could affect the way they interact with other groups and gradually change their behavior."

Holes dug in the earth used to accommodate the builders in the early years of the XPCC. Photo: Courtesy of the XPCC

Obstacles and misunderstandings

The XPCC built its first city Shihezi in 1976, and three more cities were built in 2004. Its fifth city, Beitun, was finally launched in 2011 even though the central government approved its establishment in 1997.

"To build a city or township, the XPCC needs to negotiate with the local government on the redistribution of resources, so it takes time," Pan said.

Realizing the XPCC's urbanization blueprint will not be an easy task. Given the XPCC's role of consolidating border defense and "not competing for benefits with the local people," most of its regiment farms are located along border areas or on the verge of the deserts, adding to the difficulty of its urbanization process, according to Wang.

The first central work conference of Xinjiang, held in 2010, served as a boost to the XPCC's urbanization drive. "Thanks to the increasing support from the central and regional governments, the pace at which the XPCC is building new cities has been speeding up since that meeting," Xu said.

A direct reflection was in the XPCC's urbanization rate, which rose by 12 percentage points to 62 percent in 2013 from 2010, higher than the national level of 53.7 percent and the Xinjiang level of 44.5 percent.

According to the XPCC's urbanization development plan for 2012-20, the XPCC aims to build one to two cities in 2014, and achieve the goal of ensuring all of its 14 divisions have built a city within the next three to five years.

"But urbanization is not just about building houses," Xu said. "We need to improve urban infrastructure and facilities, and develop the services industry to attract people and retain them."

In the 1950s and 1960s, many young college students came to the XPCC echoing the nation's call, and the salaries in the XPCC were also higher than they were in other provinces at that time. But with rapid development of other provinces and more violence erupting in Xinjiang, the XPCC has been faced with a talent drain in recent years, Tang Lijiu, head of Xinjiang Westeast Economic Research Institute, told the Global Times.

"The XPCC will make efforts to attract local talents, college graduates from other provinces, and retain the third generation of the XPCC," Xu noted.

There are also some misunderstandings about the XPCC when it aims to attract private investment, as many people associate the XPCC with the military, due to its literal meaning in Chinese.

When the XPCC launched an event in Hong Kong to attract local investment in May 2013, which was also the first such event outside the Chinese mainland since its establishment, there were some suspicions from local media about its purpose.

"But when we explained to them what we are, the misunderstanding was eliminated," Xu said. As a result, 33 projects totaling HK$108.2 billion were signed during the event.

"The economic development of the XPCC is not making ourselves live well, but is helping more local people live a better life and maintain social stability," he added.

New towns out of nowhere

 

[steelseries779]

"The XPCC's development focus is building cities and gathering people together in the new era. The priority is building more cities and townships in southern Xinjiang as a means to maintain social stability and boost local development,"

The XPCC has so far established seven cities, with three of them, Alar, Tumshuq and Tiemenguan, located in southern Xinjiang. Alar, Tumshuq were built in 2004, and Tiemenguan was built in 2012.

The efforts included helping local women in Hotan's Pishan farm develop a hand knitting business, and financing local youth to start their own businesses. Pishan is the hometown of the five suspects in the bombing of an Urumqi street market in May 22, which left 39 people dead and 94 injured.

I almost forget XPCC, such an important role in Xinjiang. If XPCC feed uyghur well, there will be less violent and terror attack happening. Those people don't know how to build and manage a city, let's XPCC help them.

 

[kalu_miah]

@TaiShang Excellent move, in these new cities, give them education so they can become productive and then give them jobs so they can take part in production and earn a decent living, terrorism will be history in a few years.