---- "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com> wrote:
>
> It was news to me that the PBS special on China last
> week mentioned a separatist movement in western China
> (close to Pakistan & Afghanistan). It seems to be
> driven by a large Islamic population in the area.
>
> I would not be surprised if members of that movement
> were training or cooperating with the Taliban. There
> was also some suggestion that the Taliban may have
> been exporting its view of Islam & terrorist tactics
> to the separatists in China.
>
> So China has an incentive to cooperate with the anti-terrorist
> coalition.
>
> Robert
Yes. Although Tibet gets *much* more media attention, the more violent,
stronger separatist movement is in the huge Northwestern Chinese province
(they actually call it an "Autonomous Zone") of Xinjiang. It's about
47% ethnic Uigurs, who are predominantly Muslim. In addition to Pakistan
and Afghanistan, the Zone is bordered by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan,
Russia, and Mongolia.
The place is supposed to be an interesting (though sometimes volatile)mix
of Han Chinese culture and the Uigurs' Turkic culture. I'd love to visit
there sometime.
Actually to say that Tibet gets much more media attention is still an
understatement, because Xinjiang gets almost zero. There was a good
article on it by Jeffrey Taylor in _The Atlantic Monthly_ not too long
ago, though. I'll post a link to it if I find it.
Xinjiang Autonomous Zone is not to be confused with the city of Xinxiang,
in Henan Province.
All the best,
Bill
Best email: douglassbill@yahoo.com
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:15 MDT