|
|
Chinese Security Efforts Questioned Two Years After
Xinjiang Riots
|
East Asia and Pacific
July 05, 2011 |
Chinese state media are questioning whether security
forces have gone too far in
cracking down on dissidents in western Xinjiang province
two years after deadly riots that killed nearly 200
people.
In an article marking the anniversary of the riots
Tuesday, the Communist Party-controlled Global Times
newspaper quotes a law professor saying the region is
"over-emphasizing stability preservation" and could be
fueling increased tensions.
The article says life has largely returned to normal in
Urumqi, the provincial capital. But it notes authorities
have doubled the region's security budget and installed
about 40,000 security cameras.
London-based Amnesty International, meanwhile, is
marking the anniversary with a report charging that
China is still silencing critics who point out
government excesses during and after the riots. It notes
that managers of ethnic Uighur websites have been jailed
for talking to foreign media as Uighurs have become a
minority in their own homeland.
The rights group says hundreds of people were prosecuted
after the riots, which began with a protest in Urumqi on
July 5, 2009, sparked by the death of a Uighur factory
worker in southern China. About two dozen have been
sentenced to death or executed and others were given
long jail terms.
Amnesty says China is still "muzzling people who speak
out" about the riots, noting the forcible return to
China of an asylum seeker in Kazakhstan who had
described the torture and death in custody of a young
Uighur man after the protests.
Amnesty said the Beijing government must "listen to the
grievances of the Uighur community and address their
demands to have their rights respected and their culture
protected."
The Global Times quotes Peking University professor He
Weifang saying it is "understandable" that authorities
place a high value on stability in a "complex" place
like Xinjiang. But he says, if the government goes too
far "it might misread some message and overact. In this
case, it might fuel tension between Han and Uighur
people." |
|
