China's minority problems in (visual) perspective

New violence erupted in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province, today as Chinese police shot dead two Uighur men. Despite an attempted return to normalcy, tensions in Xinjiang - and in China more generally - remain high. Jonathan Fenby has an excellent opinion piece in today's FT in which he explains how these recent events in Xinjiang highlight the nature of (and problems with) China's governing structure. Certainly worth a read.

The NYTimes also had a great graphic over the weekend showing the parts of China with significant minority populations. Minority here refers to one of the 55 recognized groups other than Han Chinese. The linked graphic enables you to view regions in China that have from 10 to 70% minority populations. The image below highlights the counties where at least half of the population is something other than Han:

While the graphic is somewhat misleading in that the Western provinces are very lightly populated compared to the highly populous eastern Han region, it nevertheless provides a very good visual of the control issues faced by China's central government. The very issues that Fenby does so well to outline in his OpEd piece, and the ones that stand to challenge the CCP's 'One China' ideology.

Don't roll up those "Free Tibet" flags just yet....

Unless you've been living under a rock these past few weeks, the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans is yesterday's news. The security hike came ahead of yesterday's 50th anniversary of a failed anti-Beijing revolt in Lhasa that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing to exile in India. Police roadblocks and checkpoints were implemented, journalists have been granted limited access at best, and even some monasteries have been sealed off.

While on the one hand it makes sense for the Chinese to try to prevent violent protests similar to those which occurred last year, they may be taking things a touch too far. According to scholars at Human Rights Watch, China may be using the opportunity as an excuse to push its Tibetan policies (which are effectively tantamount to the "One China" policy. Shock horror). Just a few days ago, Beijing released a white paper entitled "Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet," in which the 1959 takeover of the Tibetan government by the CCP is hailed as one of the greatest moments in the anti-slavery struggle, on equal footing with the American Civil War. It may just be a hunch, but I think one would be hard pressed to find even a handful of Tibetans who would describe the event that way. Just a guess. 

The crackdown has also heightened tensions with the United States. On Monday the House began considering a bill urging China to respect human rights in Tibet. Bear in mind that this comes on the coattails of Clinton's Beijing visit in February, during which she made clear that human rights "cannot interfere" with economic and diplomatic priorities. That statement + the recent skirmish between US and Chinese naval ships + Chinese actions in Tibet = very interesting times, indeed.