Beijing’s Post-9/11 Xinjiang Policy

Abstract

In August 2002, the US State Department added a Uighur separatist group based in China’s Xinjiang region to its official terrorist watch list and China threw its weight behind the US led War on Terror. Many experts, however, allege that China’s counterterrorism efforts were not aimed at fighting terrorism but instead at destroying Uighur culture. In light of the August 2002 ‘internationalization’ of the Xinjiang issue, do Beijing’s policies and actions match up with international norms regarding human rights and rule of law? If claims of human rights abuses are true, was the August 2002 declaration actually counterproductive to US efforts to fight terrorism and its causes? This paper describes the basic dynamics at work on the ground in Xinjiang and details Beijing’s counterterrorism campaign, ultimately seeking to place Beijing’s behavior in its appropriate domestic and international context and assess prospects for the future.