Wu Shimin, the vice minister of China's State Ethnic Affairs Commission, says the protesters who caused the violence in Urumqi were not motivated by economic factors and were solely seeking independence for the far northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Unrest erupted on July 5, when a peaceful protest by ethnic Uighurs in Urumqi turned violent after police intervened. The Uighurs went on a rampage, smashing windows, burning cars and beating people from the country's dominant Han Chinese ethnic group. According to official figures, 197 people died and more than 1,600 were wounded. Chinese officials even made a rare admission that police killed 12 people during the rioting. The Uighurs disputed this and said the casualty toll was much higher than what the government claimed. They also said the government had detained hundreds of Uighurs since the violence, including many who had nothing to do with it.
Beijing has pinned the cause of the riots on what it calls the "three forces of evil" - extremism, terrorism and separatism. Extremists are accused by the government of having engaged in violent and "even terrorist activities" for nearly 80 years in their drive to seek a separate homeland, which they call East Turkestan.
Uighurs are mostly Muslim, but vice minister Wu said religious extremism was not a factor. One day before his comments, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Urumqi police as alleging that women wearing long, black Islamic robes and head scarves had been the ringleaders in the unrest. The incident led to heightened ethnic tensions in Urumqi. Two days after the rioting, vigilante groups of ethnic Han attacked the Uighurs.
Uighurs are ethnically close to the people of Central Asia and have long complained of discrimination. The Chinese government reportedly places tough restrictions on the practice of Islam and bans practising Muslims from most government jobs. It is also said to have encouraged massive numbers of Han to move to Xinjiang, making the Uighurs a minority in some areas of their traditional home. The government denies there is discrimination and points out that minority groups get benefits that the Han do not, such as permission to have more than one child.
Interestingly, the riots in Xinjiang and the subsequent crackdown on the Muslim Uighur minority have drawn a muted response from many Muslim countries that may be wary of damaging lucrative trade ties with Beijing or attracting attention to their own attitudes toward political dissent.
Only Iran and Turkey have openly criticized China on its handling of the issue. It would be worthwhile to remember that Iran is busy dealing with its own unrest following a disputed presidential election, while Turkey has ethnic ties to China's Uighur minority.
As for the rest of the Muslim world, the violence in China has generated little reaction. Arab regimes "couldn't criticize the attacks on Chinese Muslims because they themselves have no democracy," said Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political analyst. "They're in the same boat as the Chinese government."
China is a major trading partner for many Arab countries including Sudan, Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Gulf nations. It is Jordan's third-largest trading partner.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is reported to have discussed the ethnic clashes in a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart and "reflected concerns among Islamic countries." High-ranking Iranian clerics have also condemned the crackdown and urged the government to complain to China.
So far, the most powerful response from the Muslim world has come from Turkey, where some 5,000 people protested in Istanbul to denounce the ethnic violence and called on their government to intervene.
Turks share ethnic and cultural bonds with the Turkic-speaking Uighurs. Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared the situation in Xinjiang to genocide, the foreign minister conveyed Turkey's concerns to China, and Turkey's industry minister urged Turks to stop buying Chinese goods. The government, however, did not seem to have any plans for an official boycott
Rebiya Kadeer, the US-based exiled Uighur businesswoman accused by China of masterminding the recent riots, has expressed her gratitude for Turkey's stance opposing the incidents in Xinjiang. She says China has been using its economic power to suppress other countries' reactions against the killings in Xinjiang. She has urged the US to raise its voice against the Beijing administration.
In the Arab world, two extremist Islamic websites affiliated with al-Qaida called for killing Han Chinese in the Middle East, noting that large communities of ethnic Chinese labourers work in Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
The Uighurs came under the influence of Islamic radicals during the Afghan jihad of the 1980s and the rebels were immediately put under control by Beijing. But the neighbouring countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan - received these rebels as they fled arrest in Xinjiang. Some are reported to have trickled into Pakistan too.
China has received good cooperation from Kazakhstan and Pakistan in containing the Uighur rebel groups. Its investment in Afghanistan - more than India's - is also a part of this containment policy. However, since Pakistan is fighting for control of parts of its territory, its cooperation with China can only be limited. Uighur rebels are reported to be present in Waziristan, but Beijing is aware of the difficulties faced by Islamabad in the areas occupied by a mixture of home-grown and international terrorists.
Xinjiang has undergone rapid economic and social development since the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, and people's living conditions have improved greatly.
According to Abudu Rezhake Tomur, Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the Urumqi riots have damaged the local economy and social development more than the global financial crisis. Abudu Rezhake said solidarity among ethnic groups and the newly-built ethnic relationship - equality, solidarity, collaboration and harmony - are the foundations of the local economy and are jointly established and maintained by different ethnic groups in this region over the past 50 years. To reduce the negative effects brought by the July 5 riots, Abudu Rezhake has urged the government to take decisive and effective measures to fight crime and deal with the rioters.
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