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A30 world news
Dialuna 11 OctOber 2021

Terror & Tourism: Xinjing eases it’s grip, but fear remains

the surface, on two rare trips cuse the Chinese govern- cultural ties to Turkey. Since
to Xinjiang I made for The ment of genocide, pointing the Communist Party took
Associated Press, one on a to plunging birthrates and control of Xinjiang in 1949,
state-guided tour for the for- the mass detentions. The au- Beijing’s leaders have debat-
eign press. thorities say their goal is not ed whether stricter or softer
to eliminate Uyghurs but measures are more effective
A bike seller’s eyes widened to integrate them, and that in absorbing the vast terri-
in alarm when he learned I harsh measures are necessary tory, half the size of India.
was a foreigner. He picked up to curb extremism.
his phone and began dialing For decades, policy in Xin-
the police. Regardless of intent, one jiang swung back and forth.
thing is clear: Many of the Even as the state granted
A convenience store cashier practices that made the Uy- special benefits to minori-
chatted idly about declining ghur culture a living thing ties, such as hiring quotas
sales – then was visited by – raucous gatherings, strict and extra points on entrance
the shadowy men tailing us. Islamic habits, heated de- exams, glass ceilings, racism,
When we dropped by again, bate – have been restricted and restrictions on religion
(AP) — The razor wire prisons, its control of Xin- she didn’t say a word, instead or banned. In their place, alienated and angered many
that once ringed public jiang has entered a new era. making a zipping motion the authorities have crafted Uyghurs.
buildings in China’s far Chinese authorities have across her mouth, pushing a sterilized version, one ripe
northwestern Xinjiang re- scaled back many of the past us and running out of for commercialization. The harder the government
gion is nearly all gone. most draconian and visible the store. tried to control the Uyghurs,
aspects of the region’s high- Xinjiang officials took us on the more stubbornly many
Gone, too, are the middle tech police state. The panic At one point, I was tailed by a tour to the Grand Bazaar in clung to their identity. A few
school uniforms in military that gripped the region a few a convoy of a dozen cars, an the center of Urumqi, which resorted to violence, carrying
camouflage and the armored years ago has subsided con- eerie procession through the has been rebuilt for tour- out bombings and knifings
personnel carriers rumbling siderably, and a sense of nor- silent streets of Aksu at 4 in ists, like many other cities in against a state they believed
around the homeland of the mality is creeping back in. the morning. Anytime I tried Xinjiang. Here, there are gi- would never accord them
Uyghurs. Gone are many of to chat with someone, the ant plastic bearded Uyghur genuine respect. Hundreds
the surveillance cameras that But there is no doubt about minders would draw in close, men and a giant plastic Uy- of innocent civilians, both
once glared down like birds who rules, and evidence of straining to hear every word. ghur instrument. A nearby Han Chinese and Uyghur,
from overhead poles, and the the terror of the last four museum for traditional naan perished in increasingly
eerie eternal wail of sirens in years is everywhere. It’s hard to know why Chi- bread sells tiny plastic naan deadly attacks.
the ancient Silk Road city of nese authorities have shifted keychains, Uyghur hats and
Kashgar. It’s seen in Xinjiang’s cities, to subtler methods of con- fridge magnets. Crowds of The debate ended soon after
where many historic centers trolling the region. It may be Han Chinese snap selfies. President Xi Jinping’s rise
Uyghur teenage boys, once a have been bulldozed and that searing criticism from to power in 2012. The state
rare sight, now flirt with girls the Islamic call to prayer no the West, along with punish- James Leibold, a prominent chose forced assimilation,
over pounding dance music longer rings out. It’s seen in ing political and commercial scholar of Xinjiang ethnic detaining Uyghurs and other
at rollerblading rinks. One Kashgar, where one mosque sanctions, have pushed au- policy, calls it the “museumi- minorities indiscriminately
cab driver blasted Shakira as was converted into a café, and thorities to lighten up. Or fication” of Uyghur culture. by the thousands and brand-
she raced through the streets. a section of another has been it may simply be that China Chinese officials call it prog- ing them as suspected “ter-
turned into a tourist toilet. judges it has come far enough ress. rorists.”
Four years after Beijing It’s seen deep in the country- in its goal of subduing the
launched a brutal crackdown side, where Han Chinese of- Uyghurs and other mostly China has long struggled Today, many checkpoints and
that swept up to a million ficials run villages. Muslim minorities to relax to integrate the Uyghurs, a police stations are gone and
or more Uyghurs and other its grip. historically Muslim group the bombings have stopped,
mostly Muslim minorities And it’s seen in the fear that of 13 million people with but the racial divide remains
into detention camps and was ever-present, just below Uyghur activists abroad ac- close linguistic, ethnic and clear.

Kurz to quit as Austrian chancellor amid corruption probe

(AP) — Austrian Chan- searches at the chancellery pression. In a separate case, be grateful if the presump- messages that have surfaced
cellor Sebastian Kurz said and his party’s offices. But its anti-corruption authorities tion of innocence in our in recent days. “Some of them
Saturday that he will step junior coalition partner, the put Kurz under investiga- country really applied to ev- are messages that I definitely
down in a bid to defuse Greens, said Friday that Kurz tion in May on suspicion of eryone.” wouldn’t formulate the same
a government crisis trig- couldn’t remain as chancellor making false statements to a way again, but I am only a
gered by prosecutors’ an- and demanded that his party parliamentary commission, He insisted that the accusa- human being with emotions
nouncement that he is a nominate an “irreproachable an allegation he also rejected. tions against him were be- and also flaws,” he said.
target of a corruption in- person” to replace him. The ing “mixed up” with old text
vestigation. coalition government took Opposition leaders had called
office in January, 2020. for Kurz to go and planned to
Kurz, 35, said he has pro- bring a no-confidence mo-
posed to Austria’s president Kurz and his close associates tion against him Tuesday in
that Foreign Minister Alex- are accused of trying to se- parliament.
ander Schallenberg become cure his rise to the leadership
chancellor. But Kurz himself of his party and the country He insisted again that the ac-
will remain in a key politi- with the help of manipulat- cusations against him “are
cal position: he said he will ed polls and friendly reports false and I will be able to clear
become the head of his con- in the media, financed with this up — I am deeply con-
servative Austrian People’s public money. Kurz, who vinced of that.”
Party’s parliamentary group. became the People’s Party
leader and then chancellor in Kurz said of the Greens’ de-
Kurz’s party had closed ranks 2017, denies wrongdoing. mand for his replacement:
behind him after the pros- “Many tell me that this is un-
ecutors’ announcement on The Greens said the probe fair and ... you can imagine
Wednesday, which followed created a “disastrous” im- that I personally would also