Redefining China’s Xinjiang policy: Rhetoric or reality?

Abstract

The Ürümqi riot (2009) in Xinjiang and frequent ethnic conflicts in other ethnic minority regions like Tibet has initiated a debate on reforming China’s ethnic management, calling for the adoption of a ‘second generation’ ethnic policy. The Chinese scholars and the minzu establishment (“ethnic” lobby) failed to reach a consensus on this much discussed and debated alternative. However, the Beijing and the Xinjiang authorities framed a new slogan of achieving ‘everlasting stability’ in Xinjiang proposing inclusive development and inter-ethnic unity as the ultimate objectives of the Chinese state in Xinjiang region. In this context, the paper explores the trajectory of China’s Xinjiang policy in the post-Ürümqi riot (2009) scenario. This paper discusses the scholarly debates on the direction of ethnic policy and examines the nature of its impact on China’s Xinjiang policy in the post-2009 period. It also explores the strategies of the Chinese state in the post-2009 Xinjiang to examine whether the regime subscribes to any radical shift in its approach towards Xinjiang, complying with the ethnic unity and stability slogans raised by the regime. The paper suggests that there is a comprehensive harmonization of Uyghurs in the post- Ürümqi Xinjiang that not only refutes any radical shift in Xinjiang policy but ensures continuity and change in China’s treatment of the region.