Chinese leaders removed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief of the restive western city of Urumqi yesterday, trying to appease public anger following sometimes violent protests this week that the government worries could re-ignite deadly ethnic rioting.
Xinhua news agency, in announcing the decision, did not give a reason for the firing of Li Zhi (栗智), but protesters who marched in their thousands on Thursday and Friday have demanded Li and his boss be dismissed for failing to provide adequate public safety in the city.
A series of stabbings with hypodermic needles that the government blames on Muslim separatists touched off the protests, which left five dead, and further unnerved the city, which is still uneasy following rioting in July that the government says killed 197, mostly members of China’s Han majority attacked by Muslim Uighurs.
Trying to get control of the situation, leaders replaced Li with Zhu Hailun (朱海倫), who has been the party’s top official in charge of law enforcement in Urumqi. Also sacked, Xinhua said, was an official in the police department for Xinjiang, China’s western-most region that abuts Central Asia and whose capital is Urumqi. The official’s name was not released.
Besides assuaging public anger, the Chinese leadership hopes that sacking Li will alleviate calls to remove Xinjiang party secretary Wang Lequan (王樂泉), a member of the ruling Politburo and an ally of President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Both Li and Wang took visible roles in trying to defuse the protests, separately wading into crowds to meet with protesters on Thursday, only to be greeted with shouts of “step down.”
TROOP PATROLS
By yesterday, thousands of troops, backed by tanks and metal barricades, patrolled Xinjiang’s regional capital. Paramilitary police manned checkpoints on streets around government and Communist Party headquarters, where security forces fired tear gas on Friday to disperse angry crowds of Han Chinese who say the government isn’t doing enough to protect them from extremists among the native Uighur population.
Entrances to the city’s Muslim quarter remained blocked by thousands of troops backed by heavy metal barricades and tanks.
Traffic was barred from much of the downtown area in the city of 2.5 million and many shops were closed.
There were no updated figures for the number of needle attacks, but unconfirmed reports of new incidents continued to spread through agitated crowds. Angry Han rushed to the southern edge of the city’s central square after people said two Uighur men had attacked an 11-year-old boy. Riot police quickly cleared the area.
The needle attacks began on Aug. 20, though were not publicly reported until Wednesday following days of rumors. Urumqi Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong (張鴻) said on Friday that 21 suspects had been detained, with four people indicted. He said all were Uighurs, while most victims were Han.
VICTIMS
Local police said hospitals in Urumqi were treating 531 people who believed they were attacked, Xinhua said. Of those, 106 showed obvious signs of needle attacks, it said.
Details of the protest deaths were few, although Zhang said on Friday that they all occurred on Thursday, the first day of the street protests, and resulted from “small-scale clashes.” He said two of those killed were “innocent,” while investigations into the other three deaths were continuing.
A report in Urumqi’s Morning Post yesterday said a “small number of people became overexcited and lost control of themselves” during Thursday’s demonstrations. It said casualties included police, paramilitary troops and innocent civilians, but gave no breakdown.
The World Uyghur Congress, a German-based exile group, said Han Chinese attacked more than 10 Uighurs during the protests and tried to storm the Nanmen mosque, but were stopped by authorities.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS