Police in China’s restive Xinjiang region have launched a fresh manhunt aimed at capturing fugitives wanted in connection with deadly ethnic violence in July this year, state media said yesterday.
The regional public security bureau’s “Strike Hard and Rectify” campaign, which began on Sunday, will run until the end of the year, the Xinjiang Daily reported.
“We must expand the scope of our work on capturing fugitives, do better to gather, analyze and research all intelligence and focus on cases and clues related to violent acts of terrorism,” the report said, citing Xinjiang police.
“We must strictly prevent violent acts of terrorism and ensure stability,” it said.
Violence between Uighurs and members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group erupted on July 5 in the regional capital Urumqi, leaving nearly 200 people dead, according to the official toll.
Last month, 21 people were convicted for their roles in the unrest, with 12 sentenced to death. Nine of the sentences were upheld in appeal hearings last week, while the other three reportedly elected not to appeal.
The US-based Uighur American Association, a court in Yili prefecture some 500km west of Urumqi, last week jailed 19 people for state security crimes, some linked to the July unrest.
Authorities have blamed the Xinjiang unrest on “ethnic separatists,” without providing any evidence.
But Uighurs say the violence was triggered when police cracked down on peaceful protests over a brawl in late June at a factory in southern China that state media said left two Uighurs dead.
Human Rights Watch said last month that they had documented at least 43 Uighurs, including children, who remain unaccounted for after earlier round-ups by security forces following the clashes.
The real number could be much higher, the group said.
China’s roughly 8 million Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language, have long complained of religious, political and cultural oppression by Chinese authorities, and tensions have simmered in Xinjiang for years.
China says it faces a serious terrorist threat from Muslim separatists in the region, but rights groups have accused Beijing of exaggerating the threat to justify its tight controls.
The new security crackdown comes one month after the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China on Oct. 1, during which security forces maintained calm in Xinjiang, the newspaper said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from