Three alls: `eat all, rob all and distribute all'

The Chinese authorities are not totally unaware of the unscrupulousness, but they just turn a blind eye to it so long as the Uighurs do not oppose the government. "Compared to `splittism,' corruption is not a big problem," said Ayxem.

"Suppressing the East Turkestan separatist movement is their first priority," Ayxem said.

As it applies everywhere in China, "stability first," is also the Chinese authorities' top policy for Xinjiang.

Obviously, other than the so-called "splittism," nothing seems critical to the current government's rule.

"All Xinjiang's officials are corrupt, whether they're Han or Uighurs or other nationalities," Ayxem concluded. "Everybody seizes the opportunity and takes advantage of political power to pocket money."

"The private slogan for the corrupters is a new `three-alls policy' (?T光政稅) : eat all, rob all and distribute all (|Y光,搶光,?壎?/CHINESE>)," borrowing from the phrase "burn all, kill all, loot all," once reportedly said by the Japanese invaders in China.

This is part five of a seven-part series by Cao Chang-ching. Today's article was translated by Taipei Times staff translator Francis Huang.