EXPLAINER: 3 internal ‘WARS’ that are threatening the future of One China

The disputed territory that China controls is nearly as big as India.

By: Dhairya Maheshwari |
January 2, 2017 6:45 pm

China’s ongoing rise to economic and military superiority masks a stark reality about the Asian country’s ethnic fault lines and a deep-seated suspicion of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

Beijing is currently fighting off popular separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang, and anti-China sentiment in Hong Kong is on the rise. These three Chinese regions have a combined area of nearly three million square kilometres, which is nearly the size of India.

The local populations in these regions have time and again accused the Chinese state of repressive cultural policies and security forces of gross human rights abuses, both in order to consolidate the Communist Party’s rule.

The Communist Party, which has controlled China since emerging victorious in a bloody civil war in 1949, has however done a good job of keeping a lid on these insurgency movements, controlling the flow of information out of these restive regions so as not to attract international criticism.

According to some accounts, internal cohesion of the country is considered a major challenge by China’s CPC, and any movement advocating secession is seen as a direct threat to the legitimacy of their rule by the leadership.

Any reference to the volatile situation in restive regions of China is frowned up by Communist leaders. However, there is increasing awareness about China’s internal conflicts in recent years, shedding light on cracks in China’s ‘One China Policy’.

Here is an account of major separatist movements that have been raging in China:

Tibet

The predominantly Buddhist and geographically endowed region of Tibet was annexed by Beijing in 1951, an event described as illegal occupation by majority of Tibetans. The Chinese military has maintained a ramped up presence in Tibet since an indigenous uprising in 1959, which was brutally crushed, and also saw in its aftermath the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fleeing to India escaping persecution.

The scale of human rights violation in Tibet by Beijing speaks volumes about the growing dissent among Tibetans. According to US-based Freedom House, a think tank monitoring civil rights across the world, torture by state security agencies against ethnic population is widespread, more so since the most recent indigenous uprising in 2008.

(Source: Youtube/BBC, A video story about the Tibetan uprising in 2008)

In 2015, Freedom House also ranked Tibet as one of worst places in the world when it comes to civil liberties and freedom. As per some reports, Beijing has been putting its money on economic development as a strategy to combat the anti-China sentiment. The Tibetan Planning Conference in 2010 laid out a ten-year vision to bring the economy of Tibet on par with rest of China. According to Chinese government figures, Tibet has grown by 10 percent consistently over the last 10-year period.

However, the ethnic Tibetans have expressed concern that the benefits of Beijing’s largess haven’t trickled down to benefit them. Tibet is ranked among the poorest regions of China.

According to Free Tibet, a global campaign against Chinese rule in Tibet, at least 140 Tibetan monks have set themselves to fire in protest against Beijing’s rule since 2009.

Media reports have also highlighted that there is a growing perception that Beijing is trying to change the demography of Tibet by making more filling up newly created factories and development projects with Han people from other parts of China. A 2015 report highlighted that government’s recent efforts at ‘Sinicising’ Tibet had resulted in the local population make-up tilting in favour of Han Chinese lately. Beijing has denied accusations that it has been involved in a demographic war against Tibetans.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong became a part of China in 1997 after its independence from Britain. It is administered as a special administrative region, enjoying a good deal of autonomy in legislative matters from Beijing. It is managed under ‘One country two systems’ policy of China’s Communist Party, which guarantees Hong Kong’s political autonomy from Beijing at least until 2047.

However, relations between local authorities and their overlords in Beijing started to become strained after the unpopular political reforms in 2014 that required all the candidate standing for the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to be vetted by Beijing. The political rule sparked a massive popular protest, largely
peaceful, which saw students and academics staging sit-ins across the city. Dubbed as the Umbrella Revolution, its leaders claimed that Beijing’s interference in Hong Kong’s political process amounted to breaching of ‘One country two systems rule’.

(Source: Youtube/CNN)

Beijing last month reportedly approved a rule that would have barred ‘pro-Independence’ politicians from taking up a government position in Hong Kong, which is said to compounded the friction between Beijing and the people of Hong Kong.

Chinese authorities also this week criticised Hong Kong lawmakers demanding greater autonomy, saying any attempt to challenge Beijing’s sovereignty over Honk Kong won’t be tolerated.

“As far as Hong Kong is concerned, nobody is permitted do anything in any form that damage the country’s sovereignty and security, they are not allowed to challenge the central government’s authority or that of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, they are not allowed to use Hong Kong for infiltration subversion activities against the mainland to damage its social and political stability,” a high-ranking Communist Party official in charge of Hong Kong affairs,Zhang Xiaoming, reportedly said.

Around 59 per cent of Hong Kong’s population supported the stand of pro-Independence supporters during the ‘Umbrella Revolution’, according to a poll conducted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2014.

Xinjiang

The civil unrest in China’s Xinjiang region, where the local Uighurs are up in arms, against authorities in Beijing is believed to be the most dangerous for the stability of China. The predominantly Muslim region came under China’s rule in the eighteenth century,and has been at loggerheads with Chinese rulers since. A small part of Xinjiang, backed by the Soviets, was able to win independence in 1949 but it was short lived as Beijing quickly moved troops to take back the territory.

The movement for independence gained renewed momentum in early 1990s after the breaking up of the Soviet Union and emergence of Central Asian states with largely Muslim populations. The Communist government’s atheist policies, which suppress individual expression of religion, lie at the heart of the political dispute between Beijing and Xinjiang. Uighurs are Muslims who believe they have more in common with Central Asia than China.

In recent years, several armed Islamist groups have surfaced in response to what many Uighurs believe have been years of cultural oppression and harsh crackdown on political dissent by Chinese security forces. According to a conservative estimate, at least 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been slayed since 2007 alone.

Beijing has been applying hybrid strategy of crushing dissent and altering the demography of the restive region in a bid to quell the Uighur unrest. Many Uighurs have accused Beijing of ‘cultural genocide’, a reference to decreasing number of Uighurs and increasing Han population. Uighurs reportedly made up nearly 75 percent of the population of the region in 1953, which dropped to below 35 percent in 2010.

(Source: Youtube/Al-Jazeera)

The Communist Party’s discriminatory policies in Xinjiang are also believed to be triggering violence by separatists in the region. It is frequently highlighted in international media that the inter-ethnic violence between the Hans, the largest ethnic group in China, and Uighurs has become increasingly deadly in recent years and resulted in hundreds of casualties. Most recently, four attackers rammed their explosive-laden car into a local office of the Communist Party, resulting in multiple deaths including of all four attackers.

Beijing also carefully monitors and controls the movement of residents in Xinjiang. A government directive in November last year required of local residents in Xinjiang to deposit their passports with local police station and inform of their travel plans. Foreigners visiting the sensitive region already require a special permit from authorities. The restrictive travel rules exhibit anxiety on Beijing’s part over the prospect of interaction between Uighurs and the rest of the world.

Xinjiang is crucial in Beijing’s ambitious ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, with the region acting as a gateway to resource-rich Central Asian countries. The $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), connecting Xinjiang and Pakistan, is another massive development that makes the region integral to China’s trade and energy future.