Congressional Executive Commission on China Hearing, "Tensions in Xinjiang - Are Chinese Policies Toward Uyghurs Sustainable?"

This hearing will examine the sustainability of Chinese socioeconomic and security policies in light of recent tensions, and will consider the effects of regional instability in the broader Central Asian context.

Deadly clashes that took place in the spring and summer of 2013 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) raised concerns about the capacity of China’s ethnic policy in the XUAR to address the root causes of regional instability. Human rights advocates and other international observers have voiced concern about religious restrictions, security checks and constraints on expressions of Uyghur cultural identity, which they say have contributed to unrest in the XUAR. Chinese authorities define regional unrest as terrorism and religious extremism, and highlight official efforts to foster regional development and stability through trade and investment. Chinese efforts to forge diplomatic, security and trade connections with neighboring Central Asian countries will have an impact that extends beyond the region to nations, including the United States, that are stakeholders in Central Asian security. This hearing will examine the sustainability of Chinese socioeconomic and security policies in light of recent tensions, and will consider the effects of regional instability in the broader Central Asian context.

This hearing will be webcast live at http://www.cecc.gov/events/hearings/tensions-in-xinjiang-are-chinese-policies-toward-uyghurs-sustainable

Witnesses:

Rebiya Kadeer, President, World Uyghur Congress

Sean Roberts, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs; Director, International Development Studies Program, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Gardner Bovingdon, Associate Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and International Studies, Indiana University

Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program; Senior Research Professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Chairman, Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm 

Click here to download a copy of the Commission’s full 2012 Annual Report. The Commission’s 2013 Annual Report will be available on October 10.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, established by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 as China prepared to enter the World Trade Organization, is mandated by law to monitor human rights, including worker rights, and the development of the rule of law in China. The Commission by mandate also maintains a database of information on political prisoners in China-individuals who have been imprisoned by the Chinese government for exercising their civil and political rights under China’s Constitution and laws or under China’s international human rights obligations. All of the Commission’s reporting and its Political Prisoner Database are available to the public online via the Commission’s Web site, http://www.cecc.gov.