china clamps down on muslim region

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China clampdown on Muslim

regionhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/768815.stm29 May, 2000Duncan

HewittChina has launched a mass propaganda campaign against separatism in the

mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang following a spate of pro-independence

terrorist attacks.State media said thousands of officials were being sent from

house to house in villages near the far western city of Kashgar to warn

residents not to support separatism or illegal religious activities.China has

said it is winning the war against separatists and Islamic fundamentalists in

Xinjiang, where more than half the 15 million population are Muslim. Yet while

dozens of people have been executed for terrorist offences in recent years,

attacks have continued, with up to 19 policemen killed in the north-western

region last year. ReligionThe Xinjiang Daily said mass propaganda teams were

now touring villagesnear Kashgar, close to the border with Pakistan in an area

which hasseen frequent unrest.It said the teams had gone from door to door

stressing China's claim toXinjiang.Film shows and exhibitions have also been

organised, while one countystaged a drama based on a series of local terrorist

incidents.The paper said the campaign had yielded results with members of

thepublic reporting a number of terrorist suspects to the police.But it also

warned of the dangers of what it called pan-Islamism andpan-Turkism.Porous

bordersThe warnings are a reminder of China's fears about the influence

ofradical Islamic thinking filtering in from central Asia, and the role

ofexiles in neighbouring states and in Turkey, with which Xinjiang'smajority

Uighur population shares linguistic ties.Turkey's leaders pledged not to

support separatism in Xinjiang whenChinese President Jiang Zemin visited the

country last month.Yet the mainly desert region's borders remain porous.And in

a sign of the challenge faced by the authorities, the XinjiangDaily said that

separatists had been using what it described asdespicable tricks to persuade

communist party members to quit the party.

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