China's Relations with Central Asian States and Problems with Terrorism

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: International relations

Type:

Coverage: China

Abstract:

For years, the United States has actively engaged in efforts to improve human rights conditions in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The U.S. Congress has passed numerous pieces of legislation that censure, and in many cases impose sanctions against, the PRC for violations of human rights and religious freedoms. But some analysts maintain that the events of September 11, 2001, have complicated the situation for U.S. policymakers who seek to pressure the Chinese government to improve its human rights record. These complications relate particularly to China's northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and its large population of Uighur Muslims. Various reports allege that some Uighur groups are engaged in "terrorist" activity in Xinjiang and throughout Central Asia�including Afghanistan. The Chinese government has been making such claims since the later 1990s, and Chinese officials have launched a series of crackdowns against Muslim activists in the XUAR. Human rights groups complain that the PRC is using the international campaign against terrorism as a pretext to intensify its crackdowns on Uighurs in the XUAR.

Analysts point out that a number of Uighur groups are reportedly associated with such elements as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Jamaati-Islami, and Tableegi Jamaat, groups that are allegedly involved in subversive activities throughout Central Asia.

Additionally, various reports suggest that links exist between the Al-Qaeda/Taliban forces and some Uighurs and other Central Asian groups operating in China and Central Asia. These alleged linkages have been a major source of consternation among Chinese and Central Asian officials, who argue that the Taliban movement in Afghanistan has helped to bring about a rise in radical Islamic militancy and greater instability in the region. Additionally, some analysts point out that the September 11 attacks adversely affected plans of the newly formed regional organization known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) made up of China, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Some analysts thought that the SCO had the potential to be a vital player in the post-Taliban regional security and rebuilding arrangement, especially since the SCO member states have been combating terrorism, extremism, and separatism (the so-called "three-evil forces") in Central Asia and Xinjiang during the past few years. However, the United States has seized the initiative on this issue and has formed a global coalition including key SCO member states. This suggests that in the interim, at least, China and the SCO, may play a reduced role in the region as long as the US-led coalition is engaged in the anti-terrorist war.

On August 26, 2002, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made a surprise and controversial announcement that the United States would now consider the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist group. Although Chinese officials were pleased with the U.S. decision, human rights groups and some U.S. allies publicly questioned the move, alleging that a hidden U.S. motivation in making the announcement was to garner Chinese support in the U.N. Security Council for the U.S. anti-Iraq campaign.