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Xinjiang to
boost security funding by 88%
REUTERS, BEIJING
Sunday, Jan 17, 2010, Page 4
The government of the restive frontier region of Xinjiang plans to nearly double
its public security spending and maintain communications controls following
bloody riots in the ethnically divided capital in July.
The Xinjiang government plans to spend nearly 2.89 billion yuan (US$424.8
million) this year, up 88 percent from last year¡¦s budgeted 1.54 billion yuan,
the China Daily said, citing a report from the annual legislative meeting.
The Exile group Uyghur American Association (UAA) said that it feared the near
doubling of the security budget ¡§will broaden the scope of the ongoing official
repression of Uyghurs and exacerbate ethnic tensions in the region.¡¨
¡§In the complete absence of any government acknowledgment of the deep social and
developmental inequalities that contributed to the unrest ... UAA is pessimistic
about the possibility of any improvement in stability or social progress in the
coming months,¡¨ it said.
The China Daily did not say what actual spending was last year, when 197 people
died in rioting after Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking people native to the
region, protested fatal Han Chinese attacks on Uighur workers in southern China.
Han Chinese launched revenge attacks on Uighur neighborhoods two days later.
Urumqi went into lockdown again when mass panic over rumors of syringe attacks
led tens of thousands of Han Chinese to demonstrate for the removal of the
region¡¦s party secretary, Wang Lequan (¤ı¼Ö¬u). At least five people were beaten to
death by the crowds.
Access to the Internet, with the exception of a few government sites,
international phone calls and text messages, has been cut off since the July
riots.
Communications controls will continue as part of an ongoing crackdown, the China
Daily said, quoting Eligen Imibakhi, chairman of the legislature¡¦s standing
committee.
¡§After the July 5 riot, we recognized that the communication network, such as
the Internet, has become an important tool for terrorists, separatists and
extremists to instigate violence in the region,¡¨ Imibakhi said. ¡§The government
will crack down on such activities this year.¡¨
Separately, a government source said that Xinjiang may create two special
economic zones, one in the north where most Han Chinese live and one in the
Uighur-dominated south, with tax and other incentives to attract investment to
the region.
The government might also use oil and natural gas-rich Xinjiang as a pilot zone
for reforms in China¡¦s resource tax, the source said.
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