We note the outburst of inter-ethnic violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Province (China). The initial clashes resulted in at least 156 deaths and 800 injuries, with significant destruction of property.

It has been the worst ethnic and provincial violence since the cultural revolution, presenting Xinjiang as a problem of equal importance to that of Tibet. The revolt was not quickly suppressed, with Han Chinese turning themselves into a mob at one stage to wreak vengeance on the Uighurs.

The situation seems to be one of complete failure by one side to comprehend that the other side does not feel that colonial modernisation and settlement is progressive and beneficial – a situation repeated all over the world when one ethnic group uses superior resources to drive into the territory of another.

The ambivalence of the US towards this crisis is widely noted. On the one hand, after the Iranian crisis, it looks decidedly odd for the US to be so hesitant to support the self-determination of the Uighurs.

On the other hand, the US clearly does not want to upset the economically important relationship with China and it is aware that Uighur self-determination has been associated with radical Islamist insurgency (the Uighurs held at Guantanamo remain a diplomatic nightmare for Washington).

The Uighurs are particularly resentful because they believe that they get less attention than the Tibetans just because they are Muslims. It is certainly true that they do not have a diaspora in California like the Iranians or a New Age/Buddhist ‘namaste’ bloc in the American middle classes like the Tibetans.

The detained Uighurs have also helped associate the Uighur cause with the 9/11 assault. This has boxed the anti-Chinese Republicans into a corner in protesting their cause.

Finally, it seems as if, though the Han Chinese are the ‘oppressors’ by dint of invasion, it is the Uighurs who are resorting to violent resistance in the first instance.

Americans have a bit of a blind spot to resistance against settlement as we see in the Palestinian case, almost certainly because it raises difficult questions about their own state-creation process. All in all, the Uighurs cannot expect much outside help in the short term.

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