Comments on: Chinese authorities link Xinjiang unrest to Hizb ut-Tahrir

By: The New Dominion » Report of Chinese Hostage Execution Video, Possible Central Asia Link

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:40:53 +0000

[...] we reported on a Chinese press release asserting the involvement of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT), an Islamic movement with a largely Central Asian and Pakistani base, in the March protests [...]

By: davesgonechina

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:29:40 +0000

Hey guys, Reuters says:

A mainland-backed paper in Hong Kong reported this week that Tibetan and Uighur forces were also collaborating with al Qaeda to target the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

*Sigh*. They always do this. No link, not even the name of the paper. But I can tell you its almost definitely Ta Kung Pao or Wen Wei Po. 99% sure its one of those two, they’re both pro-PRC and they print sensational XJ stories.

By: The New Dominion » Details on New Olympic Terrorst Plot by Xinjiang Militants Emerge

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:12:54 +0000

[...] the country at the end of last year (begging the quite important question: from where? Pakistan? Uzbekistan, maybe?), and that they were ordered (from somewhere else) to have their attacks ready by April, i.e. now. [...]

By: Rähmätjan

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:35:39 +0000

I will translate this post word by word and will write a comment here..
i think it’s good thing that lot of peoples pay attention to this problems.

By: on a slow boat » Blog Archive » You’re all terrorists.

on a slow boat » Blog Archive » You’re all terrorists. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:04:59 +0000

[...] well as this interesting post at the New Dominion concerning the China’s attitude concerning Islamist group Hizb al Tahrir seem like two prime [...]

By: taylor

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:44:06 +0000

Is there a significant difference between middle eastern and central Asian Islamic extremism? I seem to remember that Al Qaeda had a sizable presence in Uzbekistan?

If HUT (I don’t really know too much about them) is indeed a peaceful organization, this dovetails nicely with the recent PRC statement that “To our knowledge, the next plan of the `Tibet Independence’ forces is to organise suicide squads to launch violent attacks. They claim that they fear neither bloodshed nor sacrifice”, making it the second time this week that China has portrayed ostensibly nonviolent political groups as terrorists.

By: Porfiriy

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:05:11 +0000

That’s an excellent point, and I think that the other writer here, Opke Hessip, has actually addressed the possibility - or rather, reality - of religious movements springing into existence in response to oppressive policies rather than oppressive policies coming about in response to religious movements. Unfortunately, I’m not well versed in the history of HUT in Central Asia, but one of the questions that strikes me as I look at the situation from the China perspective is, how did they get so well established in the Central Asian states in the first place? I would guess that they were able to move in a lot smoothly in the confusion and rapid destabilization that occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union. China, however, represents a very different playing field.

One of the things I’d like to highlight as someone who’s been watching China produced news on Xinjiang for a while is whether or not HUT was actually involved in the unrest of a few weeks ago. You make a solid point about a self-fulfilling prophecy occuring, but I’d wager (and sadly there really is no way to verify this) that HUT wasn’t involved in unrest, and so the first part of your observation - people being pulled off the streets and set to jail - will probably happen here, I’m not so sure about the second one. Are the HUT activists already in jail for the innocent people to meet and get into cahoots with? If they are, why has China only now abruptly decided to link Xinjiang troubles to a Central Asian religious organization? More likely the only compatriots people will find in Chinese prisons are other disgruntled citizens who say, “Uh, I was charged for being a Hizb ut-Tahrir plotter… what is that?” However, I do acknowledge the possibility of the self-fulfilling prophecy coming to fruition if and when such people are released in prison, OR, through the family members of the imprisoned. As in, well, if my cousin was charged with being a member of HUT, why don’t I travel to Uzbekistan/Kyrgyzstan/whatever and find out more about this little organization?

But yeah! In the end, I think the jailing and the finger pointing and the complete lack of dialog in the end will result in more instability than less.

By: Sam Jaffer

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:03:20 +0000

Solid post, but what possibility is there that this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Human rights reports link the Russian backed Uzbek regime of simply grabbing anybody off the street, charging them as members of HT, and then when they are sentenced to long jail terms for their political activities, they come in contact with HT members and DO in fact become members — in prison.