Gheyret Niyaz's sentence unfortunate but not ethnic discrimination

Comments on Rebiya Kadeer “Beijing silences voices for freedom”, 11/08/2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/beijing-silences-voices-for-freedom/story-e6frg6zo-1225903619671
Rebiya Kadeer says the sentence of Uighur journalist Gheyret Niyaz to 15 years jail is harsh.

That may be true by western standards.

However, whether that is harsher than other sentences of similar cases of Han people in a comparative sense is not clear and neither are its ethnic implications. China is notorious and very harsh in sentencing.

Another point, one has to be in an appropriate perspective on the issue of migration of Han people to Xinjiang. Nowadays, the Chinese government does not force Han people to move here or there.

Most migrations are voluntary in response to economic activities and opportunities, and are not dissimilar to internal migrations in any other countries.

I don't have information and therefore don't know how much Han migrations to Xinjiang in recent years.

But saying migrations to there is ignoring the fact that that is part of China and every Chinese is equal and should be entitled to have the freedom to seek opportunities there.

That is not different from racial or ethnic discrimination. To the contrary, one needs to know that in China ethnic minorities including Uighur people enjoy better policies than the majority Han people.


The "one child" family planning policy, for example, have only applied to Han, not to ethnic minorities. That has been a big policy in China in terms of human rights and ethnic policies.
The right thing to do is treat everyone equally irrespective their races and ethnicity, and afford the same freedom to everyone. The country belongs to all its people, every and each one of them. They should together determine how the country should be developed.

Real autonomy for Xinjiang and how?

Comments on Mike West “Xinjiang riots: A jaundiced hack’s-eye-view of China’s restless Western frontier”, 17/09/2009, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/09/17/xinjiang-riots-a-jaundiced-hacks-eye-view/

It is an interesting to see what real autonomy means and who it can be implemented in Xinjiang without real changes in the country's whole political system.

I don't have information on the ethnic compositions in Xinjiang. But let's consider two scenarios:

1. The Han people are the majority in Xinjiang. Under this scenario, what is likely to be the power composition? Would it satisfy the Uyghur if the Han people have majority in the autonomous government?

2. The Uyghur people are the majority. Under this scenario, the Uyghur people are likely to be in majority in government. Does it want to share power with other minorities, mainly the Hans?

3. What would be the policy in terms of immigration to the region? Should it be restrictive to some ethnic groups, or be open to all Chinese irrespective to their ethnic groups? If restrictive, is that still part of China and why don’t others have the rights to live there?