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1 1 (March 6, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govxyw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 1914 Updated March 6, 2019 Uyghurs in China Uyghurs (also spelled Uighurs) are an ethnic group living primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the People's Republic of China's (PRC's) northwest. Uyghurs speak a Turkic language and practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam. The XUAR, often referred to simply as Xinjiang (pronounced SHIN-jyahng), is a provincial-level administrative region which comprises about one-sixth of China's total land area and borders eight countries. The region is rich in minerals, and has China's largest coal and natural gas reserves and a fifth of the country's oil reserves. Beijing hopes to promote Xinjiang as a key link in China's Belt and Road Initiative, which includes Chinese-backed infrastructure projects and energy development in neighboring Central and South Asia. Source: CRS using U.S. Department of State Boundaries; Esri; Global Administrative Areas; DeLorme; NGA. Some Uyghurs refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan, a term regarded as subversive by PRC leaders. All or parts of Xinjiang have been under the political control or influence of Chinese, Mongols, and Russians for long periods of the region's documented history, along with periods of Turkic or Uyghur rule. Uyghurs played a role in the establishment of two short-lived East Turkestan Republics in the 1930s and 1940s. The PRC asserted control over Xinjiang in 1949 and established the XUAR in 1955. Uyghurs once were the predominant ethnic group in the XUAR; they now constitute roughly 45% of the region's population of 24 million, or around 10.5 million, as many Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, have migrated there, particularly to the provincial capital, Urumqi. Many Uyghurs complain that Hans have benefitted disproportionately from economic development in Xinjiang. Human Rights Issues Since an outbreak of demonstrations and ethnic unrest in 2009 and clashes involving Uyghurs and Xinjiang security personnel that spiked between 2013 and 2015, PRC leaders have sought to stabilize the XUAR through more intensive security measures aimed at combatting terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. According to PRC official data, criminal arrests in Xinjiang increased by over 300% in the past five years compared to the previous five. Two prominent Uyghurs serving life sentences for state security crimes are Ilham Tohti (convicted in 2014), a Uyghur economics professor who had maintained a website related to Uyghur issues, and Gulmira Imin (convicted in 2010), who had managed a Uyghur language website and participated in the 2009 demonstrations. In tandem with a new national religious policy, also referred to as Sinicization, XUAR authorities have instituted measures to assimilate Uyghurs into Han Chinese society and reduce the influences of Uyghur, Islamic, and Arabic cultures and languages. The XUAR government enacted a law in 2017 that prohibits expressions of extremification, and placed restrictions, often imposed arbitrarily, upon face veils, beards and other grooming, some traditional Uyghur customs including wedding and funeral rituals, and halal food practices. Local authorities reportedly also have banned some Islamic names for children. Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang reportedly have been demolished as part of what the government calls a mosque rectification campaign; others have been Sinicized-minarets have been taken down, onion domes have been replaced by traditional Chinese roofs, and Islamic motifs and Arabic writings have been removed. Some Uyghurs-estimates range from hundreds to thousands-have fled religious restrictions and persecution in China during the past decade. Many have migrated through Southeast Asia to Turkey, which has a large Uyghur community. In response to pressure from Beijing, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand repatriated nearly 150 Uyghurs to the PRC between 2009 and 2015. By contrast, the Hui, another Muslim minority group in China who number around 11 million, largely have practiced their faith with less government interference. The Hui are more geographically dispersed and culturally assimilated than the Uyghurs, are generally physically indistinguishable from Hans, and do not speak a non- Chinese language. Many experts attribute the proliferation and intensification of security measures in the region to new national and provincial counterterrorism laws and to the leadership of Chen Quanguo, the former Party Secretary of Tibet, who was appointed Party Secretary of the XUAR in 2016. Recent security measures include the following: * Police Presence and Surveillance: Thousands of convenience police stations, furnished with

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