Central Asian Uighurs Fear Crackdown Could Spread

Paramilitary police officers search a car near the Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang...

Paramilitary police officers search a car near the Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, western China's Xinjiang province, Tuesday, July 14, 2009. The capital of China's western Xinjiang region was tense amid tight security Tuesday, a day after police fatally shot two Uighur men and wounded a third, more than a week after deadly ethnic rioting. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(AP)

Anguished by ethnic violence in China but fearful that crackdowns on their minority group could spread, Uighur activists across Central Asia said Tuesday they have urged local communities to avoid large public protests.

Up to half a million Uighurs live in the former Soviet states west of China, prompting concerns that ethnic clashes in China's western Xinjiang region could trigger a wave of violence across the region.

Tensions still run high in Xinjiang amid tight security, more than a week after the regional capital, Urumqi, erupted in riots that the government says claimed 184 lives. Chinese authorities say most of those killed were Han Chinese — an assertion denied by international Uighur rights groups.

Public reactions among Uighur minorities in Central Asia have been muted, however, amid fears that governments might crack down on protesters to appease China, the regional giant.

"This has been a strong psychological blow for Uighurs in Kazakhstan," said Khakhriman Khozhamberdi, who leads an Uighur political movement in that country. About 300,000 ethnic Uighurs live in Kazakhstan, the largest population outside China.

"But no protests are taking place here," Khozhamberdi said. "Instead we are holding traditional religious ceremonies as a mark of respect for the dead. We are calling on everybody to remain peaceful."

The far-flung Uighur diaspora in Central Asia are descendants of refugees that escaped Xinjiang during the Chinese conquest of that region in 1870s. Like many other Central Asian peoples, they speak a Turkic language and most are Muslims.

During the Soviet era, China had little influence in this energy-rich land of sand and steppe. Today, Beijing's political and economic influence is rapidly expanding.

In April, Beijing agreed to lend Kazakhstan about $5 billion in exchange for an increased stake in the country's energy sector.

In Kyrgyzstan, home to around 60,000 ethnic Uighurs, activists hoped that 2,000 would come to a protest outside the Chinese embassy after news of the violence in Xinjiang. But those plans were shelved due to concerns that authorities would use force to disrupt any large-scale demonstrations ahead of presidential elections later this month.