China's Changing Strategic Concerns: The Impact on Human Rights in Xinjiang

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The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled "China's Changing Strategic Concerns: The Impact on Human Rights in Xinjiang" on Wednesday, November 16, from 10:00 - 11:30 AM in Room 480 of the Ford House Office Building.

Since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and independent states were established in Central Asia, the Chinese government has tightened controls over expressions of ethnic identity, particularly among members of the Uighur ethnic group in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Chinese government has equated peaceful expressions of Uighur identity with "subversive terrorist plots." The Xinjiang government has increased surveillance and arrests of Uighurs suspected of "harboring separatist sentiments" since popular movements ousted Soviet-era leaders in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. This roundtable addressed how China's security concerns in Central Asia and Western China affect human rights in Xinjiang.