ウイグル族暴動 強圧的な政策では解決しない

The Yomiuri Shimbun(Jul. 9, 2009)
China's ethnic policies root cause of Uygur riots
ウイグル族暴動　強圧的な政策では解決しない（7月9日付・読売社説）

The outbreak of bloody riots in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region provides a confirmation of how intractable China's ethnic conflicts are.
　新疆ウイグル自治区で起きた流血の暴動は、中国が抱える民族対立が、いかに根深いものであるかを改めて示した。

In the region's capital, Urumqi, the minority Uygurs staged a demonstration against the authorities, clashing with government paramilitary forces, attacking Han Chinese and setting fire to stores and vehicles.
　区都ウルムチ市内で、当局への抗議デモをしていた少数民族のウイグル族が、軍治安部隊と衝突した際、多数派の漢民族を襲い、商店や車両を焼き打ちにした。

The situation then escalated as Han Chinese took to the streets to protest the riot. The unrest appears to now be spreading to other regions.
　その後、漢民族が報復デモに乗り出すなどエスカレートし、暴動は他の地域へも波及する勢いを見せている。

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday rushed back from Italy to China before the opening of the Group of Eight leading industrialized powers' summit meeting. It seems Hu, as the supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, is taking the situation very seriously.
　胡錦濤国家主席が８日、主要国首脳会議（サミット）の開催を待たずに、滞在先のイタリアから急きょ帰国したのも、党・政府の最高指導者として、事態を重く受け止めたからだろう。

The riots were triggered when Uygur and Han Chinese seasonal workers clashed at a toy factory in southern Guangdong Province at the end of June. Several thousands of Uygurs participated in a demonstration in Urumqi to demand a full account of what had occurred.
　発端は６月末、広東省のおもちゃ工場でのウイグル族と漢民族の出稼ぎ労働者同士による衝突だった。事件の真相究明を求めて、ウルムチで数千人規模のウイグル族がデモに参加した。

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Deadlier than the Tibet riots

According to an official announcement, the riots left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured, although the ethnicity of the victims was not given.
　公式発表だけで、死者は１５６人、負傷者は１０００人以上に上る。漢民族、ウイグル族の別は不明だ。

The death toll was nearly eight times that of the 20 or so who lost their lives in last year's Tibet riots. We wonder whether excessively tight security by the government forces was partly to blame.
死者数は昨年の大規模チベット騒乱での約２０人の８倍近くに達する。軍治安当局の過剰警備がなかったのかどうか。

In Xinjiang, where many Muslim Uygurs live, separatists and independence movements have started to surface since the downfall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
　イスラム教徒であるウイグル族が多く住む新疆では、１９９０年代初めの旧ソ連崩壊以降、分離独立の動きが目立ち始めた。

However, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Washington and the United Nations moved to identify some Muslim extremist groups active within Xinjiang as terrorist groups. The Chinese authorities have since carried out thorough crackdown on those groups on the pretext they are no more than antiterrorist measures.
　しかし、２００１年の米同時テロをきっかけに、米国や国連は、新疆内で活動する一部の過激派イスラム組織をテロ集団に認定した。中国当局は、テロ対策を大義名分として、徹底的な過激派の取り締まり作戦を展開した。

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Govt policy tilted toward Han

China's policy on its ethnic minorities calls for the economic development of remote regions where many non-Han Chinese live, and the subsequent relocation of Han Chinese from the nation's coastal areas to those remote regions.
　中国の少数民族対策は、非漢民族が多く住む辺境地域を経済開発する一方で、沿海部から多数の漢民族を移住させるものだ。

Under this policy, Uygurs in Xinjiang have complained that Han Chinese are being given preferential treatment when it comes to reaping the economic benefits deriving from the development of abundant natural resources in Uygur areas, such as petroleum and natural gas.
　これに対し、新疆のウイグル族は、石油や天然ガスなど豊かな天然資源の開発による経済的な恩恵が、漢民族に優先配分されている、と批判していた。

Dissent among the Uygurs also has been building for long time over ethnic discrimination at workplaces and schools, and a lack of respect shown for their independent language, culture and religion. In addition, a more general suppression of Muslims has been noticeable.
　職場や学校での民族差別や、独自の言語、文化、宗教への軽視に対する長年の不満がうっ積していた。加えて、イスラム教徒への弾圧も目立った。

The current trouble indicates there are limits to the party leadership's policies, which is based on the belief that improvements in living standards can prevent most ethnic unrest.
　今回の暴動は、生活水準を向上させれば、少数民族の反発は少なくなるという党指導部の考えには限界があることを示している。

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the country's establishment in this autumn, the leadership headed by Hu was nervous about ensuring domestic stability. The riots in Uygur and Tibet should prompt Beijing to reexamine its overbearing policies on its ethnic minorities.
　今秋、建国６０周年を迎える胡錦濤指導部は、国内の安定確保に神経をとがらせている。チベット問題に続き、強圧的な少数民族政策の見直しが迫られよう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 9, 2009)
（2009年7月9日01時58分 読売新聞）