Xinjiang conflict

The Xinjiang conflict (Chinese: 新疆冲突; pinyin: xīnjiāng chōngtú), also known as the East Turkestan conflict, Uyghur–Chinese conflict or Sino–East Turkestan conflict (as argued by the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile), is an ethnic geopolitical conflict in what is now China's far-northwest autonomous region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan. It is centred around the Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group who constitute a plurality (or 'relative majority') of the region's population.

In the 1930s, armed conflicts known as the Xinjiang Wars broke out during the Warlord Era of the Republic of China and the Chinese Civil War, beginning with the Kumul Rebellion which saw the establishment of the First East Turkestan Republic in 1933 as well as its destruction in 1934. The Second East Turkestan Republic was later founded in 1944 with the support of the Soviet Union in the wake of the Ili Rebellion. Many of the Turkic peoples in Ili had close ties with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. As a result, many Turkic rebels fled to the Soviet Union and obtained Soviet assistance to create the Sinkiang Turkic People's Liberation Committee (STPNLC) in 1943 against Kuomintang rule during the Ili Rebellion. Since the incorporation of the region into the People's Republic of China, there have been armed conflicts between the Chinese government and separatist groups, the latter receiving support from the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet split during the 1960s.

Insurgency and hostilities increased following the Barin uprising and continued throughout the 1990s, marked by events such as the 1997 Ürümqi bus bombings and the Ghulja incident, and factors such as the mass state-sponsored migration of Han Chinese from the 1950s to the 1970s and harsh responses to separatism have contributed to regional tensions. The conflict saw a resurgence since the 2000s in the form of terror attacks and other events including the June 2009 Shaoguan Incident and the resulting July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the 2011 Hotan attack, April 2014 Ürümqi attack, May 2014 Ürümqi attack, 2014 Kunming attack as well as the 2015 Aksu colliery attack.

In 2014, the Chinese government launched the Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism in Xinjiang. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's policy has been marked by much harsher policies, including mass surveillance and the alleged incarceration without trial of over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority ethnic groups in internment camps. Numerous reports have stated that many of these minorities have been used for prison labour. Western observers have labelled the campaign to be an instance of crimes against humanity and cultural genocide.

The Chinese government has refuted charges of genocide and other human rights abuses, characterising the centers as deradicalisation and integration programs and were the subject of dispute at the 44th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); 39 Western-aligned countries condemned China's treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang in June 2020. Similarly, in July, a group of 45 nations, including many Middle Eastern nations, issued a competing letter to the UNHRC, defending China's treatment of both Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Various groups and media organisations worldwide have both disputed and supported the claim that human rights violations have occurred.