East Asia

China’s response to ethnic clashes

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Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks with Gardner Bovingdon, professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, about China’s response to the unrest in the western province of Xinjiang.
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JEB SHARP: Gardner Bovingdon is an expert on the politics of western China. He’s a professor at Indiana University, and he says that China’s harsh response in Urumqi, tends to make matters worse than they already are.

GARDNER BOVINGTON: Certainly human rights organizations and Uigher organizations internationally, have turned this into a public relations nightmare for China. At the same time, I think it’s right to say that China’s heavy handed tactics, responding to protests not by sitting down with protestors and asking, inquiring to the sources of the protest, and trying to think of ways of resolving them peacefully, but rather bring in the military and police, clamp down, try to freeze news sources and so forth, I think in these ways it is not helping itself.

JEB SHARP: Why does China react the way it does? What is it specifically afraid of?

GARDNER BOVINGTON: First of all, I would say habit. The Chinese government is accustomed to responding to open protest, and organized descent with clampdowns. Second, I think the Chinese communist party is really worried about the kinds of popular insurgencies that built into regime toppling movements, such as we saw in the so-called color revolutions, Georgia, Ukraine, Kirguistan, and so forth.

JEB SHARP: How real or realistic are those fears, how legitimate?

GARDNER BOVINGTON: I would say, when it comes to burgeoning democratic organizations in the country, and human rights organizations, and to the labor elopement in China, I think this is a legitimate concern. But I think it’s not accidental, but Ouighers and Tibetans are called minorities in China. They constitute very small parts of the population, and they are easily contained by a very large Chinese force of police and military. So, I don’t think that there is serious worry in Beijing, that a Ouigher protest or a Tibetan protest is actually going to cause major political problems inside the country. I think it’s mostly about PR inside the country.

JEB SHARP: And, ultimately is the struggle to keep minority populations in check more ideological, or is it about resources in the territories they inhabit?

GARDNER BOVINGTON: I don’t think there’s a single State in the world that would willingly part with territory it claims. I think that’s important to state, and more countries in the world are very concerned about energy right now. Jiujiang is both a source of energy in itself for China, it’s also a conduit for energy coming from central Asia. So, resources are a consideration. But I think ideology is also an important issue. The Chinese government does not want to be seen as a repressive State that treats its culturally distinct minorities badly, and I think Chinese high officials regard such criticisms as bumps in the road on its quest to become an internationally recognized world leader, both in terms of its economic might, and in terms of its sort whirl of force in the world.

JEB SHARP: Gardner Bovington is a professor in the department of central Eurasian studies at Indiana University, he joined us from Taiwan. Thanks so much for talking to us.

GARDNER BOVINGTON: Thank you very much.

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