Why is Xinjiang violence escalating?

Smoke could be seen billowing over the street in Urumqi where Thursday’s deadly attack took place

China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region–called “East Turkestan” by many Uighurs–has experienced numerous violent incidents since inter-ethnic riots rocked the region’s capital, Urumqi, in July 2009. Yet this year easily has been the most violent, with the March 1 mass knife attack at Kunming train station in China’s southwest, the April 30 bomb and knife attack outside Urumqi train station, and last Thursday’s bomb attack on an open-air market in downtown Urumqi.

DrMichael Clarke, a research fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and author of “Xinjiang and China’s Rise in Central Asia–A History” (Routledge, 2011), discusses the escalating violence and the dangers of heavy-handed tactics in Xinjiang.

Why is Xinjiang violence escalating? BBC News, China.

The Danger of Heavy-Handed Tactics in Xinjiang. The Wall Street Journal.