Seems they have some problems with their Muslim population, like the rest of world.
Attack-hit west China under heavy security KASHGAR, China (Reuters) - The city in China's restive Xinjiang region where a bomb attack killed 16 police was calm under sweeping security measures on Tuesday, three days before the Beijing Olympics.
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Many residents of Kashgar declined to discuss Monday's attack, which China called a "suspected terrorist" attack carried out by two young men from the region's Muslim Uighur community who were detained on the spot.
Police stopped and checked all cars and buses entering the city which lies some 3,000 miles west of Beijing, while riot police ringed the hospital where the officers injured in the attack were being treated and prevented reporters from talking to family members.
"We are scared that after this things may be even harder for Uighurs," said a shopper in Kashgar's main market who gave only his first name, Ibrahim. "There's already a lot of tension here."
But a Uighur water seller told Reuters not everyone was worried and insisted the popular Silk Road tourist town was still safe.
"It is just because it is so close to the Olympics," he said. "But don't worry, this doesn't affect ordinary people like you and me," said the man, who declined to give his name.
The Xinjiang transport office announced a regionwide campaign to ensure the security of trucks, buses and transport hubs.
"The whole region's transport network must establish a dense atmosphere of secure transport and production," the region's official news website (
www.tianshannet.com) reported, citing an "urgent directive" from the government.
TIBET "ANTI-TERROR" DRILL
Xinjiang's largely Muslim Uighurs have been a focus of China's strict nationwide security in the run-up to the Games. Officials have said militants seeking an independent "East Turkestan" homeland are among the biggest threats.
Many Uighurs resent Chinese controls on religion and the expanding ethnic Han Chinese presence in Xinjiang, a region rich in energy and mineral resources.
The Global Times, a Chinese-language tabloid, quoted a Chinese anti-terrorism expert Li Wei as saying of the attack: "We can't rule out that this was the work of a few 'East Turkestan' supporters within the country who have links to external terrorist forces."
Li also said: "East Turkestan terrorist forces are the most direct and most real terror threat to the Beijing Olympic Games."
But Alim Seytoff, general secretary of the Uyghur American Association, a Washington D.C.-based group, said Monday's attack pointed more to discontent than militancy.
"We don't believe there are militant groups behind this," he said, adding that he had few details on the attack. "But we do know the crackdown in Xinjiang, especially ahead of the Olympics, has increased discontent among Uighurs.
"The general mood is fear, official intimidation -- a police-state fear," added Seytoff.
In a sign China was taking no chances with the security of the August 8-24 Games, the restive mountain region of Tibet held "anti-terror" exercises in recent days to ensure stability for the Olympics, the official Tibet Daily reported.
The exercises were held from August 2-4 around the railway station and airport of Lhasa, the regional capital, the report said. Lhasa was the epicenter of unrest in Tibet in March that spread across the vast mountain region.
Wang Bingyi, the region's top police and domestic security official, said the exercises were to "win a comprehensive victory in the security battle for the Olympics, and to protect the harmony and stability of Tibetan society."
China says followers of the exiled Dalai Lama pursuing independence for Tibet are engaged in terrorism, a claim dismissed by the Buddhist leader and many experts.
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Paul Eckert; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
