XINJIANG: LACK OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 001661 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2033 TAGS: PTER PHUM PREL PGOV KIRF TI PK KG AF KZ SUBJECT: XINJIANG: LACK OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, DISCRIMINATION EXACERBATES ETHNIC TENSIONS Classified By: Deputy Political Section Chief Ben Moeling. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Job discrimination continues to fuel ethnic tension in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),according to academics and Beijing-based Uighurs. Well-known Xinjiang scholar Yang Shengmin (strictly protect) of Beijing's Central University for Nationalities also acknowledged that unemployment, which results from "complicated economic factors," is a source of ethnic tension. However, Li Sheng (strictly protect),a top Xinjiang expert at the State Council-affiliated Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, argued that the Uighurs' poor work ethic and inferiority to Han in the classroom are partly to blame for high unemployment. In addition to joblessness, Xinjiang authorities are also dealing with inflation, disgruntlement over the Government's management of religious affairs and protests, allegedly instigated by Muslim radicals, all as the Olympics draw near. End Summary. 2006 Study in Xinjiang Shows Gap in Employment -------------- - ¶2. (C) From 2003 to 2006, the employment rate among recent university graduates in Xinjiang was 70 percent, roughly the national average, according to a study published in September 2006 by the Xinjiang Institute of Education Journal. However, during the same period, the employment rate for ethnic minority recent graduates in Xinjiang was a dismal 20 percent, while it was 94 percent for ethnic Han (the Chinese majority ethnicity) graduates. The study's authors blame the unemployment problem on a lack of employment opportunities offered by mid- to large-sized state-owned enterprises (SOEs),a focus among ethnic minority graduates on finding work in "developed, urban centers" instead of in underdeveloped border areas, inadequate employment information for graduates, and insufficient Mandarin skills among ethnic minority job-seekers. This particular report proposes an eight-step solution to the predicament, including development of tourism and manufacturing of cultural products (i.e. industries that typically rely heavily on minority employees),improvement of preferential hiring policies for ethnic minorities, incentives for private sector hiring, incentives for minority graduates to go work in rural and 
borderland areas and improved Mandarin language training. Xinjiang Scholars Call Uighur Unemployment a "Big Problem" -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Adil Zhumaturdu (strictly protect) an ethnic Kyrgyz scholar from southern Xinjiang's Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture who now works at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' (CASS) Institute for Ethnic Literature Studies, told PolOffs that unemployment among Uighur university graduates is "a big problem." Adil stressed that language is a major factor. Chinese companies want to hire people who are completely fluent in both written and spoken Mandarin. Furthermore, Adil said the problem is not limited to the private sector; government departments also prefer native Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese applicants. Adil noted that one effort to address this problem is the "bilingual education" policy, which decrees that Mandarin be used in Uighur-language primary and secondary schools (ref A). Xinjiang scholar Yang Shengmin (strictly protect) of Beijing's Central University for Nationalities acknowledged that unemployment has become a source of ethnic tension, though he said the Government is not to blame given the "very complicated" economic factors at work. ¶4. (C) Mulati Heiniyati (strictly protect),an ethnic Kazakh scholar in the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences (XJASS) Institute of Religions, expressed shock at how many young, university-educated Uighurs are working in restaurants because they cannot find other job opportunities. Heiniyati lamented that many well-educated Uighurs are relegated to low-paying, unskilled work. Heiniyati said the resulting disgruntlement could threaten social stability and may offer fertile ground in which Islamic radical groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir could take root (refs B, C). Uighur Workers Lack "Quality" BEIJING 00001661 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶5. (C) Li Sheng, Director of the Borderland Studies and History Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS),told PolOffs that market reforms and preferential education policies are actually hurting employment prospects for Uighur university graduates. Li, who lived in Urumqi for over forty years, pointed out that the university entrance examination requirement is 100 points lower for Uighur students than for Han. For example, if a Han high school student must score 600 out of 750 on the college entrance exam in order to gain university acceptance, his Uighur classmate may only need to break 500. Li bluntly asserted that as a result of the low bar set for Uighur students, Han students at Xinjiang universities, who had to meet higher admissions standards to enter college, are generally of "higher quality" than their Uighur classmates. Companies and businesses in China's "marketized" economy must respond to "market demands" by hiring the highest quality workers, "most" of whom are Han, Li said. ¶6. (C) Li said the XUAR Government has made efforts to require government departments and state-owned companies to hire more ethnic minorities, but the market is now the dominant generator of jobs in Xinjiang. Li told PolOffs that Uighurs, whether blue or white collar, simply do not have a good reputation with employers. He mentioned the case of a Han brick kiln owner in Yutian, a Taklamakan oasis town east of Hotan, who exclusively hires Han from Sichuan Province. The kiln owner pays to send them home for a one-month vacation every year and proclaims the kiln is still more productive than it would be if he hired local Uighurs to work year-round. Li also told PolOffs about a Xinjiang supermarket owner, who idealistically hired a half Uighur, half Han staff. After a period of time, Li recounted, the supermarket owner found that the Han workers were so much superior that he replaced all the Uighur staff with Han. ¶7. (C) Such attitudes among Han are common, our contacts say. An Amcit who regularly runs teaching workshops in Xinjiang repeated to PolOffs a Han colleague's comment which is representative of Han attitudes towards Uighurs. The Uighurs are "uninterested in development," the colleague told our Amcit contact, and "lack appreciation for government investment in southern Xinjiang." "Look at them," she continued, "It's like they want to be poor forever." Meanwhile, Uighur Frustration Continues -------------- ¶8. (C) Parhat (strictly protect),a Uighur native of Kashgar who plays in a rock band in Beijing, spoke to PolOff of mounting frustration among Uighur college graduates over unsatisfactory job opportunities. Parhat is a doctor by trade and speaks both fluent English and Mandarin Chinese yet was only able to find work in a small clinic in a small village outside of Kashgar. Uighur doctors are relegated to the least desirable jobs in the remotest areas, he said. The experience caused Parhat to move to Beijing to seek work as a musician. According to Parhat, his former classmates and friends continue to face similar challenges back in Kashgar and Urumqi. One of his classmates from the medical college recently took a job as a policeman, after unsuccessfully searching for a job in medicine. Separately, a young Uighur named Hasan (strictly protect),a recent graduate from Kashgar Teacher's College, told PolOff he likewise moved to Beijing to work as a waiter because of the lack of opportunities in Xinjiang. Unemployment Not the Only Problem -------------- ¶9. (C) XJASS scholar of Islam and XUAR People's Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) member Ahmadjan Hasan (strictly protect) told PolOff that inflation was the hottest topic at the January 2008 PPCC meeting. According to Hasan, the price of mutton in southern Xinjiang has almost doubled in the past year. Hasan reported that many Uighur imams are frustrated with government management of religious affairs and that many rules and policies imposed on Uighur Muslims violate China's own constitution. For example, even though the constitution protects "normal religious activities" and BEIJING 00001661 003 OF 003 forbids "discrimination against citizens who believe in religion," Hasan said local imams complain tht many Muslims working in the Government are not allowed to worship at the mosque. State-run media also recently reported protests in he southern Xinjiang city of Hotan (ref B). Reorts blamed the unrest on Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic fundamentalist group that contacts say is growing within the Uighur population (ref C). PICCUTA