Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BEIJING1661
2008-04-29 09:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

XINJIANG: LACK OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY,

Tags:  PTER PHUM PREL PGOV KIRF TI PK KG AF KZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
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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
-------

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