XINJIANG: OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY BRINGS TIGHT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002414

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2033
TAGS: PHUM PTER PREL PGOV KIRF KOLY PK KZ CH
SUBJECT: XINJIANG: OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY BRINGS TIGHT
SECURITY

REF: A. FBIS/OSC CPP20080619968039

B. FBIS/OSC JPP20080503969010

Classified By: Acting Political Section Chief Ben Moeling. Reasons 1.4
(b/d).


1. (C) Summary: One government contact in Xinjiang described
Urumqi as a city paralyzed by inconvenient security measures,
while Urumqi netizens on a Xinjiang Government-run news
portal complained of minor hassles. Local media were more
upbeat; they took the arrival of the Olympic torch relay to
Urumqi City on June 17 (described on the Urumqi Government
website as a "passionate and loving tour") as an opportunity
to tout the local culture and unity of the region's
ethnically diverse population. The torch arrived amid
rampant local rumors of widespread detentions of Uighurs.
Multiple contacts confirm that there are rumors of
detentions, but all voiced confidence that such stringent
measures will end after the Olympics. During a visit to
Kashgar one month in advance of the torch's arrival, PolOff
witnessed a number of police checkpoints closely monitoring
all inter-city traffic in Kashgar Prefecture, with the
expressly-stated purpose of ensuring "Olympic security." End
Summary.

Local Measures
--------------


2. (C) Xinjiang contacts describe extensive, and intrusive,
security measures related to the transit of the Olympic
torch. XJASS scholar of Islam and XUAR People's Political
Consultative Conference (PPCC) member Ahmadjan Hasan
(strictly protect) complaied of being forced to be at his
office by 8:00 a.m. Beijing time, which is only 6:00 a.m.
local time, on June 17 to proceed to the Olympic torch relay
site. His young sons' primary school required all students
to be at school by 8:00 a.m. Beijing time (school usually
starts at 10:00 a.m. Beijing time),after which time no one
was allowed to leave until the relay-related events had
concluded. Similarly, Hasan's wife (strictly protect),an
accountant at a state-owned oil company, was forced to "work
overtime" all the way through the night, after sitting
through meetings on Olympic security in the afternoon of June

16. Hasan also endured such security lectures the same day,
and presumed that most companies, departments and
organizations in Urumqi had held similar meetings.


3. (C) Hasan told PolOff that the Olympic torch did not pass
through the city's predominantly Uighur Erdaoqiao
neighborhood, traditionally a big draw for Han tourists, but
did not speculate on the reason. Instead, the relay
proceeded down People's Road, Beijing Road, Peace Road, North
Liberation Road, East Wind Road, Friendship Road and New
China Road all the way to People's Square, giving a
definitively Communist Party flavor to the event. Foreign
journalists reported that officials requested that Urumqi
residents watch the festivities from home on television out
of concern for "safety," and a television news broadcast
forbade the shouting of slogans that "damage the image of the
city or nation."


4. (C) An article on the Urumqi Government website declared
that "on June 17, the Beijing Olympic torch will begin its
passionate and loving tour through Xinjiang, which covers
one-sixth of the Motherland's landmass." While local media
hailed the Urumqi leg of the torch relay as a grand success,
local residents joked in a government-run portal's online
forum about the various program glitches and personal
inconveniences. One netizen under the screen name Huyang
Linshu expressed embarrassment that the television announcer
covering the relay made repeated mistakes, including
referring to Taiwan as "Taibei Province." Another resident,
who appears to be Han based on his profile picture, bemoaned
that all the banks, post offices and gas stations were closed
and common people could not even approach the event. "How
can we possibly welcome the Olympics in such a way?" he
asked.

Similar Tales in Kashgar
--------------


5. (C) A taxi driver in Kashgar told PolOff that by midday
June 17 the Government had already forbidden taxis from
driving anywhere in the city. The relay, which according to
media began at 9:30 a.m. June 18, reportedly covered only a
6.5 kilometer loop from Kashgar's famous Id Kah mosque to
People's Square. Hong Kong media reported that the route was
"lined with hundreds of black-gloved police and paramilitary

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personnel in new uniforms" (ref A). Askar (strictly
protect),a bus driver, said no taxis or buses had been
allowed on the roads, and confirmed reports in foreign media
of attendance restrictions saying that "even if you wanted to
go, you would not be allowed." A Uighur tour guide in
Kashgar who usually has few positive words to say about the
Chinese Government, told PolOff in early May that he was
looking forward to the Olympic torch relay coming to Kashgar.
"It will let more people know about Kashgar, which will be
good for tourism. What's wrong with that?" he said.
However, the afternoon after the relay, the same tour guide
was less enthusiastic, having stayed at home for the entire
two days, June 17-18, to watch the relay on television.


6. (C) The tone of the state media broadcast during the
Kashgar leg of the relay was similar to that in Urumqi.
Zhang Bin, the disgraced China Central Television
sportscaster, whose wife interrupted a major Olympics-related
press conference earlier in 2008 to expose Zhang for his
infidelity, made a surprising appearance in the relay. Asked
by a state media journalist to describe his feelings, he
said, "(Kasghar) is very special, the roads are clean and you
can feel that many very common Chinese people live here; that
the influence of the Olympics can spread to this western city
roughly 4500 kilometers from Beijing is a victory for the
Olympics."

Kashgar: Police Checkpoints Monitor Inter-city Traffic
-------------- --------------


7. (C) During a May 10-14 tourism visit to Kashgar, PolOff
passed through three police checkpoints on the three-hour
route from Kashgar (Kashi in Mandarin) to Yarkand (Shache).
The checkpoints had anywhere from three to ten police
officers. A banner at one checkpoint just south of Kashgar
indicated that the extra security was to protect highway
safety for the Olympics and called on citizens to "resolutely
win the great battle for Olympic highway security."
Checkpoints were also on the road south to Tashkurgan, which
then continues to Pakistan, and the road to Ulugchat (Wuqia
in Mandarin),which continues to the Kyrgyz border. One
checkpoint on the road to Ulugchat even had an Olympic
security slogan burned into the soil of the mountain behind
the checkpoint. While strolling through an old,
overwhelmingly Uighur section of downtown Kashgar, PolOff saw
a police van drive by that was filled with armed officers
wearing bulletproof vests. A Kashgar contact said such
"drills" have been common this year.


8. (C) PolOff's driver en route to Yarkand said the
checkpoints were put up in April, and that the police were
focused only on "the locals," meaning the Uighurs. He said
"the locals" are often patted down at such checkpoints. The
driver said he assumed that the checkpoints would be gone
after the Olympics. At a checkpoint between Ulugchat and
Kashgar on May 12, PolOff witnessed police stop a bus full of
Uighurs. All passengers were forced to get off the bus and
submit to an inspection.

Rumors of Mass Detentions Across Xinjiang
--------------


9. (C) Multiple Uighur contacts acknowledged that they have
heard rumors of recent mass detentions in Xinjiang. These
rumors track with allegations made by overseas Uighur groups
(ref B). On June 6, a Uighur currency trader (strictly
protect) at the Horgos Pass, just northwest of Yining city on
the Kazakh border, estimated that about 100-200 Uighurs have
been detained around Horgos and Yining in the previous two
months. The trader thought that the round up was likely
related to the Olympics, and assumed that all suspects would
be released after August. A Hui restaurateur (strictly
protect) in Beijing, who used to live in Xinjiang's Changji
Hui Autonomous Prefecture, said he has also heard of such
arrests. "A young Uighur from Kashgar told me the other day
the police are arresting people on the street just for
looking funny; it sounds horrible," he stated.


10. (C) A Uighur-speaking AmCit (strictly protect) on a
research fellowship in Kashgar told PolOff that a Uighur
friend (strictly protect) of his in Bachu (Mandarin name)
told him that he believed "two- to three-thousand people" had
been detained this year. The Bachu resident held that he
personally knew around one hundred people jailed, and
speculated that the causes of arrests were for such things as
"being too religious" or "teaching the Qu'ran to their
children." Public Security Bureau officials PolOff contacted
in Urumqi and Yining would not comment on security measures

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taken in the lead up to the Olympics.
PICCUTA