ONE WEEK LATER: CHINESE NETIZENS INTEREST IN XINJIANG

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 002022 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EINT CH SUBJECT: ONE WEEK LATER: CHINESE NETIZENS INTEREST IN XINJIANG REMAINS HIGH Summary -------------- ¶1. The recent riots and ethnic tensions in Xinjiang remained widely discussed topics on major Chinese news portals, Internet forums and microblogging platforms in China in the week since July 8. Widespread censorship was evident through the continued blocking of many popular social discussion platforms and frequent deletion of posts. A number of blogs featuring longer commentary pieces remained accessible. Commentary included criticism of Chinese government ethnic policies and the government's handling of the unrest. Many netizens continued to express skepticism about government stances. Turkey, foreign media, and Rabiya Kadeer were widely criticized for their "ulterior motives." Calls for ethnic unity and national harmony, often echoing Chinese government statements, were widespread. End Summary. Popular Discussion Platforms Remain Censored -------------- ¶2. Discussion of unrest in Xinjiang continued to be a popular topic on the Chinese Internet. Nevertheless, access to searches about Xinjiang, Uighurs, Urumqi, and violence remained filtered and the websites Fanfou.com (the Chinese version of Twitter),Facebook and Youtube, remained completely blocked. Twitter itself remained accessible. Comments and threads about the recent riots were observed to have been deleted from both liberal and conservative websites including PChome, Qiangguo, Sina, and Cat898. Commentary Moves to Blogosphere and Deeper Examination of History -------------- -------------- ¶3. Netizens on traditionally liberal websites remained skeptical of government explanations; one commentator noted "the truth has still not come forth," another said, "China's elite and educated maintain deep silence on this matter, why?" In general, posts tended to be longer, with varied explanations citing historical and other factors to explain ethnic tensions. The bulk of commentary moved to respected blogs such as Bullog, De-sci, and 1510, while most of Twitter postings were dedicated to reposted recent news items from Urumqi. Netizen Reaction to Turkey, Foreign Media and Kadeer -------------- -------------- ¶4. Bulletin boards which traditionally include a wide range of views, such as Cat898 and Qiangguo, featured angry critiques of comments characterizing the unrest as "genocide" by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. "Who is Turkey to tell us about human rights?" and "Turkey will pay for its brazen arrogance," were typical comments from these threads. There was limited reaction to reports of Al Qaeda threats against Chinese interests in North Africa, but one conservative commentator rhetorically asked, "China, are you prepared to face the intensified fire of Muslim hate?" ¶5. Netizens commented that foreign journalists had been provided unrestricted access in Xinjiang and widely critiqued foreign media reports, particularly Wall Street Journal articles, as "false" and "confusing black and white." Foreign media was described as "biased" and "intentionally misleading," and even "supporters of the terrorists." Rabiya Kadeer continued to be widely criticized and compared to the Dalai Lama. Calls for ethnic unity and national unity were widespread in all forums and featured parroted government expressions like "Unity amongst different ethnic groups will make the country prosperous." Critique of Government -------------- ¶6. Bloggers tended to be more measured in placing blame for the violence and more introspective in their analysis, with some linking the riots to policy failures by the government. One widely circulated essay detailed historical trends and called for specific reforms, specifically: learning from the experience of other societies in dealing with ethnic problems; abolishing preferential ethnic policies; establishing true equality among races; reforming governance and increasing the independence of autonomous regions; and increasing development of poor rural areas. Blogs and commentators explored different social and cultural hurdles to ethnic unity and ways to facilitate interactions. ¶7. Posts on traditionally conservative sites expressed anger toward Uighurs, with one characterizing the violence as a "Chinese 9/11." Criticism was directed at "unequal" and "inherently discriminatory" policies granting preferential treatment to minorities. As seen on the blogs, a number of postings on these sites also attributed the BEIJING 00002022 002 OF 002 unrest to government failures. Some questioned the government's judgment when "such policies lead to terrorist tendencies." One popular commentator argued, "this disaster stems from the government's inability to strictly rule the country by law." Discussion of government compensation to families of the victims included the comment that "corrupt officials will 'eat' (chi) the money up, anyway." Goldberg