CHENGDU MINORITIES UNDER WATCH FOR OCTOBER HOLIDAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000212 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/30/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH SUBJECT: CHENGDU MINORITIES UNDER WATCH FOR OCTOBER HOLIDAY CHENGDU 00000212 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Uighur students studying in Chengdu are being closely monitored by security personnel in the run-up to the October 1 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and continue to worry about anti-Uighur sentiment from Han Chinese. Some Han continue to fear Uighurs as well, best evidenced by a recent Chengdu blogger's post describing Uighurs as "barbarous wild beasts" who he dreams of killing. End Summary. Uighurs Being Closely Watched Pre-October 1 -------------- ¶2. (C) Uighur college students in Chengdu are being closely monitored by school security agencies in order to maintain an "absolute safe environment" during the upcoming October 1 holiday, local Uighur students studying in Chengdu told Post's ethnically Tibetan PolEconLES September 25. Uighurs and Tibetans, possibly along with other students, are being instructed to stay on campus over the holiday, the students said. Some of Chengdu's universities, particularly the Minorities University, are "heavily" guarded and outsiders are not being allowed to enter without an ID card. The Chengdu Mosque and major Uighur restaurants in Chengdu are also being closely monitored by security officials, they said. (Note: PolEconLES, an alumnus of Chengdu's Southwest Minorities University, maintains friendships among Chengdu's Uighur population. There are roughly 500 Uighur students in Chengdu, comprising a significant portion of the 2000-plus total Uighur population in Sichuan. PolEconOff requested to meet Uighur students studying at the Minorities University, but the students declined due to fears for their safety in advance of the holiday. End Note.) Han Anti-Uighur Sentiment Concerns Uighur Students -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Speaking to Han-Uighur tensions in the wake of Xinjiang unrest and the recent spate of needle attacks in Urumqi, the students reported that many in Uighur student community here are very concerned by anti-Uighur sentiment among the Han. Some Uighur men are shaving their mustaches and some Uighur women are dressing like Han Chinese, they said. One student from Turfan in Xinjiang said that, while riding the train back to Chengdu, he saw scores of Han, both rich and poor, leaving in the wake of the recent troubles. Back home in Turfan, tensions remain high, he said, as local residents are angry about one-sided TV reports showing Uighurs attacking Hans but not vice versa, and are also angered by their impression of Han as the "hands and mouth" of the Chinese government. Overblown Han Fears of Uighurs Persist, Too -------------- ¶4. (C) Han fears of Uighurs seem to be prevalent as well, seen for example in a recent post by a Chengdu-based blogger entitled "Last night I dreamed of killing three Uighurs, and I am very tired today." The blogger writes, "A few days ago I saw some Uighur people fighting among themselves in the street. I heard them calling to one another using their unintelligible babble (tingbudong de guihua luanjiao),and I didn't understand what they were saying at all. For me, those Uighurs were just like a group of wild dogs biting each other in a zoo. I don't understand their language and they just look like a herd of barbarous wild beasts. A few days later, I killed three Uighurs in a dream and I was very tired when I woke up." ¶5. (C) A Singaporean tourist told PolEconOff that, while he had heard Uighurs were being threatened by Han Chinese, he had realized on his travels in the mainland that in fact "the reverse is true." Uighurs are allowed to carry huge knives, and the Han are terrified of them, even refusing to help him stop a Uighur from robbing a Han woman at the train station, he claimed. In another conversation with a wealthy Han business woman looking for ideas on adventure travel in Western China, CHENGDU 00000212 002.2 OF 002 PolEconOff suggested she consider Kashgar, eliciting a look of horror. Although she is interested in visiting Xinjiang, she said, she is too afraid to go. When PolEconOff suggested that perhaps the Uighurs as a small minority group fear a huge majority like the Han, she immediately exclaimed, "Oh, so you think we should give them independence?!" BROWN