![]() Its size and contiguousness with the new states of Central Asia make Xinjiang a vital strategic arena and a valuable trade passageway. The region contains huge coal and oil reserves - its oil reserves are believed to be three times those of the United States - that are only now being exploited. While China has been experiencing much-vaunted economic growth and social stability over the past decade, Xinjiang has suffered increasingly frequent bouts of separatist violence, much of it provoked by the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and Turkic nationalism (roughly half the population is Turkic), and at times the army has been called in to suppress revolts. Troubling recent events had rekindled my interest. ![]() Xinjiang was for me remoter than remote, alluringly enigmatic. ![]() Xinjiang seemed to belong neither to China nor to Central Asia: it was not Russian, and it fell outside historically Mogul or Persian territory, beyond even the farthest reaches of the Ottoman Empire. As a student of Russian history, I have long been fascinated by this landlocked territory, which borders what was for most of this century Soviet Central Asia. The region is China's westernmost and largest province, covering a sixth of the country. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |