‘Most Uygurs are good people’: China official warns against linking Kunming attack to ethnicity
CPPCC's ethnic affairs chief cautions against discrimination
A deadly knife attack at a Chinese train station last week should not be linked to ethnicity, a senior government official said, days after authorities blamed the incident on separatists from the country’s troubled far western region of Xinjiang.
China says militants from Xinjiang, home to a large Muslim Uygur minority, launched a “terrorist” attack in the southwestern city of Kunming, killing at least 29 people and injuring about 140.
Most Uygurs are with us in the fight against separatism and violent terrorism
It was one of the worst bouts of violence to spill out of the restive region, where more than 100 people, including several policemen, have been killed in unrest since last April.
Fear and resentment between majority Han Chinese and Uygurs spread after the attack, said Zhu Weiqun, the chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs panel of the top advisory body to parliament, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which meets this week in Beijing.
“Such sentiments – although not widespread – deserve our attention,” Zhu told the official , adding that the “overwhelming majority of the migrant Uygurs from Xinjiang are good people”.
“Most Uygurs are with us in the fight against separatism and violent terrorism,” he said, in an interview in the English-language newspaper published on Thursday. “They sincerely support the central government.”
The comments highlight Beijing’s concern over the growing frictions between Uygurs and Han Chinese and the potential for further unrest.
