China launches campaign to promote ethnic unity in violence-torn Xinjiang region

China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang has begun a campaign to promote ethnic unity with a call for respect of the cultures of the minorities who call the region home, while vowing another crackdown on terrorism and separatism.

Hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang in the past few years. The government blames the violence on Islamist militants who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan for minority Uygurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language and hail from Xinjiang.

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Rights groups and exiles say one of the major problems in Xinjiang is government controls on Uygur culture and Islam and point out that few Han Chinese who live and work in Xinjiang make any effort to learn Uygur or make Uygur friends.

Zhang Chunxian, Xinjiang’s Communist Party boss, launched “the year of ethnic unity progress” at a meeting in the region’s capital, Urumqi.

“We must respect differences, and take a respectful attitude towards dealing with problems of [different] customs, to create an atmosphere in society of respect for the culture and customs of different peoples,” Zhang said, in comments carried in Thursday’s official Xinjiang Daily.

This can start from the smallest things in daily life and people should be “guided” to live, work and study together so they can learn respect and tolerance, added Zhang, who is a member of the Han majority.