The Urumqi Crisis: Effect of China’s Ethno-national Politics

Experts are still searching for a settled answer to the causes and aftermath of the violent unrest between the Han and Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province that erupted on July 5, 2009. The long-simmering resentment of the native Uyghurs against the Han-dominated groups coupled with the deepening economic crisis is believed to have been the major reason for the ethnic riots. The questions being asked now are: Was it a crisis of ethnicity or economy? Why did the crisis manifest itself this way? And was the crisis a prelude to China’s terrorism problem?