Communist leaders vow stability after China riots

Published 9:59 am Thursday, July 9, 2009

URUMQI, China — China’s top communist leaders vowed to maintain stability in the west of the country in their first public comments today on the ethnic riots that killed more than 150 people.

Late in the day, some 8,000 troops marched through one of the worst-hit areas of the Xinjiang province’s capital in a massive show of force, an apparent effort to reassure the people and prevent further violence.

With security forces keeping a firm grip on the tense Urumqi, residents tentatively emerged to go about daily life.

An urgent nine-member Politburo Standing Committee meeting, led by President Hu Jintao, called on Communist Party members and officials at all levels to mobilize to restore order after the region’s worst ethnic violence in decades. The committee promised punishment for rioters and leniency to participants who were misled by agitators.

“Preserving and maintaining the overall stability of Xinjiang is currently the most urgent task,” the Politburo said, according to an account carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

In the parade this evening, paramilitary police and special police were crammed in trucks and armored personnel carriers as helicopters circled above. Vans with loudspeakers blared slogans like “Protect the people!” and “Maintain stability!”

Around town, red stickers put up outside apartment compounds said, “Don’t listen to any rumors” and “Keep calm and maintain public order.”

“They’re trying to help our hearts calm down and tell people not to panic,” said Wang Qiuli, a 23-year-old chemistry major at Xinjiang University who was one of scores of bystanders who watched the display, politely clapping.

With the city apparently under control, the next major test for the government will come Friday, when large numbers of Muslim Uighurs gather for their weekly prayers.

Obul Hashim Haxim, the imam at the Liu Daowan Mosque, said prayers would be held and that the rampage would be discussed.

Mosques have been shut since Sunday’s violence, which officials said killed at least 156 people and injured more than 1,100 people.

The unrest was triggered by a protest of the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, upset over the deaths last month of Uighur factory workers during a brawl in southern China.

The Uighurs say security forces gunned down many of the protesters. Officials have yet to give an ethnic breakdown of those killed.

In response to the riot, hundreds of Han Chinese charged through the city of 2.3 million Tuesday with sticks and meat cleavers, looking for Uighurs and revenge.

The meeting of the Politburo — China’s most powerful body — took place Wednesday shortly after Hu, also head of the Communist Party, returned after cutting short a trip to Italy to participate in a Group of Eight summit.

“In particular, we must emphasize the thinking of stability above all else to the cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang,” the Politburo said, according to Xinhua.

It instructed cadres to pursue tough punishment for rioters who committed “serious criminal acts of beating, smashing, looting and burning.”

“We must by law severely attack those hard-core elements who planned and organized this incident and seriously violent criminals,” the Politburo said. It also called for “preventive measures” against “enemy forces who would undermine ethnic unity” and stressed the need to preserve social stability.

The Politburo member in charge of law enforcement traveled to Urumqi and spoke to tactical police officers today.

“You have faced many difficulties, but you must overcome the difficulties to attack splittist forces,” Zhou Yongkang told the black-uniformed officers standing on a small square near where Sunday’s protest occurred.

The Politburo did not blame any overseas group, but government officials and state media have accused U.S.-exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her followers abroad of being behind the violence. She has denied the allegations and accused China of inciting the violence.

China also rejected calls by Turkey to raise the issue of the unrest at the United Nation’s Security Council, of which Beijing is a permanent member.

“The Chinese government has taken decisive measures according to law. This is totally China’s internal affair. There’s no reason for Security Council discussion,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is closely watching the situation in Xinjiang, whose Uighurs share ethnic bonds with Turks.

“Our Uighur brothers living in Turkey and Turkish people feeling this pain in their hearts hold protest actions condemning these events,” Erdogan said. “Necessary measures must be taken to prevent this brutality.”

Obul Hashim Haxim, the imam at the Liu Daowan mosque who is also a member of China’s parliament, said the riots were bad for national unity.

“We will tell the Muslim community to do their part to protect ethnic unity and social stability for a harmonious society,” he said.

Other areas of Xinjiang — a sprawling, oil-rich territory that borders several Central Asian countries — were also tense today, residents said.

In Kashgar in the southern part of the region, the manager of an Internet cafe said the city did not feel safe.

“The city has a heavy military presence and it feels like a ghost town. No one is really walking around on the streets, whereas it’s usually packed with people and traffic,” said the manager, who would give only his surname Zhu.

He said many businesses are closed, especially ones operated by Han Chinese who think they may become targets if they stay open.