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Who should be responsible for so many bright lives extinguished within one day? While the impact on China of the March 14 incident, both internally and externally, still remains, what kind of influence will this more serious incident have?
There may be no answer to these questions, but the biggest worry lies in the relationship between the Han people and the Uighur minority living in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The motive of those rioters cannot be ascertained, although many have conjectured that it was related to the issue of separatism.
What is sure is that the means of reaching their objective was stirring up confrontation between the Han and the Uighur peoples. Some said this incident resulted from a fight that broke out on June 26 between Han and Uighur workers at a toy factory in Shaoguan city in Guangdong province. Two Uighur workers died and 120 were wounded. Perhaps it was not racial tension that caused this incident, but it became the excuse for a few secessionists to create conflict.
For this reason, it is worrisome that the Han people might overreact to this incident – perhaps not in action, but psychologically and emotionally. During the Tibetan incident last year, the tone of “blood for blood, a tooth for a tooth” was displayed in some online comments written by the Han people, which would serve to intensify the confrontational emotions between the Han and the ethnic minorities rather than help remove the ethnic barriers and unite the country.
Ethnic misunderstanding and hostility are exactly what the separatists desire. Whether those who died in the street were Han or Uighur, it would raise doubts and create enmity between the races, leading to the vicious cycle of “an injury for an injury.” The consequences would benefit the separatists by inciting violence and eventually dividing the country.
Therefore, the most critical matter is not to publicize who the rioters were, but to deal with these visible national barriers. Certainly those who violated the law should be dealt with according to the law. But more critical is that the Han people, as the national majority, consider how they can eliminate ethnic misunderstandings and avoid such incidents. The ethnic issue truly exists, which should not be evaded.
Editors and directors of the state-run China Central Television labored hard to edit the news program that aired shots of wounded Uighur people. The Huanqiu Net, also under the state media, blocked the function allowing comments to be posted on all stories related to the “July 5 incident.” These approaches reflect an attempt to avoid the emergence of extreme remarks that would invite ethnic conflicts.
But still the Chinese have to admit that there is a lack of trust between the Han and the Tibetans, and between the Han and the Uighurs. In some mainland cities it can be seen that the Uighur communities seldom interact with the Han, which implies tense relations between the two.
This kid of racial tension has become a profound, significant obstacle to the effective defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and should be faced directly. Catching several terrorists is easy, but eliminating the mutual misunderstanding, alienation and even fear is the most difficult and the most important thing.
To build amicable ethnic relations, the key lies in mutual interaction. This can facilitate the virtuous cycle of trust. Further, as the ethnic majority, the Han people should take the initiative in this area.
There have been serious incidents of religious conflict in India in which Hindus and Muslims were killing each other and government troops were unable to stop it. Nevertheless, Mohandas Ghandi, a Hindu, bravely stood out to advocate protecting the Muslims. He even fasted as a protest so that many Muslims could be protected and a worse ethnic struggle could be prevented.
Although there are fundamental differences between religious conflicts in India and racial conflicts in China, Ghandi’s spirit of brotherliness, self-sacrifice and non-violence is worth learning and practicing by the Chinese.
History has shown that ethnic struggles and conflicts cannot be settled by violence. The only solution is through understanding, coexistence, trust and fraternal love. Not only government policy but also individual actions can contribute to a friendly environment in which the different ethnic groups can get along well.
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(Li Kaisheng teaches international relations at Xiangtan University in Xiangtan city, Hunan province, China. He holds a doctorate in law. This article is translated and edited from the Chinese by UPI Asia.com; the original may be found at http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4e20bb500100fwsb.html ©Copyright Li Kaisheng.)
