The Future of Uyghur Nationalism and Its Impact on US-China Relations

Uygur Culture 

The Future of Uyghur Nationalism and Its Impact on US-China Relations

Tugrul Keskin(1)


The aim of my project is to provide a historical overview of Uyghur nationalism in China after the occupation of the Eastern Turkistan Republic, and to provide insight into future ramifications for US-China relations. Furthermore, I will analyze the elements that have caused the rise in the Uyghur nationalist movement. In regards to international relations and politics today, nationalist movements throughout the world have been undergoing a period of transformation following the break-up of the Soviet Union. The trend has been that micro-nationalist and separatist movements from Iraq to East Timor have been steadily on the increase. These new emerging ethnic and nationalist movements challenge the nature of the state and cause a confrontation with state authority. More democratic demands by ethnic and nationalist movements also create more lawlessness and chaos in the developing countries. Regardless of the condition of the economy, culture, and politics, this new challenge by the separatist nationalist movements maintains a pervasive state of destabilization for these countries, which are also dealing with ethnic conflict.

Moreover, the globalization and rise of Islamic Movements bring a new and more complex structure to the ethnic and nationalist movements. Ethno-nationalist movements have been one of the key elements in International Relations today. Following September 11, US national security and its interests cannot ignore the importance of the geographical location of Central Asia and the Xinjiang region. Xinjiang, historically known as Eastern Turkistan, is one of the largest provinces of China, and the size of the region is larger than Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. In Uyghur nationalism, religion has always been a key factor of their social structure. Today, Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim, and use Arabic scripts. After the invasion of Afghanistan by the US military, a little more than a hundred Uyghurs were captured in Afghanistan, and placed in Taliban training camps, and most of them were later released by the US authorities. However, twenty-two Uyghurs were put into the prison in Guantanamo. This was the beginning of a new foreign policy challenge to the US and is one that has badly influenced relations between the US and China. Today, Uyghur nationalism consists of religious elements and a secular structure. Unfortunately, the religious components in Uyghur nationalism are overwhelmingly dominant. The current conflict among Uyghur associations outside of China is a good example of the position of Uyghurs, who are at the beginning of this split. If the current conflict continues, then the Uyghur Nationalist movement will be divided.

According to the theory of nationalism and ethnicity, and with some exceptions, nationalist movements usually have a secular structure under normal circumstances. For instance, modern Kurdish and Turkish nationalisms are important examples of secular movements. However, there is always a diverse structure within nationalist movements, therefore religion and nationalism go together. They overlap on many subjects; consequently in some instances it is hard to separate religion from nationalism. Uyghur nationalism is one of the important examples of nationalism that exists as a combination between religion and secular nationalistic ideas, especially in the last decade.

Uyghurs are an indigenous population of Central Asia and the West part of China, called Xinjiang in Chinese. Uyghurs have called their homeland Eastern Turkistan. China has many different ethnic and religious groups, but the Uyghur case is very unique, because Uyghurs are ethnically and religiously very distinctive from the Chinese. There are many other Muslim minorities in China, but the Uyghur is the dominant ethnic group, among Muslims with a population of approximately 20 million people.(2) We have no exact number, because after the Cultural Revolution there has been domestic migration that has taken place within the last thirty years and the demographic structure in Eastern Turkistan has changed to the detriment of the Uyghur population. Within the next ten to fifteen years, Uighurs will be a minority group in their homeland.

The history of the Chinese invasion of Eastern Turkistan goes back to the 18th century. The Chinese renamed the region to Xinjiang in 1884, a name that means ‘new land.’ In 1946, the Eastern Turkistan Republic was established, and Isa Yusuf Alptekin became the president of the Republic until another Chinese invasion took place in 1949. Finally, the leaders of the Eastern Turkistan republic escaped from the region through Pakistan and India. The USSR and China agreed to control the border between Xinjiang and the neighboring region, Central Asia. Central Asia was now entirely under the control of the USSR, and the Communist party tried to create a different identity, because of the influence of so-called “separatist movements” such as the Uyghurs.

The Uyghurs in China and other Central Asian ethnic groups in the USSR such as the Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen as well as other small tribal and ethnic groups, also have very similar cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. For the Uyghurs, in terms of the similarities of their language, it is very easy to communicate with the other Central Asian nations; therefore, in order to prevent separatism, between 1949 and 1991, the USSR and China suppressed the minorities groups in Central Asia. They had been somehow successful until the collapse of the USSR regime. The new global political environment instead helps the new ethnic and nationalist movements to flourish in Central Asia. In 1991, five Central Asian countries achieved independence from Russia. This is another factor that influenced the Uighur movement in Xinjiang.

After the collapse of the USSR, religion and religious movements in Central Asia have revitalized from underground. The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 1996. In Pakistan, Cemaal-ul Islamiye became stronger among traditional Muslims. In Uzbekistan, a neighbor to Xinjiang, the IMU -Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan also was another important factor that influenced the radicalization of the Uighur movement. The IMU is closely affiliated with Al-Qaida, and is under the leadership of Tohir Yoldashev, who had close relations with the Uighur movement. In Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Hizb-ut Tahrir has been popular among youngsters who speak the same dialect with Uyghurs. In large part, these are the regional political changes that influence the Uighur movement.

In summary, in March of this year, the World Uighur Congress was formed, and many different Uighur groups came to the conclusion that a united Uyghur movement is a more effective way to fight against and obtain independence from China. Separate and in opposition to the united Uighur movement, other Uighur groups formed an exile Uighur government in September 14 of this year. This second group contains more religious elements than the World Uighur Congress. Therefore, the Uighur movement is made up of the split of these two elements. Today, China’s growing economy has changed Chinese social and political structure. Between the US and China, there used to be two important political factors, Taiwan and Tibet. However today, there is a third and perhaps more important political subject that has emerged, and that is Uyghur Nationalism.

1)Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Sociology-560 McBryde Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061-USA. tugrulk@vt.edu

2)According to Fredrick Starr’s recent Book “Xinjiang: Chinese Muslim Borderland,” the total Xinjiang population was 15 million in 1990.