China's Western Front- Can Beijing Bring Order to Its Restive Provinces?

China's Western Front- Can Beijing Bring Order to Its Restive Provinces?
Christian Le Mière
CHRISTIAN LE MIÈRE is Editor of Jane's Intelligence Review.
Early last month, the mayor of Urumqi, the capital of the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, described the struggle to maintain China's unity as "a political battle that's fierce and of blood and fire." His description was apt: a spate of ethnic violence in the city had left almost 200 people dead. For several days, armed mobs occupied the
streets, and arsonists set the city ablaze.

CHINA WESTERN FRONT