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China vows crackdown on ethnic separatists
2009-09-19
BEIJING (AFP) - China's ruling Communist Party pledged on Friday to crack down on "ethnic separatists", two months after deadly ethnic unrest rocked the restive mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang. The pledge came at the end of a key annual meeting of the party's powerful central committee which also vowed to battle endemic corruption and keep the economy growing, Xinhua news agency reported, citing an official communique. The party said it must "effectively guard against and resolutely strike down ethnic separatist activities and consolidate and develop socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity, and mutual harmony," the statement said. The statement came as China struggles to contain simmering ethnic unrest in Xinjiang, a vast region located in the far northwest that borders Central Asia. The communique, however, made no immediate mention of the widely expected elevation of Vice President Xi Jinping to the nation's top military commission -- a move that would be seen as solidifying his status as front-runner to succeed President Hu Jintao. Some political observers expected the committee to appoint Xi to the commission, which is headed by Hu, during this week's meeting, which convened on Tuesday. Chinese Communist Party proceedings are cloaked in a veil of secrecy, and it was not immediately clear whether the move was already taken but not announced right away. The brief statement on separatism was the latest in a series by authorities keen to crush any threats to their rule in regions inhabited by China's many different ethnic groups. Ethnic violence erupted in July in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, pitting mainly Muslim Uighurs against members of China's dominant Han group. Nearly 200 people were killed, most of them Han, according to the official toll. China regularly blames "separatists" for stoking episodes of ethnic unrest, as it did in Urumqi, but has provided no evidence of any organised separatism. The city has again been tense for the past month following a spate of hundreds of syringe attacks, which Han Chinese have blamed on Uighurs. Seven people have so far been convicted in connection with the attacks and handed jail terms of up to 15 years. All of those convicted have names indicating they belong to the Uighur minority. The party also issued its now-routine vow to combat a tide of official corruption, which top leaders such as Hu have previously warned posed a threat to the ruling party's legitimacy. The statement said "resolutely opposing corruption is a political mission of grave importance that the party must seize from start to finish." China's leadership has waged one campaign after another to clean up corruption over the years, but high-level scandals involving top party leaders have persisted. The communique also said the party would continue with policies aimed at stimulating the economy in the face of the world slowdown, warning that China continued to face significant risks.
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