The China Money ReportOh man…if things were not tense enough before in Xinjiang, get ready.
China unveils a new innovatiave plan to fight Islamic extremism..limit
their birth rate. Next stop….primae noctis.
Bloomberg
Xinjiang Chief Signals New Curbs on Births for Minorities
China plans to adopt the same family planning policies for all ethnic groups
in Xinjiang, the western province’s Communist Party chief wrote in an essay,
signaling further curbs for the Uighur Muslim minority. Southern Xinjiang
will “implement family planning policy equally on all ethnic groups, to lower
and stabilize an appropriate birth rate,” Zhang Chunxian wrote in the August
edition of Qiushi, an official magazine of the party.
Zhang’s remarks may indicate a shift in rules that let Uighurs have as many
as three children in the countryside, while Han Chinese can have two. Even
though about 92 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population is Han, more than
45 percent of Xinjiang’s 22 million people are Uighurs, a Muslim people
from eastern and central Asia.
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The essay was published as authorities tighten security amid ethnic violence
in the region that last week saw as many as 96 people killed. Unrest by
Uighur separatists has been on the rise in Xinjiang and beyond, prompting
President Xi Jinping to order a crackdown earlier this year.
China will use strong measures to fight terrorists and will strengthen
intelligence efforts, Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun said during a
visit to the region this month, the official Xinhua News Agency reported
today. New rules have also focused on the personal lives of residents, with
beards and Islamic veils not permitted on buses in Xinjiang’s Karamay city,
local media reported yesterday. Under current rules, Uighurs can have two
children in urban areas while Han Chinese are in general only allowed one.
Uighurs Exempt
Uighurs are supposed to be exempt from China’s one-child policy. Yet under
the policy, four Uighur women in Hotan prefecture in Xinjiang were forced
to undergo forced abortions, Radio Free Asia reported in December.
Increasing restrictions on ethnic minorities in Xinjiang come as China relaxes
its one-child policy across the country. The Standing Committee of the
National People’s Congress in late November approved rules that allow couples
to apply for permission to have a second child where either parent is an only
offspring.