President Xi Jinping of China said the government must prepare itself for a long-term fight against what he called separatist forces in the country\u2019s restive Xinjiang region after assailants with knives and a bomb killed one person and injured at least 79 on Wednesday evening at a railway station in Urumqi, the regional capital.<\/p>\n
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE
MAY 1, 2014<\/p>\n
HONG KONG \u2014 President Xi Jinping of China said the government must prepare itself for a long-term fight against what he called separatist forces in the country\u2019s restive Xinjiang region after assailants with knives and a bomb killed one person and injured at least 79 on Wednesday evening at a railway station in Urumqi, the regional capital.<\/p>\n
At least two of the assailants, who attacked bystanders with knives before setting off an explosive device outside Urumqi\u2019s South Station, were killed, bringing the death toll to three, the official People\u2019s Daily reported. Photos released by the state news media showed charred baggage and debris outside an exit to the station.<\/p>\n
The attack, which took place just after 7 p.m. local time, came at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Xinjiang by Mr. Xi, his first since taking over as the country\u2019s top leader in November 2012. Experts on Xinjiang affairs said that it was no coincidence and that the attack dealt a setback to Mr. Xi, who stressed during his visit the central government\u2019s efforts to quell ethnic tensions in the region, where many in the Uighur minority feel increasingly alienated from wider Chinese society.<\/p>\n
During his visit, which ended Wednesday, Mr. Xi pushed for the integration of Uighurs and other minorities into the mainstream of economic life, while vowing to suppress the violence and fight terrorism. Mr. Xi\u2019s comments after the blast \u2014 carried by the state news agency Xinhua and on the front page of People\u2019s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling Communist Party \u2014 reflected that two-track approach, with Mr. Xi promising to punish the perpetrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must recognize that the fight against the Xinjiang separatists will be a long-term, complex, acute struggle against violent terrorists, and we cannot relax for even a moment,\u201d Mr. Xi said. The government must work \u201cto safeguard the lives and property and normal working lives of peoples of all nationalities,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Pan Zhiping, a professor at Xinjiang University in Urumqi who studies unrest in the region, said in a telephone interview that the attack was meant to \u201cchallenge the Chinese government.\u201d He said that Mr. Xi\u2019s visit reflected the government\u2019s two-track approach and that Mr. Xi traveled the length of the region, from small villages to cities, to encourage people to participate in China\u2019s economic development.<\/p>\n
There was no word on the identities of the assailants, but analysts said the attack appeared to have been the work of Xinjiang\u2019s militant Uighur separatists, many of whom wish to set up an independent nation of East Turkestan. A March 1 attack at a railway station in Kunming, in southwestern China, was also tied to Uighur separatists.<\/p>\n
The attack came as a train from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, in southwest China, was arriving in the station. That train traditionally carries migrant workers belonging to China\u2019s dominant Han majority into Xinjiang, and their presence has stoked resentment among the native Uighurs, said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. Once a majority in the region, Uighurs, an ethnic Turkic people, now make up less than half of Xinjiang\u2019s 22 million inhabitants after decades of Han settlement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is a political act and a deliberate Uighur attack, then it\u2019s profoundly significant because that\u2019s a direct challenge, and it\u2019s also a huge loss of face for Xi Jinping,\u201d Mr. Bequelin said in a telephone interview. \u201cIt completely defeats the purpose \u2014 he spent four days beating the drum of counterterrorism, saying the center will be tough, and using very martial, warlike language. And then in the middle of the capital, you have this bomb exploding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early Thursday, the state news media reported that four of the injured were in serious but stable condition. The local police, after an initial investigation, called the incident a \u201cgrave, violent terrorist attack,\u201d according to a report on the website of the regional government. By 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the railway station had reopened with a heavy police presence, and passengers were seen entering, Xinhua said.<\/p>\n