May 23, 2014
Qi Jianguo, Commentator of the Hong Konger Front
Uyghur separatists waged three bloody attacks against the Beijing regime this month, killing innocent people indiscriminately, and terrifying the locals and the international community. The last attack is particularly shocking, because it involved vehicle-riding suicide bombers, resulting in serial explosions and heavy casualties. Yes, I always believe that, from the perspective of the Uyghur people, the Uyghur assailants are martyrs because they sacrify their lives for the sake of their nationa.
But, I also believe that the martyrdom effectuated by the Islamic Uyghur assailants is working in the wrong direction. Islamism is about love rather than hatred. Islamism never teaches killing innocent people indiscriminately, By killing innocent people indiscriminately, the Uyghur assailants are alienating themselves, as they are telling the international community that Uyghur separatists are irrational, cold-blooded, and dangerous guys, and telling that world that East Turkistan (named "New Territories", Xinjiang in Chinese, by the Beijing regime which annexed East Turkistan in 1949 by force) is a dangerous and thus unsafe place to travel to, let alone to stay in.
So far, both Uyghurs and the Beijing regime have been losers. The Beijing regime, a terrible and much bigger "state machine", resorts to "state violence" in attempt to keep Uyghurs under control. The only solution that will allow both sides to win is: Uyghur separatists stop using violence, whereas the Beijing regime immediately releases all Uyghur political prisoners and allows East Turkistan to gain independence from the People's Republic of China.