Xingjian Riots: The Energy Connection

By Paul Kedrosky · Monday, July 6, 2009 ·

There is an important energy (read: oil & gas) connection to the current riots in China’s Xinjiang province. While the region had been independence-minded, that is no longer conceivable to the Chinese leadership, with sad and unsurprising current results:

“The Chinese didn’t want to let Xinjiang be independent before, but after they built all the oilfields, it became absolutely impossible,” said one Muslim resident in Korla, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution by government security agents.

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