China president calls for ethnic unity in 1st public comments on issue since deadly riots

September 28th, 2009 URUMQI - The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region legislature has passed a regulation prohibiting the instigation of ethnic separatist activities via the Internet, The China Daily reports. Online activities compromising national security, damaging national and social interests, undermining ethnic unity, instigating ethnic secession and harming social stability will be severely punished, according to the regulation.

September 25th, 2009 China charges 21 with murder in July riotsBEIJING — Chinese prosecutors brought murder and arson charges Friday against 21 people arrested in connection with riots in July that left nearly 200 dead in Urumqi. The riots in the capital of the western region of Xinjiang saw Muslim Uighurs attack members of the country's dominant Han ethnic group, followed two days later by Han attacks on Uighurs.

September 12th, 2009 China sentences 3 to prison over needle attacksBEIJING — A court in western China's Xinjiang region sentenced three people to up to 15 years in prison Saturday in the first trials over a series of mysterious syringe attacks that led to mass protests against the local government. The three, all ethnic Uighurs, were sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court in the regional capital, Urumqi, state media reported.

September 3rd, 2009 URUMQI - Following a spate of ethnically motivated syringe attacks in China's Xinjiang province, renewed mass demonstrations and violence was reported in the region on Thursday. Thousands of people gathered at the residential quarter of Xiaoximen, at Renmin Cinema and Beiyuanchun farmers' produce wholesale market and demanded security assurance from authorities, Xinhua reports.

August 25th, 2009 Chinese president visits restive Xinjiang regionBEIJING — President Hu Jintao made his first trip to China's restive western region of Xinjiang since last month's deadly ethnic riots, urging government officials and security forces to focus on maintaining stability and warning separatists that they are "doomed to fail." China Central Television on Tuesday showed Hu meeting with ethnic groups and local residents, visiting factories and talking with military troops. "You should make upholding social stability the most urgent task and maintain great strength to ensure triumph in the struggle to maintain stability in Xinjiang," Hu told a group of soldiers and police who had been involved in quelling violence that the government says left nearly 200 people dead and 1,700 injured.

August 9th, 2009 China reports bomb threat on plane to XinjiangBEIJING —China's state news agency said Sunday there was a bomb threat on a plane from Afghanistan scheduled to land in Xinjiang, the restive western region of China that was rocked by ethnic riots last month. Xinhua News Agency did not identify the airline or the type of plane, but said the Urumqi airport had been told not to allow the plane to land.

August 9th, 2009 China reports bomb threat on plane in XinjiangBEIJING —China's state news agency says there has been a bomb threat on a plane from Afghanistan scheduled to land in Xinjiang, the restive western region of China that was rocked by ethnic riots last month. Xinhua News Agency earlier said the incident was a hijacking.

August 9th, 2009 Plane hijacked in China's restive Xinjiang regionBEIJING —China's state news agency says a plane has been hijacked in the restive western region of Xinjiang, which was rocked by ethnic riots last month. Xinhua News Agency did not give any details about the hijacking in a brief report Sunday.

July 30th, 2009 China issues most-wanted list for Xinjiang riotsBEIJING — China released a most-wanted list Thursday of 15 people it is seeking for their alleged roles in the worst ethnic violence to hit the country in decades. The government says 197 people died and more than 1,700 were wounded in the riots that broke out earlier this month in the western region of Xinjiang between minority Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese.

July 29th, 2009 China welcomes 'moderate' US response to riotsWASHINGTON — A Chinese diplomat voiced appreciation Tuesday for what he called the "moderate attitude" of the U.S. toward the ethnic clashes in China's oil-rich Xinjiang region that killed nearly 200 people.

July 21st, 2009 BEIJING — China on Tuesday defended its policies on ethnic minorities, saying the violence in Xinjiang that killed nearly 200 people this month was triggered by separatists and not its treatment of Uighurs. During a televised news conference, the vice minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission blamed an underground separatist movement of Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs and said China will never tolerate secession in its far western region.

July 8th, 2009 BEIJING - Chinese authorities have lifted a curfew in the riot-hit CITY OF Urumqi after order was restored following deadly riots, a spokesman said. "The curfew was lifted in the morning and now the situation has normalised," the spokesman told RIA Novosti.

July 7th, 2009 Uighur supporters in US blame China for riotsWASHINGTON — An exiled Uighur (WEE-gur) leader is blaming the Chinese government for the rising tensions and ethnic violence in China. Rebiya (ruh-BEE-yuh) Kadeer (kuh-DEER) spoke to Uighur supporters at a rally in downtown Washington on Tuesday.

July 7th, 2009 Clinton urges restraint in riots in western ChinaWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging restraint in clashes in western China. Clinton told reporters Tuesday that the United States is "deeply concerned" about worsening ethnic violence in China's oil-rich Xinjiang territory.

July 6th, 2009 Uighur leader denies inciting fatal riots in ChinaWASHINGTON — The exiled leader of a Muslim minority group is denying Chinese government accusations that she incited riots that have left 156 people dead in western China. Rebiya Kadeer is president of the Uyghur American Association.