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A Year since Xinjiang Riots: Are the faultlines manageable? The week that began on the 5 th of July marks the first anniversary of the Urumqi riots of 2009 in which 200 people, according to the official numbers, lost their lives. Unofficial estimates put this number at about 500. The 2009 riot was the biggest ethnic riot in Xinjiang. Beyond the number of deaths, however, the fact that it exposed one of the faultlines in modern China, that too in the most serious manner, should worry the leadership of the country. Even while being majority Han, China has many other ethnic minorities that mainly inhabit China’s border regions. The Beijing leadership has evidently struggled to keep the ethnic differences to a manageable level, let alone projecting the ethnic diversity of the country with pride. This has obviously been caused by certain historical errors that date to the Mao era. In addition, in the recent past, the minority population of China has mainly been only a spectator in China’s...

A Year since Xinjiang Riots: Regional Consequences 5 th July marked the first anniversary of the ethnic riots in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang province that is home to the minority Muslim ethnicity Uighurs. These riots had highlighted the disharmony in the People’s Republic that has projected the idea of harmony in every imaginable field. Therefore, the ethnic riot in which about two hundred people lost their lives was a big embarrassment for the leadership of China. Besides the domestic policy implications, the 2009 riots have had serious implications for China’s foreign relations in Asia. Part of the Chinese strategy in Xinjiang is rapid economic development, which the leadership feels would become the driver of peace and stability in the region. This was clearly articulated in the White Paper on Xinjiang that came out after the riots of July 2009. At the same time, geographically Xinjiang is at a location that is critical for China’s relations with Central Asia and South As...

Soccer and North Korea’s Moment in the Spotlight “ T heir style of playing”, said the great Maradona, “is unattractive but pretty useful in the end” while talking about the soccer style of the North Korean team. Of course, no one expected any graceful or memorable performance from the team that crashed out of the first round from the ongoing World Cup by the margin of 1:12 goals. The DPRK team lacked stars, experience, supporters, sponsors. Moreover, news reports seem to suggest that the small bunch of fans supporting the North Korean team were in fact Chinese and were paid for playing the Vuvuzela in support of North Korea. Even then, on the field the team showed that it belonged at the highest level even in their unceremonious exit. The margin of defeat and the goal difference only exemplifies their lack of exposure, which in turn calls for more engagement with North Korean sports. It is hoped and believed that engaging Korean sports would open the window to the secretly guarded Nor...