Background on Chinese N-tests

Since October 16, 1964, China has exploded 43 nuclear bombs (23 in the atmosphere and 20 underground) at the Lop Nor test site in the far west Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region. A briefing paper produced last week by WA Greens Senator Dee Margetts provides useful background information on this region. Following are excerpts from that paper. The Xinjiang region contains a population of about 14.5 million. The 6.2 million Uighurs are the principal inhabitants [along with] about 5.4 million Han Chinese, 1 million Kazhaks and almost 1 million people from at least five other ethnic groups. Han Chinese dominate in the capital Urumqi, but in the easternmost town of Kashgar, 90% of the more than 100,000 residents are Uighur.
The status of "autonomous region" is essentially a token concession by Beijing to areas where Han Chinese are not the principal inhabitants ... Their homeland is [nevertheless] free for use, if China so decrees, as a nuclear weapons testing ground.
The 43 nuclear tests at the Lop Nor site in Xinjiang over the last three decades have produced an ecological disaster with polluted water and food affecting the local population as well as all animal life.
The Eastern Turkestan Union in Europe claims that many Uighurs are suffering from radiation-linked diseases in Xinjiang. Despite protests by the Uighurs, including one as recently as May 16, 1995, the Chinese continue to conduct nuclear tests in the region.
In recent times, ethnic tensions in the region have become marked. A Parliamentary Research Service Background Paper (PRSBP) written in September 1991 makes reference to "demonstrations by Uighurs against nuclear testing and the storage of nuclear waste in their region", concluding that, "The ground would seem to be ripe for revolt".
According to the PRSBP, "There is still an enormous discrepancy between the economic and educational well-being of people living in Xinjiang and those living in China proper. Racial tension ... is intense".
It states: "Grievances have to date clustered around the devastation of mosques and persecution of religious leaders during the Cultural Revolution, the increasing number of Han people being sent to Xinjiang, the control Han people exercise and the employment preference given to Han people, the choosing of Lop Nor as the site for nuclear testing, the building of labour reform camps in Xinjiang and the breaking of the promise not to enforce the family planning policy in Xinjiang.
"There have been accounts of many disturbances in Xinjiang over the last decade." Among others, "In April 1980 an armed riot in the Uighur city of Aksu ... resulted in several hundred soldiers and civilians being killed or wounded. In 1981 Kashgar erupted in riots ... Hundreds of people were killed when the People's Liberation Army crushed the rebellion ...
"In December 1985, over 300 Uighur students of the Central Nationality College in Beijing protested against nuclear testing and the dumping of radioactive waste in Xinjiang. Similar demonstrations were also held in Shanghai and Urumqi. The demonstrations were reported as being supported by the Committee of Uighurs for a Nuclear-Free Zone in Xinjiang ...
"The most serious disturbances in Xinjiang occurred in April 1990 ... 22 people were killed (including at least 6 police officers) in Baren, 40 km south of Kashgar. It took more than 1000 Chinese troops to put down the revolt."
The PRSBP paper states: "That there is a general aspiration among the indigenous people of Xinjiang for greater autonomy is clear. The establishment of an 'East Turkestan Republic' ... would seem to be the goal ...
"Given that hundreds have died in demonstrations in Xinjiang, that the Han Chinese are regarded not simply as colonisers but as enemy occupiers ... the capacity of the Chinese to prevent outbreaks of nationalist violence ought not be overestimated. Neither should the Chinese capacity to maintain control of Xinjiang."