JHU SAIS to Host Conference on Unrest in China's Xinjiang Province

The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) will host a daylong conference, "Xinjiang: Muslim and Turkic Unrest in China's 'New Territory,'" on Wednesday, 03/27 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The conference, sponsored by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI) at SAIS, features scholars from the United States, Europe and Israel who will examine the potential for large-scale unrest in Xinjiang; the implications of these developments for regional security in the rest of Central Asia and for China itself; and the affects on the U.S.'s relations with Afghanistan/Central Asia as well as Beijing.

No country feels itself to be more directly affected by Muslim and Turkic movements in Central Asia and Afghanistan than China. The Xinjiang Province covers fully a sixth of China's territory and includes many of its best hydrocarbon deposits. Its native population is Turkic and Muslim, not Han Chinese. Increasing numbers of these people are not comfortable with Chinese rule. Beijing has responded by branding all advocates of Muslim revival and regional autonomy as terrorists and striking hard against them.

Admittance to this event is by invitation only. However, the conference is open to the press for coverage and will be held in Kenney Auditorium located on the first floor of the SAIS Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Members of the media who want to attend the conference should contact Felisa Neuringer at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].

Conference Agenda:



XINJIANG: MUSLIM AND TURKIC UNREST IN CHINA'S "NEW TERRITORY"

"The Xinjiang Project"

Sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation

Wednesday, 03/27/2002

Schedule:



Session I 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Historical Background

Political History and Strategies of Control, 1884-1978

James Millward, Georgetown University

Chinese Policy Today

The Chinese Program of Development and Control, 1978-2001

Dru Gladney, University of Hawaii

The Economy of Xinjiang

Calla Wiemer, University of Hawaii at Manoa

The Chinese Military and Xinjiang

Yitzhak Shichor, Hebrew University

Break: 12 -12:15 p.m.

Session II 12:15-2:15 p.m.

Xinjiang From Within

Education and Mobility

Linda Benson, Oakland University (not in attendance)

Trans-Border Contacts and Interactions

Sean Roberts, SUNY Buffalo

Costs of Development and Control

Demography and Social Dynamics

Stan Toops, Miami University, Ohio

Ecological Impact of Chinese Development

San Toops, Miami University, Ohio

Public Health and Social Pathology

Jay Dautcher, University of Pennsylvania

Break: 2:15 - 2:30 p.m.

Session III 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

The Indigenous Response

Identities in Flux: Adaptation and Resistance

Justin Rudelson, University of Maryland/Central-Asia Caucasus Institute

William Jankowiak, University of Nevada

Islam in Xinjiang

Graham Fuller, formerly with RAND

Jonathan Lipman, Mt. Holyoke College

Contested Histories

Gardner Bovingdon, Washington University, St. Louis

Patterns of Opposition

Dru Gladney, University of Hawaii

Scenarios for the Future

Panel of "Xinjiang Project" participants