[halyshitzob]

My take is they fully intended to count ethnic minorities as Chinese citizens, but screwed up along the way. In some provinces, it's worked. (Yunnan province has several ethnic minority groups that have continued in their cultural traditions without friction with the Han - including the Naxi matriarchy, where the women live in such privilege that the men have formed a liberation front demanding equal rights. Far out.)

In Tibet and Xinjiang, resources have been scarce and development has been uneven. From what BBC and western news services suggest, religion is also a major stumbling block in China's governance over Tibet. Specific to Xinjiang, the cause of the friction has been the influx of Han Chinese and the sentiment that the majority of the economic development in the region has favored them disproportionately.

I consider it unlikely that the Chinese government has intentionally targeted Uighurs for negative treatment. I'm not familiar with the statutes on the books, but most of their de jure treatment of minority groups is intended to be favorable to them. The problem appears to be that the Chinese government's policies end up favoring Han Chinese moreso.

One situation that happened in Tibet (which may well apply here in Xinjiang) is that citizens get a stipend allowance for relocating to Tibet, and also get some medical benefits, to deal with the altitude adjustment. Tibetans already live there, and they're already adjusted to the altitude, so if you get a Han Chinese and a Tibetan Chinese in the same post, the Han Chinese will end up with a fistful more money than the Tibetan. It doesn't take a genius to see that these laws can easily lead to resentment.

The more I study American jurisprudence, the more I come to respect it. In U.S. constitutional law, for example, the courts are skeptical of any affirmative action laws to positive-discriminate in favor of a minority. The reason being that many a well-intentioned law can backfire and actually end up disadvantaging an already minority group.

China's constitution facially ensures that minorities will receive equal (or possibly even slightly favorable) treatment. But you look at a) how the law has been interpreted by the local governments, and b) how the law is applied by the executive branches, and you can see clearly the Chinese have a lot of catching up to do - and they don't have much time to do it in. This isn't like the 1700s, where you can paper over interracial violence with theories of Manifest Destiny or spreading the light of civilization. People will find out very quickly if your laws or police forces screw up.