dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

East Turkistan - Restriction on Economic Life - Poverty and Its Societal Impact / Abdulsalam Abdulgani AlimThe rich resources of East TurkistanMineral resourcesEast Turkistan has a large variety of precious minerals, such as gold, silver,uranium, and precious stones. 138 different minerals have been discovered here,representing 83% of the total mineral deposits in China. The number of minesis estimated at being around 4,000, and has a value of 5 trillion, 280 billionYuan, according to a Chinese estimate. Among the mineral reserves are nitratite,vermiculite, muscovite and argil; these are recognized as being of the best qualityin all China.Oil & Natural gasEast Turkistan has been described by some scientists and researchers asthe “Kuwait of the 21 st century” due to its hidden oil reserves and natural gas.Authorities on the subject have stated that East Turkistan will be China’s mostimportant oil and natural gas production centre. In particular, the Tarim Basinin the middle of East Turkistan is thought to have considerable petrol reservesand for this reason this basin is known as the “Sea of Hope”; it is thought to havepotential oil reserves of more than 10.7 billion tons. Research carried out bygeologists has revealed that there is a capacity for 300 million tons of oil and 220billion cubic meters of natural gas.Coal & CopperThe region’s rich natural gas, coal, and copper deposits make East Turkistanindispensable for the Chinese economy. Among these, coal, with its high qualityand energy content, is especially important. The coal reserves in East Turkistanare estimated to be some 2 trillion tons, half of China’s total coal reserves. Onestudy at the end of 2000 revealed that China’s richest copper mines were inEast Turkistan. It is well-known that China’s other regions possess little copper,with that which exists being insufficient to meet the needs of the country. Therich copper deposits in East Turkistan make the region even more important inChinese eyes.419