dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

East Turkistan - Restriction on Economic Life - Poverty and Its Societal Impact / Abdulsalam Abdulgani Alimstill maintains its land and air forces in the region, and also keeps a large part ofits nuclear arsenal there. Another important reason for the continuing presenceof China’s forces in East Turkistan is to maintain control over the local Muslimpopulation. (ETIC, 2008)Economic reasonsHowever, geo-strategic concerns are not the only reason for China’s interestin controlling East Turkistan. As noted, the region also possesses considerablenatural resources and the land is very productive. East Turkistan, known as the“Kuwait of the 21 st century”, is of particular interest to China for its oil, naturalgas, uranium, coal, gold and silver mines; it is essential to China for these resources.Why does China adopt such aggressive policies towards this region?Firstly, East Turkistan is enormous (it makes up 1/6th the land area of China)and geo-strategically important; East Turkistan, with its neighbouring countriesto the west, forms a territory that is nearly the size of China itself.Secondly, East Turkistan and the other Central Asian countries have beenblessed with vast oil and gas reserves. Should East Turkistan become independentand form some sort of economic block with its fellow-Muslim/Turkic countriesto the west, this would be dangerous for the strategic interests of not only China,but Russia and other powers as well.Thirdly, the Chinese leadership fears that ethno-nationalism alone (or incombination with resurgent Islam) could destabilize China’s northwest provinces(Gansu and Qinghai) and autonomous regions (Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Tibet).These areas are of considerable strategic importance, as they house China’sprincipal nuclear testing and missile launching sites.All internal and external factors that might shape China’s future will alsohave direct or indirect influence on Eastern Turkistan. Among internal factors areincluded the demographic structure and political organisation, as well as changesin economic, social, political and military structure. External factors includepolitical balance and influence on regional countries, namely the TurkistanRepublics, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia.421