ConflictBarometer_2015

ASIA AND OCEANIA
Committees in Sershul/Shiqu county, Sichuan, awarded financial
grants to Tibetan monasteries that were not involved
in protests challenging Beijing's rule in Tibetan areas. At
the same time, monasteries involved in protests were confronted
with ''patriotic re-education'' classes and enhanced
ideological control. On April 8, Tibet's regional Party Chief
Chen Quanguo stated that all Tibetan monasteries would be
evaluated for their patriotism and equipped with Chinese national
flags, telephone connections, newspapers, and reading
rooms. On July 1, the Chinese government published a new
National Security Law, which stressed the leadership of the
Chinese Communist Party and explicitly opposed ''foreign
influences'' interference with domestic religious affairs.'
From about September 30 to October 3, in Pekar township,
Driru/Biru county, TAR, several residential quarters of the
Jada Ganden Khachoeling convent were demolished by local
authorities, forcing 106 nuns to leave the town. The
nunnery was accused of noncompliance with the official patriotic
re-education campaign and of hosting more nuns than
authorities had permitted to live in the convent. In November,
the county government of Nangqian/Nangchen county,
Qinghai, announced that it would deploy local officers to all
monasteries of the region for ''moral, ideological, and legal
education amongst Tibetan Buddhists'' and to ''secure social
order.''
The Tibetan exile community remained split between autonomy
and secession advocates. While the Dalai Lama and the
Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala, India, adhered
to their goal of genuine Tibetan autonomy and pursued
the ''Umay-lam''/''Middle Way Approach'', the Tibetan Youth
Congress demanded full independence. In early February,
the Dalai Lama met US President Barack Obama [→ China
USA]. The Chinese government responded to the event with
criticism and, as in previous years, it dismissed the possibility
of the Dalai Lama returning to China. ffa
CHINA (UYGHURS / XINJIANG)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1949
Conflict parties: ETIM, TIP, WUC, Uyghurs vs. government,
Han
Conflict items: secession, subnational predominance,
resources
The conflict over secession and subnational predominance
between Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
(XUAR) and several Uyghur organizations based abroad, on
the one hand, and the government and Han Chinese, on the
other hand, de-escalated but remained on a violent level.
The government strengthened its ''strike hard'' campaigns in
XUAR, referring to the region as the frontline in the battle
against ''separatism, terrorism, and religious extremism.'' At
the same time, ethnic Uyghurs continued to attack government
officials and Han Chinese civilians in XUAR, targeting
police patrols, government facilities, and public places. Violent
encounters took also place in the provinces of Guangdong,
Guangxi, Liaoning, and Yunnan. In total, more than
100 people were killed, including at least 40 Uyghurs. Tensions
erupted also against the backdrop of socioeconomic
and environmental discrimination. Several Uyghur communities
complained over pollution of industrial plants and the
over-exploitation of coal mine.
On January 12, police killed six Uyghurs suspected of carrying
explosives in a shopping center in Shule county, Kashgar
prefecture, XUAR. On February 13, one Uyghur youth killed
seven police officers in a suicide bomb attack in Pishan
county, Hotan prefecture, XUAR. Four days later, a police
raid in Baicheng county, Aksu prefecture, XUAR, left four policemen
stabbed to death and four Uyghurs shot dead. On
March 6, while the annual meeting of the National People's
Congress and the Chinese Consultative Conference were
held, two Uyghurs stabbed random people in the Guangzhou
railway station, Guangdong, injuring twelve. The police killed
one attacker and arrested the other. A week later, six attackers
reportedly attempted to intrude a casino visited by
Han Chinese in Kashgar. When security personnel shut the
door, attackers stabbed random civilians outside and burned
four vehicles, injuring eight. Police shot dead four attackers
and arrested two. On March 24, the government executed
three Uyghurs charged with organizing the 2014 Kunming
railway station attack. Two days later, one Uyghur was killed
during a police check in Kaiyuan, Yunnan, while three others
escaped. On April 19, in Lengger township, Hotan, six suspected
Uyghur militants were killed in an explosion during a
police raid. On May 12 and 13, militants killed three police
officers and injured four in two successive suicide bombings
on a security checkpoint in Lop county, Hotan. On July 14,
in an apartment raid in Shenyang, Liaoning, the police killed
three suspected militants who were reportedly armed with
knives and clubs. One Uyghur was injured by gunfire and
the other were taken into custody. On September 18, a
group of Uyghurs attacked a Han Chinese-owned coal mine
in Baicheng, killing 50 mine workers with knifes, including
five police officers and injuring at least 30. In search of the
attackers, authorities conducted large-scale operations near
the borders to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
Throughout the year, hundreds of Uyghurs fled to countries
in Southeast or Central Asia, assisted by human trafficking organizations.
The Chinese government declared many Uyghur
refugees as terrorists and demanded countries such as Thailand
and Afghanistan to repatriate them. Many refugees were
killed in encounters with Chinese police and border guards.
On January 18, the police shot dead two Uyghurs in Pingxiang,
Guangxi, close to the Vietnamese border. On April 17,
Chinese security forces and Vietnamese border guards killed
two suspected Uyghur militants in an operation in the border
city Dongxing, Guangxi. On July 9, the Thai government announced
the repatriation of about 100 Uyghurs to China. A
week before, hundreds protested outside the Chinese consulate
in Turkey's capital Istanbul and vandalized a Chinese
restaurant. On August 17, a bomb attack in Thailand's capital
Bangkok killed 20 people, most of them Chinese tourists. A
month later, Thai police arrested one perpetrator stating that
he was a Uyghur. lxl
CHINA INDIA
Intensity: 2 | Change: | Start: 1954
Conflict parties:
China vs. India
Conflict items: territory, international power, resources
The conflict between China and India over territory, resources,
and international power remained non-violent.
On February 20, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited
the border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Most of its border area
is claimed by China arguing that it belonged to Tibet. The Chinese
Foreign Ministry criticized the visit and demanded that
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