The Silk Road revisited? Locating Xinjiang in the 'China Dream'
Conference Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
For the most part, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and its peoples are an uncomfortable fit in both the Chinese state and the China Dream. However, XUAR is an integral part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Therefore, the success of this initiative, and the China Dream, has increased the importance of this frontier region. No longer just a comfortable buffer zone between China and its neighbours, XUAR is now an important zone in China's new Silk Road Economic Belt. However, alongside these developments instability within XUAR has been heightened. Terrorist incidents linked to the region have occurred in other parts of China, including Beijing, and the region has even attracted the attention of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). One key element in the rise of unrest across the region has been the disempowered development that occurred as a result of the former Great Western Development Scheme (GWDS), which was an earlier component of China's 'turn west' strategy. Given the BRI in XUAR is currently following a similar economic development pattern to the GWDS, the stage is set for the BRI to further deepen human insecurity and economic disadvantage along ethnic lines across the region. This paper cautions that the increase of human insecurity and regional unrest poses serious challenges to the People's Republic of China's continental frontier and ultimately the 'China Dream'.
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2015 East Asia Security Symposium and Conference
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8
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Beijing, China
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EASSC Publications
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Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
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