Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS July 23,1997

The Washington Post, 7/17/97

BEIJING, July 16-China is launching a new campaign against Muslim separatists in its restive northwestern region of Xinjiang after a string of pro-independence bombings and other violent incidents earlier this year.

"We must soberly realize that enemy activities are still very serious," the official Xinjiang Daily quoted regional Communist Party secretary Wang Lequan as saying in its July 11edition, seen in Beijing today.

Propaganda and education will be at the heart of the campaign to restore social order, which already has sent 17,000 officials to reinforce key villages, work units and military farms, Wang told a regional conference.

Tough action against the separatists has achieved great success, he said, but the war on separatism will be long-term. Wang said every effort should be made to educate people about the villainy of those who want to split China.

Regional media last month reported the firing of 260 grass-roots officials, many of whom worked in an area rocked by anti-Chinese riots in February that left nine people dead.

State media have said in the past that some regional officials secretly sympathize with separatists, and Wang warned that commitment to national unity is a political prerequisite.

The campaign is the latest of many aimed at softening anti-Beijing sentiment in the region and at crushing its small, armed independence movement.