Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS, 10 September 1997

Agence France-Presse in Beijing, 9/19/97

A top government official has told authorities in the troubled region of Xinjiang to show no mercy in their fight against separatists and religious activists.

"There is not even the slightest room for compromise," National People's Congress (NPC) Vice-Chairman Tomur Dawamat said in a speech published on the front page of the Xinjiang Daily.

All cadres must "put their full trust in the people to isolate as many separatists as possible and then attack them without mercy," Mr Dawamat told provincial leaders at a meeting in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim-majority region.

Mr Dawamat is the NPC's highest-ranking ethnic Uygur Muslim. Despite recent successes in uncovering separatist activity, he warned that the "anti-splittist" struggle in Xinjiang was far from over.

"They will never cease in their efforts to infiltrate the region and carry out their subversive, separatist and sabotage activities," he said.

Mr Dawamat's speech was the latest in a series of high-level warnings, reflecting concerns in Beijing that religious militants in Xinjiang are gaining ground in their efforts to whip up public support for their separatist campaign.

China has ruled Xinjiang in varying degrees for centuries and re-established control there in 1949 by crushing the short-lived state of East Turkestan that emerged during the Chinese civil war.

Beijing has adopted a policy of Han Chinese migration to dilute nationalist tendencies of the Uygur majority. But hopes of Xinjiang independence were rekindled after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Muslim states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In his speech, Mr Dawamat stressed religion was not the issue in Xinjiang. "Our struggle is not about opposing religion. It is a fight to defend ethnic solidarity, social stability and economic prosperity," he said.