ABSTRACT
The development of the regional economy is central to the strategy of the
Chinese government in maintaining its control over Xinjiang in the era of
‘reform and opening’ the post-Mao period of economic growth and modernisation
which is associated with Deng Xiaoping’s period as General Secretary of the
CCP. To put it at its simplest and crudest, Beijing is banking on prosperity
buying off the population and reducing the support for independence, separatist
and politicised Islamic movements such as Wahabbism, Naqshbandi Sufsim and
Uyghur nationalism, which is strongest in the rural and marginal areas where
poverty is greatest. It is not at all certain whether this strategy is likely to
succeed or whether or not the population might actually prefer a lower level of
economic development in a society without control from Beijing. It is, however,
the best card that the authorities in Beijing can play, possibly their only card.
