ABSTRACT
A combination of military crackdowns, security raids, and arrests of oppositional leaders stepped up in China's strike hard campaign and the global war on terror produced temporary results: the relative quiet of the 2000s made it seem that Beijing had secured victory over restive Xinjiang. China's counterterrorist approach has failed to reduce the threat of terrorism. Furthermore, Beijing's controversial policies have marginalized Uyghur separatists, and factions of Uyghur militants have firmly embraced terrorism. The chapter traces the evolution of the Uyghur issue and China's response to it. It proceeds by examining the emergence of the terrorist threat in relation to Uyghur separatism and deals with the analysis of China's counterterrorist policies. Terrorism in Xinjiang emerged in close association with ethnic separatism. Numerous legal documents have outlined a large degree of autonomy for Xinjiang, and have guaranteed protections for ethnic rights and freedoms.
