Chinese media blames Syrian rebels for Xinjiang violence

[flowers]

BEIJING - Chinese state media blamed Syrian government and opposition forces on Monday, in unusually specific finger pointing, for training Muslim extremists responsible for the deadliest unrest in four years in China's far-western region of Xinjiang.

China has traditionally blamed violence in Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur people, on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of "East Turkestan".


This appears to mark the first time Beijing has blamed Syria and fits a common narrative of the government portraying Xinjiang's violence as coming from abroad, such as Pakistan, and not due to homegrown anger.

Many Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang resent what they call Chinese government restrictions on their culture, language and religion. Beijing accuses extremists of separatism.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Chinese-media-blames-Syrian-government-rebels-for-Xinjiang-violence-318292