Dru C. Gladney: Prisoner’s Release Does Not Herald a Xinjiang Spring

Dru C. Gladney writes in Yale Global:

The recent release of Muslim Uyghur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer from a Chinese prison on the eve of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s first official visit smoothed the trip. But it also highlighted the continuing tension between Uyghur minorities in Xinjiang and the Chinese government. In the wake of the US decision not to charge Uyghur detainees from Afghanistan, the Kadeer release suggests a convergence of ideas: All opponents of the Beijing regime in Xinjiang may not necessarily be Islamic fundamentalist rebels or terrorists.