I am a Han Chinese guy and grew up in a small city of Kaifeng in Central China where the major population of Han people mingled with Muslims, Uyghurs and Jewish descendants. I had schoolmates of Mongolian, Manchu and other ethnic minorities. I had neighbours of Muslims who often complimented beef to my family. I also had an uncle who has been working in Xinjiang for 40 years, who married a Uyghur lady and whose son married a Muslim girl.

Honestly speaking, I was brought up in an environment of ethnic unity and thus took for granted the mutual respect and peaceful coexistence among China's all ethnic groups. I began to feel less optimistic after incidents took place one after another, namely the Lhasa riots in March 2008 and the Urumqi incident last July. I even feel worried about China's ethnic unity which is being haunted by separatism and terrorism.

China is a united multi-ethnic country. 56 ethnic groups have been so far identified and recognized by the Chinese government. As the Han ethnic group has the largest population and the other 55 ethnic groups have a relatively small one, they are customarily called as "ethnic minorities." Before the founding of China in 1949, the ethnic minority areas suffered from underdeveloped economy, society and culture. Most of their populations were illiterate and lived in destitution. The development of ethnic minorities was hindered, and some were on the verge of extinction.

Since the founding of China, and especially thanks to the reform and opening-up policy, ethnic minorities have made remarkable changes with the guidance and assistance from the central government. Their living conditions and standards have constantly improved, and the local economy and public services have rapidly developed. As I understand, all these achievements should be attributed, apart from the diligence and stamina of ethnic minorities themselves, to China's ethnic autonomy system.

In China now, we have five Autonomous Regions, namely, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Ningxia Muslim Autonomous Region and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Under the administration of autonomous regions, there have been established 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties. According to China's Constitution and Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the government authorities in each of the autonomous areas exercise a series of self-government powers such as managing the ethnic group's internal affairs in its autonomous area, independently developing economy, using the spoken and written languages of the ethnic group, freely performing the religious belief of the ethnic group, etc.

While enjoying self-government powers, the ethnic autonomous areas received great assistance from the central government. While formulating national development plans, the Chinese government shows respect to the needs of autonomous areas and gives prominence to speeding up their development. The most outstanding example is the grand strategy to develop China's west launched in 2000, which covers all five autonomous regions, 27 autonomous prefectures and 83 autonomous counties. The strategy has served a strong driving force for both economic and social development in China's all autonomous areas. In 2008, the GDP of China's ethnic autonomous areas reached nearly RMB 2,000 billion with an average growth of 12.7%.

Moreover, the Chinese government has spared no efforts in preserving the languages and cultures of ethnic minorities. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the central government organized over 3,000 experts and scholars to compile and publish five series of books on ethnic minorities. It has also earmarked a huge amount of funds to renovate the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves in Xinjiang, the Potala Palace in Tibet and the Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai, etc. Thanks to these continuous efforts, each of the 55 ethnic minorities in China has its own written history and, except for the Chinese-speaking Hui and Manchu, has its own language. Software in the Uygur, Mongolian, Tibetan and Korean languages can be run in the Microsoft Windows Systems and new softwares in minorities' languages are being applied one after another.

Of course, China's ethnic autonomy system is imperfect like any other system in this world. We have accumulated experiences and made improvements in a truly sincere attitude. But the fact is undeniable that China's ethnic autonomy system corresponds with the country's history and reality and has brought ethnic unity for many past years. Such harmony and stability are the very basis and reason for China's all achievements. Nevertheless, a harmonious picture is not what the ethnic separatists would like to see.

Talking back to the Urumqi incident which took place on July 5^th, numerous facts have proven that it is in nature a premeditated and organized crime of violence, directed by separatists abroad headed by Rebiya Kadeer and implemented by separatists inside China. But against the indisputable facts, Rebiya Kadeer has unveiled her hypocritical face in recent visits to some countries. I really cannot understand how she can justify herself in such a shameless and inhuman way. There are no truth, no commitment, no justice before her. Otherwise, she would not have used a totally irrelevant photo in a TV interview in order to testify "Chinese army's suppression in the incident". Otherwise, she would not have betrayed or even separated her motherland after she promised not to do so in the name of her dignity before she was released on bail in China. Otherwise, she would not have the shameless "courage" to justify her separatists' brutal violence towards the innocent passers-by. The stark fact is that the absolute majority of 197 deaths and over 1,700 injuries in the incident were innocent Han people, whom were beaten, stoned, chopped or burnt to death in an extremely cruel way. I went through many video recordings of the incident and had very painful and disturbing feelings in watching all the bloody violence and the spread of dead bodies.

I believe no matter how it refutes or disputes, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) headed by Rebiya Kadeer can never erase its separatist and terrorist nature. The WUC was established in 2004 by merging the World Uyghur Youth Congress and the Eastern Turkistan National Congress. The current Secretary General of the WUC Dolkun Aisa had served the Eastern Turkistan Liberation Organization and chaired the World Uyghur Youth Congress, the former of which was banned as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the latter of which by the Chinese government. Dolkun Aisa himself has been long wanted by the international criminal police.

I believe people with reason and justice can easily conclude that the WUC is by no means a peaceful organization striving for Uyghurs' human rights. Instead, it is a separatist organization which is resorting more to terrorist violence. Rebiya Kadeer is by no means a representative of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang. Instead, she is building herself into the ringleader of all Uyghur separatists inside and outside China.

It is heard that Rebiya Kadeer turned down the appeal letter from his son and daughter and even accused the Chinese government of "masterminding" the letter. It seems she has been totally blinded and misled by her ambitious goal of separatism. But in my view, what she and her clique have done is just like a mantis raising forelegs to stop the chariot of ethnic unity. It will only lead to her self-destruction.

Written by: Mr. Li Qiang, Chief of Political Section, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Brunei Darussalam