Media blame US for stoking Xinjiang violence

The United States is encouraging “terrorism” in Xinjiang, Chinese state media said on Monday, also claiming separatists in the region – which has a large Uygur minority – had fought alongside Syrian rebels.

Beijing denies the unrest in the vast region bordering Central Asia – which last week left at least 35 people dead – is due to ethnic tensions between Uygurs and China’s majority Han.

It has vowed to crack down on “terrorist groups”, ordering military exercises ahead of Friday’s anniversary of major riots in 2009 that left around 200 dead.

But rights groups for the mostly Muslim Uygurs blame unrest on economic inequality and religious repression, and Washington has raised concerns about discrimination.

The People’s Daily, a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, slammed the US government and media for what it said was its role in the violence.

“For fear of a lack of chaos in China,” it said in a commentary, the US was “conspiring to direct the calamity of terrorist activities toward China”.