Xinjiang a time bomb waiting to explode: leader

Ethnic tension is a time bomb in Xinjiang that could explode at any time if Beijing fails to take action soon to remedy the situation, an exiled Uygur leader has warned.

Erkin Alptekin, son of revered former leader Isa Yusuf Alptekin, said many young Uygurs in Xinjiang were becoming desperate. 'If the Chinese Government does not take the necessary steps to start a dialogue with the people of Xinjiang to defuse the raising tension, it could blow up,' he said in a recent interview.

The activist was in Taiwan last week to lobby for support for the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (Unpo) based in the Netherlands. The group campaigns for 'states' like Eastern Turkestan and Tibet. According to Mr Alptekin, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party was a founding member of Unpo. and legislator Parris Chang was a member. He said Taiwan was not a key financial backer of Unpo, although it had made some donations in the past. He would not rule out opening an office in Taiwan to advertise the cause.

Mr Alptekin, the general secretary of Unpo, was born in Lanzhou, Gansu province, in 1939 and fled to India 10 years later. He returned to the mainland twice in the 1980s and now lives in Germany.

The latest violence happened last Friday in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where a Chinese delegation from Xinjiang was ambushed by a group of gunmen. The attacks resulted in the death of one official and two were seriously wounded.

Mr Alptekin said he opposed any uprisings by Uygurs but young Uygurs were getting desperate. 'It's not an organised movement. In their hopelessness, desperation, frustration, some Uygurs - young people - have' created resistance movements in Xinjiang. But the movements were not cohesive, he said.