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Nectar Gan

The first subway in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang will soon be open for business – but only for passengers who present their identity cards when buying tickets.
The regulations will apply to the new transport network in the regional capital of Urumqi and their introduction comes amid a prolonged security crackdown in the heartlands of the Uygur ethnic minority.
Travellers in China have long been required to produce ID when buying train tickets and since March last year it became compulsory for long-distance bus rides.
But Urumqi will be the first city to require real-name registration on its metropolitan rail system. 
The rail service will start trial operations by the end of June and should be fully open by the end of the year.
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According to a regulation passed by the municipal legislature on Sunday, passengers will be required to register when buying tickets.
Those who buy tickets with other people’s ID cards will face a fine between 50 to 200 yuan (US$7.90-31.70).
Maya Wang, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch who has closely followed the security situation there, said the requirement was “part of an ever tightening web of surveillance and control in Xinjiang”. 
In the past decade, hundreds of people have been killed in ethnic violence between mainly Muslim Uygurs and the ethnic majority Han. 

The government has blamed the bloodshed on Islamist extremists and separatists, but Uygur advocates say it is the government’s repression of religious freedom and unfair ethnic policies have fuelled resentment and violence. 
The authorities have been ratcheting up security and surveillance measures throughout the region since 2016, including thousands of newly installed street-corner police stations.
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The heavy human policing is coupled with the use of advanced monitoring technologies to build up what critics have called a “massive police state”.
Urumqi residents are frequently asked to provide their ID or undergo facial scans at the city’s numerous security check points.
“Think of how many checkpoints an Urumqi resident must go through every day,” Wang said. “And you are already required to use your real name for intra-city travel.”
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Strict security measures were already in place on the city’s bus networks and in some stations no liquids, not even drinking water, were allowed, said one local resident who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“I think everyone is already mentally prepared for how strict the subways will be,” he said. 

The first Urumqi subway line to open will link the city’s airport to the city centre. A further three lines are under construction.
In September, authorities in central China’s Hunan province announced that some subway and bus stations in the provincial capital of Changsha were preparing to introduce real-name registration and install facial recognition systems, but did not say when the scheme would be officially introduced.


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Xinjiang

Passengers ordered to show ID cards to use subway as Chinese state tightens grip on restive Xinjiang region

The regulations will apply to the first subway line to operate in Urumqi. Photo: Handout

Travelers arrive at Urumqi Railway Station. 02MAY14

Cityscape of Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Xinjiang. 14SEP10

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Paramilitary police take part in a counterterrorism rally, in Kashgar, Xinjiang. Photo: Reuters

(091021) -- CHONGQING, Oct. 21, 2009 (Xinhua) -- Yang Tianqing(front, R1) and other members of a criminal gang are seen during the trial at No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Oct. 21, 2009. Six people convicted in connection with organized crime gangs were sentenced to death at two courts here on Wednesday. (Xinhua) (gj)

China's former Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai looks on during a meeting at the annual session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this March 6, 2010 file photo. China's ruling Communist Party on September 28, 2012 expelled disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai from top party positions and said it would hand him over for criminal investigation accused of multiples crimes, opening a new phase in a scandal that has shaken a leadership succession. Picture taken March 6, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Files (CHINA - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW)

In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

epa02973176 A picture made available on 20 October 2011 shows a marching patrol group of Chinese police equipped with guns and fire extinguisher to put out any person demonstrating by self immolation, among hundreds of police who patrol Lhasa, in the Jorkhang Temple area in Lhasa, the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China on 17 October 2011. The U.S. State Department expressed concern on 19 October 2011, about reports of a Tibetan nun who set herself on fire in protest of China‘s policies toward her home region. Twenty-year-old Tenzin Wangmo died on 17 October 2011 in China‘s Sichuan province. She became the latest in a recent spate of self-immolating Tibetan monks - her death marks nine since April - protesting against Beijing‘s Tibet policies. The nun reportedly died of her injuries, the fourth death in the recent series of protests. EPA/STR

Xinjiang official vows to continue ‘intense’ campaign against separatists

Shohrat Zakir (centre) told the Xinjiang delegation meeting there was a significant improvement in “social harmony” last year. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on June 26, 2017 shows a policeman standing guard as Muslims arrive for the Eid al-Fitr morning prayer at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The increasingly strict curbs imposed on the mostly Muslim Uighur population have stifled life in the tense Xinjiang region, where beards are partially banned and no one is allowed to pray in public. Beijing says the restrictions and heavy police presence seek to control the spread of Islamic extremism and separatist movements, but analysts warn that Xinjiang is becoming an open air prison. / AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELE / TO GO WITH China-religion-politics, FOCUS by Ben Dooley

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Travellers using regional capital’s new metro system will have to register under their real name as security crackdown in Uygur heartland gathers pace


Passengers ordered to show ID cards to use subway as Chinese state tightens grip on restive Xinjiang region

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Travellers using regional capital’s new metro system will have to register under their real name as security crackdown in Uygur heartland gathers pace

Travellers using regional capital’s new metro system will have to register under their real name as security crackdown in Uygur heartland gathers pace