The recent outburst of violence in Xinjiang, where 35 people were killed, occurred near the upcoming fourth anniversary of the July 2009 riots which resulted in a death toll of 197 individuals, along with 1,721 injured. It begs the question: what has changed in the past four years? And, are we to expect further violence in the near future?

Occupying one-sixth of the total land mass of China, Xinjiang possesses some of the nation’s largest natural gas and oil reserves, and is strategically situated as a distributor of these resources to energy-hungry Central Asia, and surrounding Chinese provinces. Suffice to say, relations in Xinjiang between the nearly 8.4 million Uygurs and Han Chinese (the predominant ethnic group) have been tense over the years; and the government is keen to pacify any ethnic tensions, especially given its geo-economic position.