Xinjiang Studies In The United States Since The “7·5” Incident

The “7·5” incident in Urumqi, Xinjiang facilitates another “turning point” of Xinjiang Studies in the US in consistent with the “9·11” incident. A better knowledge of the US’s Xinjiang Studies,especially its latest proceedings after the “7·5”incident is of great significance to China’s anti-terrorism and anti-separatism, which area now is almost a blank though.Xinjiang Studies in the US is not a famous and prominent school in the academia of the US,however, it has a relatively stable group of researchers, who received great academic training in different schools and subjects; and it has some relatively concentrated research institutes like The Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University(CEUS) and East-West Center, some leading universities’ China Studies departments are also involved; and it has quite diversified communication channels, including the Congress, mass media, academic journals and Ph. D dissertations.To simply put, Xinjiang Studies in the United States mainly focus on Xinjiang’s terrorism,separatism and China’s policies toward Xinjiang, which can be understood as the nature of“Xinjiang Problem” that China is facing. I argue that the US’s Xinjiang studies deconstruct the Xinjiang Problem that China is facing and reconstruct it as: Xinjiang separatism is caused by China’s polices toward Xinjiang, the terrorism in Xinjiang is constructed by China’s government out of political goals; China’s anti-terrorism and anti-separatism efforts in Xinjiang will worsen Xinjiang’s situation. In this way, Xinjiang Studies in the United States construct an opposite discourse system to China’s and promote it to the world. American scholars’ opinions vary from each other on some specific issues involving Xinjiang, some are of huge disagreements with China’s official claims and some are informative to our academic research and policy directions. It needs a critical and objective assessment.The “7·5” incident promoted some delicate changes for Xinjiang Studies in the US. The US’s Xinjiang Studies is suggesting some policy directions, while I argue that the US’s government will not launch Xinjiang Policy, and Xinjiang Problem is not of any priority in the Sino-US relations,and bilateral debates and disputes on human rights like poverty, culture, education and religion will continue for a long time. Meanwhile, it should be noted that Xinjiang Problem is very likelyto become a crucial variable in the Sino-US relations if the situation in Xinjiang is worsening off or even conflicts like “7·5” incident happened again.Following the US’s Xinjiang studies is a long-term project. The US’s Xinjiang Studies is making one of the US’s power resources to China and it lies in the US’s advantage on discourse power, which couldn’t be altered radically in a short-term; How to construct the image of ethnic minorities and their areas is of great meaning; Studying the US’s domestic politics and countering the diversity of its public opinion; Directing mass media, scholars, NGOs and public of international society to explore Xinjiang(including Tibet); Studying the works of foreign countries’ Xinjiang Studies and drawing lessons from them to contribute to the answer of Xinjiang Problem.