Border Region: Xinjiang and Region

border region: A series of riots, bombings and stabbings blamed on ethnic Uighurs over the years prompted authorities to launch a massive security crackdown in the far western region, according to The Japan Times. The BRI is an important factor behind the central government's urge to bring the restive region of Xinjiang once and for all under its control, said Adrian Zenz, an independent German researcher specializing in Xinjiang. It's a stark reminder of the severe security policies that China has imposed on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in its vast border region of Xinjiang, which it considers crucial to the success of President Xi Jinping's cherished Belt and Road initiative BRI . ; The gateway to Central Asia and key project partner Pakistan, Xinjiang is at the heart of the globe-spanning trade infrastructure program. The drastic measures have included placing as many as 1 million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities, including ethnic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, in internment camps that Beijing downplays as vocational education centers. The crackdown has put the leaders of Central Asia and Pakistan, who attended a Belt and Road summit in Beijing this week, in an awkward position. Uighur wives of Pakistani traders have also been swept up in the dragnet. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.