英字新聞

August 04, 2014
EDITORIAL: China's racial policy fuels cycle of violence in Xinjiang region
（社説）新疆のテロ　民族政策を見直す時だ

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is an inland region in far western China that has a large population of Uighur Muslims.
　中国内陸部の新疆ウイグル自治区は、イスラム教徒のウイグル族が多く暮らす地域である。

The region has recently been hit by a series of violent attacks believed to have been perpetrated by terrorists. There are no signs of calming the wave of violence in the region.
　この地方で最近、テロとみられる暴力事件が相次いでおり、沈静化の気配が見えない。

It is necessary to take a firm stand against violence. But it is hard to deny that the approach the authorities have adopted to deal with the problems behind these attacks has only stirred up resentment among the local people.
　暴力には断固とした対処が必要なのは当然だ。だが、当局のやり方が地元の憎しみを増幅させていることも否めない。

China is a multiracial nation. Although Han Chinese form a great majority of the population, the vast country is home to various minority races with diverse values and lifestyles.
　中国は漢民族が主体だが、さまざまな少数民族が多様な暮らしを営む多民族国家である。

The chain of violence in the Xinjiang region indicates that the Chinese government’s racial policy has gone awry. Beijing needs to rethink its fundamental attitude toward ethnic minorities.
　暴力の連鎖が示唆するのは、中国政府の民族政策の行き詰まりだ。少数民族との向き合い方を根本的に見直すことが必要だろう。

An incident of violence in the region’s Kashgar district in late July involved an exceptionally large group of attackers. Dozens of knife-wielding militants attacked the local government office and police station, killing and injuring many.
　先週、カシュガル地区で起きた事件は、犯行集団の規模がひときわ大きかった。刃物をもった数十人が地元政府や警察を襲い、多数が死傷した。

In May, bombs set off in a busy morning market in Urumqi, the capital of the region, left more than 100 people dead or injured.
　新疆の中心都市、ウルムチでは５月に朝市で爆発があった。

After the May incident, President Xi Jinping ordered strict precautions against “a chain reaction.” The administration tightened its crackdown on “extremist religious groups.”
習近平（シーチンピン）国家主席が「連鎖反応を防げ」と命じ、「過激宗教グループ」の摘発が強化された。

Chinese police have huge powers to maintain law and order. They are allowed to wiretap telephone lines and monitor private communications over the Internet.
　電話の盗聴や、ネット上の交信の監視を含め、中国警察は強力な治安維持能力をもつ。

Chinese leaders should ponder why the chain reaction of violence in the region has not stopped, despite the government’s enormous police power.
それでも連鎖反応が止まらない理由を深刻に考えねばならない。

Recent news reports on the situation in Xinjiang suggest that the Chinese government has been tightening its control over the people in the region in ways that brutally ignore Islamic customs.
　最近伝えられた現地の様子からは、イスラムの習慣を踏みにじるような締めつけが続いていることがうかがわれる。

Officials in the region, for instance, compelled some Muslim restaurant owners to remain open during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Police detained Muslim women for wearing headscarves.
　食堂経営者が断食月のさなかの開店を強いられたり、スカーフで顔を覆った女性が警察に捕まったり。

There have been reports that the attack in Kashgar was triggered by the crackdown on the wearing of scarves.
カシュガル地区の事件も、発端はスカーフの取り締まりだったとの報道がある。

Violence is unpardonable. By seeking to ban even the daily customs of Muslims, however, the Chinese government has gone too far in its fight against violence. The government’s actions are not so much as efforts to prevent crimes as they are an oppression of an ethnic minority.
　暴力は許してはならない。だが、日常習慣の否定にまで突き進むのは不穏当であり、もはや取り締まりというより弾圧だ。

The authority’s iron-fisted policy toward the restive region has provoked the chain reaction of violence there.
こうした当局の振る舞いこそが連鎖反応を呼んでいる。

Last week, in another disturbing move, the Chinese government indicted the outspoken, Beijing-based Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti on charges of “separatism.”
　加えて心配されるのが、在北京のウイグル族学者イリハム・トフティ氏が先週、国家分裂を図った罪で起訴されたことだ。

Tohti is known as a moderate who has been working for reconciliation between Uighurs and Han Chinese. His indictment has drawn strong criticism from both inside and outside China.
　漢族とウイグル族の和解をめざす穏健派として知られる人物だ。この措置には内外から強い疑問の声が出ている。

Chinese law-enforcement authorities have asserted that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which it describes as a foreign terrorist group, is inciting Uighurs to carry out terrorist attacks.
　当局は、国外のテロ組織「東トルキスタン・イスラム運動」がウイグル族を唆し、テロを実行していると断じている。

It is possible that the attackers may have been influenced by Muslim extremists.
　容疑者らがイスラム過激派の影響を受けた可能性はあろう。

But the government appears to be trying to shift responsibility for its policy failure by blaming the series of attacks in the region on a terrorist organization and others incited by the group.
だが、国外の邪悪な組織と、それに扇動された一部分子が悪いとする論法は、政権の政策失敗の責任を転嫁する面がある。

According to China’s Constitution, all races are equal and their customs should be respected. People in China should also have religious freedom.
　各民族は平等であり、風俗・習慣は尊重される。宗教・信仰の自由もある。

Leaders in Beijing should not forget that these are fundamental principles of the nation’s Constitution.
それらは中国の憲法でも、大原則になっていることを忘れてはならない。

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 3