Anti-terror expert: World Uyghur Congress behind Xinjiang violence

BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Evidence showed that
World Uyghur Congress had masterminded Sunday's deadly violence in northwest
China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a Chinese counter-terrorism expert
told Xinhua Tuesday.

"Judging from what Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the World
Uyghur Congress, had said and done, it is fair to say the organization
masterminded the incident," said Li Wei, director of the Center for
Counter-Terrorism Studies with the China Institute of Contemporary International
Relations.

"After the March 14 unrest in Tibet last year, Kadeer
said in public that something similar should happen in Xinjiang. The riot in
Urumqi bore some similarities with the March 14 incident."

Kadeer had been in close relations to the Dalai Lama,
Li said, noting that the Xinjiang riot was regarded by experts as an
"intentional imitation" of what happened in Lhasa.

"The riot was by no means incidental and
spontaneous," he noted. "It was well organized as riots, targeting civilians,
occurred at several locations at the same time."

Xinjiang police said Monday they had evidence that
Rebiya Kadeer masterminded the Sunday riot, and had obtained recordings of calls
between overseas Eastern Turkestan groups and their accomplices inside the
country.

In the recorded calls, Kadeer said, "Something will
happen in Urumqi." She also called her younger brother in Urumqi, saying, "We
know a lot of things have happened," referring to the June 26 brawl involving
workers from Xinjiang in a toy factory in Guangdong Province.

"This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding
of the People's Republic of China," Li said. "The World Uyghur Congress has
chosen this specific time to do damage."




Xinjiang
Riots