The Global War on Terror in China: an assessment of Beijing’s Securitization of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Abstract

Years of turmoil between China proper and the Indigenous Uyghur population in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have manifested into post-9/11 securitization, which has leveraged and imposed Chinese surveillance and intelligence strategies onto the Uyghur ethnic minority. This paper attempts to examine the extent to which the framing of terrorism through the lens of the Global War on Terror is reconcilable with China's securitization strategies. The discussion concludes with the suggestion that China's securitization of the Uyghur population has been ineffective, and perhaps counter-productive.