Crackdown or conciliation:

China's politburo split over response to Uighur violence
The unrest that claimed 184 lives last week has again forced Beijing to question its reaction to calls for regional autonomy

By Emma Graham-Harrison
Sunday, 12 July 2009SHARE PRINTEMAILTEXT SIZE NORMALLARGEEXTRA LARGE
The script is jarringly familiar. Bodies lie on riot-scarred streets in an ethnic minority area, troops patrol and Beijing denounces overseas enemies bent on splitting China.

Less than 18 months ago, when the violence was in Tibet, China responded harshly, and tight security has been in place ever since. But as discontent played out in energy-rich Xinjiang last week, analysts say there was almost certainly a parallel debate taking place within the secretive Communist Party about where policy on ethnic minorities went wrong.

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