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TMCNet: Interview: Separatism bad for China, the world: U.S. scholar

[August 12, 2009]

Interview: Separatism bad for China, the world: U.S. scholar

WASHINGTON, Aug 12, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- by Yang Qingchuan Separating Xinjiang from China is bad for China and the whole world as well, because a stable China is good for everyone, a U.S. scholar has said.

"My feeling in the United States is that nobody wants Xinjiang to become independent, because it would be bad for China, and would be bad for the world," Dru C. Gladney, president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College, California, told Xinhua in a recent telephone interview.

"A stable China is good for everyone," he added.

Speaking of China's response to the July 5 riot in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Gladney said, "There is a lot of support for China to bring western journalists to Urumqi after the incident." "People feel that is a very great thing," he said.

Gladney, who studied ethnic issues for many years, said that the U.S. policy toward the issue is not very consistent, because it is influenced and pressured by too many interest groups.

Although every society in the world faces certain kinds of ethnic and racial problems, China's policy towards ethnic minorities are "enlightened and positive," he said.

"Everybody recognizes that the problem is shared by the whole world," such as the 2005 riots in France and Basque separatism in Spain, said Gladney.

"Language, religion played a role while the Internet and global communications make it (ethnic problem) more complicated," he noted.

"All modern nations in the era of globalization face tremendous challenges from migration, economic imbalance, and ethnic unrest," said the scholar.

The United States has its own troubles on the issue, too.

"America always has deep and contentious ethnic problems. Civil war was largely fought for racial treatment of African Americans," said Gladney.

"Black-white tensions are continued right up to this day," he said, mentioning that at the age of 14 he was nearly beaten to death by a group of young blacks only because he is white.

Even Barack Obama, the first African American president in U.S.

history, admits that "we have so deep racial problems," said the scholar.

In Hawaii, a state with a large Asian American community, and is often regarded as a "harmonious place" for various races, there are still "frequent fights between races." However, Gladney noted there are some successful stories in the United States that may provide clues for the rest of the world to deal with ethnic problems.

One of such stories is Alaska, where the government has successfully incorporated native Alaskans into the state's economic development.

In Gladney's opinion, the ethnic problem, wherever it occurs, is ultimately a management issue.

"Good management always checks realities on the ground, having transparency and making people feel more engaged," he said.

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