August 19:
The Statesman reports that according to police and local officials in Aksu, Xinjiang, during the morning rush hour a Uighur man drove an explosives-laden, three-wheeled vehicle into a crowd killing seven people and wounding 14 others. The official Xinhua new agency quoted a provincial government spokesperson as saying the blast was being treated as a criminal case and that one suspect had already been apprehended. In a speech just before the blast, provincial Governor Nur Bekri blamed Islamic terrorists for unrest in the region and said authorities were faced with a complicated separatist struggle. Following last July’s violence, authorities have installed hundreds of spy cameras along all major thoroughfares of the provincial capital, Urumqi, set up specialized anti terror police force, and enforced strict residence requirements.
The official PLA Daily newspaper reports that “in mid-summer, a train loaded with important combat readiness materials for the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAAF) got to the destination safely,” using the Qinghai-Tibet railway line. This represents the first successful use of the world's highest rail link for transporting heavy-duty military hardware and another feather in the cap of the PLA's logistics department, according to the Indian Express. An official in the PLAAF’s Logistics Department said the delivery “symbolized a new improvement of the military transportation capacity of the PLAAF in combat support, ” The Hindu reports.
August 20:
Amid the CPC’s tightening public security there maybe some pressure for political liberalization. Just prior to this month’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the four major special economic zones (SEZs) of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen, authorities have permitted the republishing of Hu Yaobang's remarks made during his 1983 inspection tour to Shenzhen’s SEZ. Moreover, the Ming Pao reports, after concluding several detailed studies on the SEZs, Beijing leaders are now “actively discussing the possibility of transforming the 'SEZs' into 'special political zones' by introducing political reforms.”
[Editor’s Note: Hu Yaobang, once General Secretary of the CPC, was dismissed by Deng Xiaoping for supporting political reform in 1987. His death in April 1989 helped inspire the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. On April 22, 1989, 50,000 students marched to Tiananmen Square to participate in Hu's funeral. Hu’s name, which was first rehabilitated in 2005, was praised this year by Premier Wen Jiabao in a People’s Daily editorial in what the New York Times called a nod “to the party’s now-quiescent band of liberals.” The republishing of Hu’s speeches represents another curious acknowledgment of the liberal Hu’s contributions.]
August 22:
At the fourth round of the India-Japan strategic dialogue in New Delhi, China’s military buildup took center stage. India’s The Age newspaper, citing sources close to the talks, reports that both sides shared concerns about China’s non-transparent military spending and Beijing’s decision to provide Pakistan with two additional nuclear reactors. Publicly, however, neither New Delhi nor Tokyo has divulged the substance of their discussions on China’s military or even acknowledge the topic had been broached.
August 26:
Pakistan has handed over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of Kashmir to China. An estimated 7,000 to 11,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in are now in Gilgit-Baltistan. Many will work on the railroad, some are extending the Karakoram Highway to link Xinjiang with Pakistan, others are working on dams, expressways and other projects including 22 secret tunnels where Pakistanis are barred. The PLA construction crews had lived in temporary encampments but now are building long-term residential enclaves. The reason, a New York Times editorial suggests, is that China wants to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Persian Gulf through Pakistan. It now takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. But when high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours.