Colonization with Chinese characteristics: politics of (in)security in Xinjiang and Tibet

ABSTRACT

China as a victim rather than a proponent of modern colonialism is an essential myth that animates Chinese nationalism. The Chinese statist project of occupying, minoritizing and securitizing different ethno-national peoples of Central Asia, such as Uyghurs and Tibetans, with their own claims to homelands, is a colonial project. Focusing on China’s securitized and militarized rule in Xinjiang and Tibet, the article will argue that the most appropriate lens through which this can be understood is neither nation-building nor internal colonialism but modern colonialism. It argues that the representation of Uyghurs and Tibetans as sources of insecurity not only legitimizes state violence as a securitizing practice but also serves contemporary Chinese colonial goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonialism
• securitization
• China
• Uyghurs
• Xinjiang
• Tibet
• nationalism

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank different anonymous referees, the special issue editor and the journal editor for their feedback, which allowed the paper to become more focused. I am also grateful to numerous Tibetan and Uyghur activists, students and scholars who agreed with my thesis about China as a colonial state whenever I presented it in one or another form at conferences, in protest marches or on social media.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Dibyesh Anand http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3604-2539