Xinjiang Authorities Rewards Mixed Marriages to Promote “Ethnic Unity”
To promote "ethnic unity", local authorities in Xinjiang are offering cash rewards along with other benefits for marriages between the minority ethnic groups and those belonging to the Han majority.
The local media reports state that authorities in the southern Qiemo county of China's violence-hit Xinjiang region are handing out "huge gifts for mixed marriages", BBC reports. The gifts include a 10,000 yuan (£988, $1,627) cash reward per year for five years, and other welfare benefits. However, the only condition to avail these gifts is that one member in the marriage must be a Han and the other from an ethnic minority.
Initially, Xinjiang was dominated by the Uighur Muslims, until members of the Han community, which is the largest ethnic group in the country, began migrating to the region.
It has been noted by several Western media channels that the authorities are trying their best to promote Han migration and inter-ethnic marriages in the region "in a bid to quell the Uighurs".
The Washington Post reports that by presenting this idea of "inter-ethnic fusion", President Xi Jinping is trying to play a different strategy in controlling the ethnic unrest in this part of China as well as in Tibet. James Leibold, an expert on China's ethnic policies, who teaches at Melbourne's La Trobe University, said that this move is in contrast to the nation's long-standing notion of "separate but equal" ethnicities. According to President Xi, the aim is to bind together the country's ethnic groups as tightly as the seeds in a pomegranate.
Xinjiang, in recent months, witnessed a number of violent attacks against the government to which the authorities responded by targeting civilians. The Chinese government, in fact, launched a crackdown on "terrorism" and terrorist activities in the region.
Several rights groups believe that the government is overreacting so as to justify its policies in the resource-rich region, Voice of America reports.
On the other hand, China's authorities deny having mistreated or discriminated against the Muslim Uighurs and clarified that their aim was only to bring residents in Xinjiang a higher quality of life.
