Uyghur cross-border movement into South East Asia: Between Resistance and Survival

Abstract

This chapter provides an analysis of the factors that have driven recent trans-migration of Uyghurs through Southeast Asia and explores potential linkages to terrorism. It argues that the trans-migration of Uyghurs via Southeast Asia cannot be isolated from the larger social resistance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang against Han Chinese rule. China’s harder line in Xinjiang under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, in particular, have left many Uyghurs with choices that are either to migrate, to abandon their culture and religious identity in favor of a homogenous Chinese identity, or to give expression to their identity either through violent or non-violent resistance. This situation has provided not only the impetus for thousands of Uyghurs to migrate but also the opportunity for the intersection of Uyghur aspirations with the global forces of Islamist radicalism.