A developing rift between Iran and China.

[varian]

China is concerned about their world image during the upcoming Olympics. There have been reports that Iran has been involved in some of the internal Muslim unrest in China. Iran shouldn't bite one of the hands that is feeding it various sought after technologies, because China can leak to the IAEA real information about Iran's nuclear program and plausibly deny that they ever leaked such.

China: No Iran Intelligence Went to IAEA
2 days ago

BEIJING (AP) — China denied Thursday that it had provided the International Atomic Energy Agency with intelligence linked to Iran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms.

China opposes harsh U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran and has consistently watered down a U.S.-led push to impose severe penalties on Tehran for its nuclear defiance since the first set of sanctions was passed in late 2006.

An Associated Press report published Wednesday was "totally groundless and out of ulterior motives," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. She did not give further details.

The news story was published after two senior diplomats who closely follow the IAEA investigation of Iran's nuclear program told the AP that China gave information about Iran to the nuclear agency. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential.

A Chinese decision to provide information for use in the IAEA's attempts to probe Iran's purported nuclear weapons program would appear to reflect growing international unease over the Islamic republic's contention that it has never tried to make such arms.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...ijycQD8VQFSJ80

[farmall]

We should 9quitely) encourage China to crush the Uighers in the name of anti-terrorism. The quicker they do this, the more tempting it will be for Jihadists to attack China. We need them in the shooting war against Islam, because they have the people, the wealth, and the will to do tremendous damage to the enemy. Islamist attacks would be ideal to end Chinese support for Jihadist pawns.

The more China and the West can find common ground in the cultural war the better. The Tibet distraction is unfortunate, because Tibet is of no functional value to the West and should be ignored to facilitate cooperation with China, who is the natural master of the region.

[bararallu]

Why not support the Uighers and Hui as indigenous pro Turkic secular republics? Modeled on the Ataturk success? Why not let the Turkish government take the lead and do their magic in Kazakstan and grow their economy and formulate a grassroots economic alternative, long term, across the border? Why assume that their nationalism is akin to Muslim fundamentalism? The Israelis made a mistake in the 80's: with Hamas, in a similar fashion. As have the Americans with the proto-Taliban. Why repeat history?

[farmall]

"Why not support the Uighers and Hui as indigenous pro Turkic secular republics? "

Because Han vastly outnumber them and can win the cultural battle by settling in their areas. There is no need to foster any variety of Islam when there are hundreds of millions of Chinese who can crush them demographically. That's the best way to win a cultural struggle locally, There is no downside, because conflict can bring Chinese leadership (and an increasingly nationalist Chinese public) into the fight.
I don't care about the Uighers and Hui. They do not belong to me, and their regions belong to China. I don't need them to form secular republics. That form of government does not make them more useful to the West. As part of China, they are neutralized and after assimilation will matter even less. Dilute them out of the game and solve the problem. There is no reason for the West to fight for the "identity" of such people against the Chinese. We need Chinese cooperation in the future as relative US and EU power decreases. The US must understand that it cannot possibly afford the power for perpetual unilateral action, and put American interests before recreational democratic evangelism.

"Why assume that their nationalism is akin to Muslim fundamentalism? "

I oppose ALL Islam. "Moderate" Islam is the most toxic because it can hide under Western laws. The Fundies are a preferable opponent because they are the purest Muslims and their tactics provoke exactly the blowback needed to spur more non-Muslims into the fray. They are a catalyst for action. If they fight China, good. If they don't fight China, good, so long as Beijing wins.

"The Israelis made a mistake in the 80's: with Hamas, in a similar fashion. As have the Americans with the proto-Taliban. Why repeat history?"

Hamas would have happened anyway because the differences between Israel and Islam are irreconcilable.
The proto-Taliban served their purpose against the Soviets, and without religion there is no way to convince simple people to kill Commies as opposed to becoming Commies.

The Turkish situation OTOH is different, and I agree it would be expedient to foster sorting out Kazakhstan.