China’s Xinjiang to build ‘Great Wall’ to protect border: Governor

Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years in violence between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, and ethnic majority Han Chinese.

By: Reuters | Beijing | Published: January 23, 2018 8:28 am

China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang will build a “Great Wall” around its borders to prevent the infiltration of militants from outside the country, state media reported on Tuesday citing the regional governor.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years in violence between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, and ethnic majority Han Chinese, especially in the heavily Uighur southern part of Xinjiang.

China blames the violence in Xinjiang on Islamist extremists and separatists, some of whom it says have links to groups outside the country.