BEIJING, September 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – China's crushing campaign of religious oppression and cultural assimilation against its Muslim Uighur minority, in the name of terror-combat and anti-separatism, risks to turn the region into a "time bomb", warned a worldwide group of exiled Uighur Muslims Friday, September 30.

"The policies of political oppression, cultural assimilation, economic exploitation, ecological destruction, racial discrimination have gradually turned East Turkestan into a time bomb," the World Uighur Congress (WUC) said in a statement, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

The statement came on the eve of Saturday's 50th anniversary of the Communist Party's rule over Xinjiang, which had previously been an independent nation known as East Turkestan.

"As a result, severe anti-Chinese sentiment is intensified throughout East Turkestan," the statement added.

The Uighurs are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight million whose traditional homeland lies in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in north-west China.

Xinjiang has been autonomous since 1955 but continues to be the subject of crackdowns by Chinese authorities, who have been accused by rights groups of religious repression against Uighurs in the name of counter-terrorism efforts.

On Thursday, September 29, China has ordered a renewed "Strike Hard" campaign against the region of Xinjiang.

"We hope all politics and law officials, the soldiers of the armed police and the People's Liberation Army ... can thoroughly safeguard social order, advance ethnic unity and maintain lasting political stability," the People's Daily quoted top law official Luo Gan saying.

"We must continue to strike hard at all criminal activities and handle well the overall administration of social order," said Luo.

The WUC statement further accused the Chinese authorities of adopting policies of cultural assimilation and economic deprivation in an effort to tighten its grip on the region.

"China's founder Mao Zedong died three decades ago, but China's strategic, political and economic objectives in East Turkestan have remained unchanged," the WUC said, referring to late Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong who established Xinjiang in 1955 after earlier promising the people of East Turkestan self determination and full independence.

"The present Chinese leaders are continuing the same policy to transform East Turkestan completely into a Chinese colony, culturally assimilate the Uighur Muslims, and economically exploit their natural resources."

Beijing views Xinjiang as an invaluable asset because of its crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its large oil and gas reserves.

In a 114-page report released in April, Human Rights Watch said Chinese policy in Xinjiang "denies Uighurs religious freedom, and by extension freedom of association, assembly, and expression".