China: Xinjiang Death Toll revised by China

A week after violent riots broke out in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, the Chinese regime has revised the official death toll.

Here are the official numbers, according to state media: 184 people are dead, including 137 Han Chinese, 46 Uighurs, and one man of the Hui ethnic group.

But just as independent groups say the Chinese regime understated the death toll during the Tibet crackdown last year, so too is the death toll in Xinjiang disputed.

The World Uyghur Congress—an organization representing Uighur interests—says info collected from sources on the ground suggests bigger numbers. They estimate that in addition to the Han Chinese people killed, the number of Uighurs dead is around 400, not 46.

A spokesperson explained it to us this way in a phone interview:

[Alim Seytoff, Spokesperson, World Uyghur Congress]:
„It is a common practice in China to always downgrade the number of people killed and wounded in some kind of clash like that so that the Chinese government can control the situation and blame the initial Uighur protestors as the cause of the deaths and wounded.“

According to state media, authorities have also promised to pay $30,000 in compensation to the families of each „innocent victim.“ But this would only include those in the official count, and only those authorities deem were victims.

(NTDTV)