A horrendous act of crime was committed in Kunming, a city in Southwestern China. On March 1st, a group of men and women have their faces covered, ran into Kunming railway station and stabbed people indiscriminately as they saw them. According to Xinhua News agency, the official news channel of Chinese Government, there has been 29 confirmed death and over 130 injuries. Investigation is still ongoing but 4 perpetrators was killed on the spot by the police and one taken into custody.
The government claimed perpetrators were Muslim separatists from Xinjiang province. Authorities described this incident as an “organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack.”
The news left me shocked and disgusted. Kunming is not close to my hometown. But seeing tragedies like this committed to innocent people, my eyes are swollen with tears. At the same time, I am frustrated with Chinese Government for letting this happened. The crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang has intensified since President Xi Jing ping took office. Although massacre of innocent lives are never justified, the Uighurs could easily argue “why are Chinese people’s lives worth more than the Uighurs?”
When I recover from my sorrow and my frustration, I can’t help but discovered some really suspicious pieces that unfold as more details starting to come out:
– How on earth does a small group of people so easily overpowered the security guards in the station and committed massive killing in the matter of 12 minutes? I simply do not understand. I understand a conspiracy theory would be really insensitive but that’s certainly a possibility.
– the authority said there was evidence at the scene suggesting the involvement of Muslim separatists. But it was not clear what evidence that is and there is also no confirmed identity of the only suspect they have in custody. That is very strange, the massacre happened two days ago and the public deserves more than speculation.
Call me crazy or even lunatic, but we are talking about the same government that ran armless students with tanks. There is very little boundary to what Chinese Government is capable of.
Chinese Government also has a record of inflicting hostile nationalistic sentiment among the public towards minorities such as Tibetans and Uighurs. It’s not hard to predict what comes next: a nationwide hostility towards the Uighurs or the Muslims and the government ultimately benefits from that.
I don’t know who is behind the attack, and I am sick of hearing the unfounded claim from the government. I am even more frustrated with its monotonous condolences and promises. Bureaucratic platitude is useless. I want to see actions being taken to ensure the safeties of Chinese people. If this is an atrocity committed by the Uighurs Muslim, which is nothing more than we expected, then the Chinese Government should really focus on easing the tension and resolving the conflict.
