Snuggling up to Beijing. (Insider Report).

There are legitimate concerns about Communist China's abuse of the Uighurs (pronounced "whee-gurs"), a Muslim ethnic minority residing in western Xinjiang province. As is the case with the Muslim population in Chechnya, discontent among the Uighurs has given rise to a militant separatist movement. And, as in Chechnya, some separatist elements in Xinjiang are reportedly connected to al-Qaeda and have engaged in terrorist attacks on civilian targets. And just as Washington has lent its support to Moscow's brutal and indiscriminate military campaign in Chechnya, it has thrown its support behind Beijing's suppression of the Uighurs.

In late August, the State Department placed the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM) on its "list of groups subject to financial sanctions," reported the August 27th Chicago Tribune. According to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who was in Beijing when the listing was announced, this decision was the result of "careful study." As the Stratfor Global Intelligence service commented, the decision was actually intended to lay the groundwork "for a meeting between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President George W. Bush in October -- a meeting that may set the tone for Chinese-U.S. relations ...