How many coal resources did China loot from East Turkistan?

Since occupying East Turkistan, China has continued to plunder natural resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas, and the figures mentioned in an article published by Chinese media this week provide some indication of the extent of the plunder.

An article published on June 12 in the so-called "Xinjiang Daily" promoted China's plunder of East Turkistan's coal resources as a 70-year achievement. The article stated that the total coal resources of East Turkistan are about 2.19 trillion tons, accounting for 40.6% of China's total coal resources and ranking first in China.

According to this propaganda article, when China occupied East Turkistan in 1949, the total coal production in East Turkistan was 179,800 tons. Later, coal mines were built one after another, and by 1957, the coal production reached 1.12 million tons, and in 1978, it exceeded 10 million tons for the first time. As a result of China's continuous expansion of mining, by 2024, East Turkistan's untapped coal production will reach 541 million tons. In addition, the total investment in coal chemical projects built and under construction in East Turkistan has exceeded 500 billion yuan.

The article emphasizes the importance of East Turkistan’s coal resources to China, describing them as “a stabilizer for ensuring China’s energy supply.” It also emphasizes the fact that China’s coal-producing provinces are expanding, transportation routes are increasing, and various transportation systems such as highways, railways, and waterways have been established, demonstrating China’s true intention to invest heavily in expanding and building various transportation routes in East Turkistan.

Although China regularly publishes data on various resources in East Turkistan, analysts argue that China is hiding the real data and that the amount of natural resources discovered and looted is much greater than China has announced.