China's state-run "Tengri Tagh" website reported on November 2 that the Public Security Bureau in Ili City (Ili Prefecture) announced at a press conference that migrants can settle in Ili City with a 6-month residence permit, and household registration procedures can be completed in as little as one day. This occurring after the "Xinjiang Education Conference" held on December 18, 2024, is no coincidence but rather one of China's tools for large-scale settlement of Chinese populations in Uyghur lands in East Turkistan, which China occupies and calls Xinjiang.
The policies of unconditionally settling Chinese migrants in Uyghur lands in Ili City are not an isolated case but rather a settlement policy implemented jointly across all Uyghur regions.
As is known, China's primary reason for settling Chinese migrants in Uyghur lands is its goal to completely eliminate Uyghurs from these lands. However, the settlement process requires suitable living conditions for migrants, adequate water resources, and agricultural land and orchards. Although Uyghur lands cover 1.66 million square kilometers, according to Chinese statistics from 2015, only 9.7% of this vast territory is suitable for human habitation. It was promoted that the proportion of habitable land in Uyghur territory, which didn't even reach 10%, increased from 4.3% in 1950 to 9.7% after 60 years of arduous efforts.
According to these statistics, population density in East Turkistan is so high that 337 people are distributed per square kilometer, not much different from the population density in Chinese coastal areas. However, the difference is that population density in Chinese coastal areas formed based on sufficient water and land resources. In Uyghur lands, especially in southern regions, a population density disproportionate to water and land capacity has been created, and the population capacity in fertile lands has reached its maximum. Although China has made efforts for over 60 years and achieved some success in expanding fertile land area, this success doesn't mean Uyghur lands can accommodate more population. It has been mentioned that the ecological environmental structure of Uyghur lands is extremely sensitive, and if destroyed once, it's impossible to restore it to its original state.
It can be said that these statistics were published at that time as a scientific basis for controlling the Uyghur population by showing that the rapid increase in the Uyghur population in the southern region damages the ecological environment. Because in this statistical study, it was proposed that the government should continuously implement family planning policy in the Uyghur region, strictly control population growth in the southern Uyghur region, transfer Uyghurs to Chinese provinces and Chinese people to Uyghur lands to change the mono-ethnic population composition based on Uyghur residents in the southern Uyghur region, and transfer people from fertile lands with high population density (around the Tarim Basin) as environmental migrants to other regions. Surprisingly, in 2014, the Chinese government announced favorable policies for settling Chinese migrants in Uyghur lands and declared that these policies would be more facilitative in the southern Uyghur region.
Looking at the living environment in Uyghur lands, the proportion of fertile land suitable for human habitation is extremely low, exactly as stated in the above statistical study. In such a case, the Chinese government's facilitation of Chinese migrant settlement in the southern Uyghur region, which has reached the same population capacity ratio as Chinese coastal areas, raises questions: Is the Chinese government ignoring Uyghur lives, and does it not even care about Chinese migrants' lives? Of course this is not the case. China has made great efforts over the years to increase habitable fertile land in Uyghur territory.
The recent possibility of surrounding the Taklamakan Desert with an artificial green belt 3,046 kilometers long is precisely part of these efforts. Additionally, the attempt to divert rivers and streams from the Tibetan Plateau to Uyghur lands would have started long ago if not for strong opposition from India. That is, China has already prepared the capability to improve the ecological environment of Uyghur lands, and no matter how much the Uyghur population increases, its impact would be minimal if the ecological environment is improved.
In fact, the real issue here isn't that population growth is incompatible with environmental balance, but rather that the increase in the Uyghur population poses a threat to China's security! The real goal isn't protecting the ecological environment of Uyghur lands but reducing or completely eliminating the Uyghur population in Uyghur territory.
As a result of these policies, not only has a large number of Uyghurs been eliminated in the past 30 years, but it has also caused a great tragedy in the form of a decline in the Uyghur population in the next 30 years. Even today, China is using all possible means to eliminate the Uyghurs without hindrance and in accordance with international laws.
There is a Uyghur proverb that says "a pot made of wood cooks food only once," and China's deception has been exposed both in China and in the international arena today, causing a global scandal. This means that a situation of treating China's lies with extreme caution has generally been formed inside and outside China. In such a situation, if we look at the implementation status of China's plan to settle migrants in Uyghur lands, it is not difficult to see that things are not going as China expected!
In the 1980s, most of the migrants who flooded into China's coastal areas under the influence of the so-called "reform" settled in the coastal areas. Their children were born, raised, and grew up in a high-consumer environment in the coastal areas. The coastal areas have opened up to the whole world. However, the Uyghur lands have only opened up to countries such as Central Asia and Russia. Migrants to the coastal areas had the opportunity to establish trade relations with the whole world or benefit from these trade relations. But the Uyghur lands are currently unable to benefit from such privileges as a particularly sensitive area for China.
The trade relations of the Chinese with foreign countries in the coastal areas or the investment of foreign companies in the coastal areas have not been subjected to such great restrictions as those in the Uyghur lands. Under these circumstances, the exaggerated promotion of the Uyghur lands in the name of the gateway to opening to the West in the so-called “Belt and Road” project is unrealistic. The Uyghur lands are still a place managed through stability measures under China’s strong political pressure. It makes no sense for migrants to voluntarily migrate to such a place. Only those who do not have the opportunity to live in the coastal areas or who are deceived by the Chinese government’s propaganda about its favorable policies can join the ranks of these migrants.
More importantly, recently, content has been widely shared on internet platforms inside China about the discontent of Chinese who have migrated to Uyghur lands believing China’s promises. China may face significant obstacles in settling migrants in Uyghur lands because of this kind of discontent. In this case, whether it is due to the ecological environment of Uyghur lands or its political climate, settling large numbers of Chinese migrants is a difficult path that requires China to bear great economic costs and heavy political pressure!