The Uighurs aren't supposed to be seeking independence by force. The Communist government probably is just using the war against Islamofascism as a cover to continue to persecute people and keep them in line.
I know people that lived in Xinjiang for most of their lives. The Uygurs there can be extremely violent. This includes car bombs, murder, and armed attacks. One of the people I know personally witnessed armed Uygur hiding behind pregnant women as they attacked a government building.
"Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs account for 8 million of the 19 million people in Xinjiang."
The ratio is less than that because the government is under-reporting the number of Han Chinese in the province.
In 1949 the Turkic-speaking Uighurs represented 60-80% of the population in Xinjiang, depending on locale.
The Marxist government's manner of development is to increase the number of Han Chinese in the province. Its the same slow (decades and centuries) ethnic cleansing by which the Han came to dominate central China in the first place. Ancient emperors or modern emperors, its all the same over the eons to "minorities" ruled by the Han.
Whether its the Uighurs in Xinjiang or the Tibetans, its all the same now just as it has always been.
Yep.