salt, the equivalent of 40 - 50% of China’s total reserves; there are other strategic reserves, like uranium, of which there is more than 12 trillion tons. The gold reserves are 19 million tons and mined in fifty-six mines, which yield on average annually 360 kg gold. The oil reserve is between 6.5 and 8.2 billion tons, equal to one-third of China’s total reserve. The total annual oil production is 27.4 million tons and it is anticipated that this number will rise to 60 million by 2010, and 100 million by 2020. According to data from 1988, in East Turkistan there is an area of 700 square kilometers in which it is thought oil can be found; this means that there is approximately 800 million tons of crude oil. Moreover, about 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been detected. This is why international experts see Eastern Turkistan as the backbone of China’s economy and heavy industry. Even more important is that Eastern Turkistan is the main source for China’s nuclear production, with very pure uranium produced in the region.

Indeed Eastern Turkistan is a country with “an indescribable fertility” as Hamevi said. And it is because of this that Eastern Turkistan has whetted appetite of every imperialist. This region is also an area where China can send its surplus population, as the population density here is 5 people per square kilometer, while the population density in China is over 160 people per square kilometer. Recently, a Communist Party politburo member Wang Lu Tshuan expressed the secret intentions of China against the region during an annual academic congress of the Chinese Science and Technology Association in 2005: “With its wealth in oil and unique geographic location the region will surely be an energy base from which to launch China’s economic advance in the 21st century.”9 This statement clearly states China’s plans concerning the benefits, privileges and future of Eastern Turkistan. Whatever the consequences, it is not possible for China to ignore or to forego the aforementioned benefits.

Thus, it can be clearly seen that China’s struggle over the region is a strategic one and that any social disorder, regardless of its source will not be tolerated. But extracting the untapped underground resources of the region, attaining an infrastructure that is geared towards heavy industry, benefiting from these and ensuring their continuance will not be possible if social tensions continue in the area. However, it is estimated that all in all, the problems encountered today are no less than those encountered when the name of the region was changed from Eastern Turkistan. In an era when the rate of change is measured by technology, such a logic of “no turning back”, making China’s economy and the country dependent on a colony, especially in a strategic sense, is a great gamble. In this case, what can provide China with its wishes for peace and stability? How can the people of Turkistan be forced to endure persecutions and torture forever?