【明報專訊】Uyghurs in Kunming

Some Uyghurs (維吾爾族人) living in Kunming said they were upset by the attack. Some even said they hated the attackers, adding that the authorities had been nice to them and that their policy towards the Uyghurs was appropriate. They were worried that the attack might persuade the government to tighten up its policy towards the Uyghurs.

The Chinese authorities

President Xi Jinping (國家主席習近平) and Premier Li Keqiang (總理李克強) ordered that the law-enforcement agencies go all out to look into the accident. Because of the attack, counter-terrorism was expected to be one of the major foci at this year's National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions (人大政協會議). Vice-president of the Air Force Command Academy Zhu Heping said the attack was an act of inciting the subversion of state power (顛覆國家政權).

Chinese media

The official Xinhua news agency (新華社) has published a commentary about the attack, which says the authorities should crack down on terrorism with zero tolerance. A commentary that has appeared in People's Daily (《人民日報》) says the terrorists brutally trampled on basic human rights and ethics and should be severely punished. Chinese media organisations have generally described Xinjiang separatists as terrorists and criticised the American media for condoning (縱容) Xinjiang separatism.

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (新疆維吾爾自治區)

Vice-President of the CPPCC Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Committee Huang Changyuan (新疆維吾爾自治區政協副主席黃昌元) said the attack was shocking, stressing that such attackers represented separatist groups rather than any ethnic groups.

Commentators

Jiang Zhaoyong (時事評論員蔣兆勇), a commentator, has said that the social security policy in Xinjiang guarantees that at least one member of every family is employed. He reckons that such a policy, while helping ease tension between ethnic groups, does not help end religious conflicts. Most Uyghurs are Muslims and Islam is a religion followed by relatively small numbers of Han Chinese (漢人).

International communities

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (聯合國秘書長潘基文) has condemned the attack ''in the strongest terms''. A UN spokesperson has said Ban Ki-moon noted that there was no justification for killing innocent civilians and hoped those responsible would be brought to justice. The United States, France, Russia and Japan have all condemned the attack.

Foreign media

In 2012 The Diplomat published an article titled ''Behind the Xinjiang Violence'', which points out that some of the terrorist attacks launched by Xinjiang separatists had resulted from grievances (委屈). For example, ''the Ur�▌qi riots in July 2009 were triggered by the belief that the police didn't intervene to stop Chinese from killing Uyghurs in an inter-ethnic dispute in a toy factory in Guangdong.'' The article also points out that, after the riots, the Chinese authorities did not do much to rectify the situation.