A violent attack on April 30th at the main railway station in Urumqi, the capital of western China’s Xinjiang region, has left at least three people dead and nearly 80 injured. The authorities have been quick to blame “terrorists” (here, in Chinese), a term that in the context of Xinjiang means only one thing: Muslim extremists from Xinjiang’s ethnic Uighur population who resent Chinese control over the province. President Xi Jinping had been visiting Xinjiang (if he had already left, it was at most a few hours earlier) when an unspecified number of assailants staged their early evening attack just outside the station using knives and explosives. In a brief response, Mr Xi said China “must resolutely continue fighting against the overweening arrogance of these violent terrorists” (see Xinhua news agency, in Chinese).

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