Beijing argues that the current unrest in Xinjiang, as with unrest in Tibet last year, was due to political meddling and manipulation from abroad by separatist exiles and their western allies intent on undermining China. Otherwise, local Uighurs and Tibetans have no valid cause for grievance given that their regions have been experiencing ample development and rising prosperity. Poverty rates have been falling, average household incomes rising, and health and education moderately improving.
These arguments unfortunately ignore several unique characteristics of Chinese rule in both Tibet and Xinjiang that result in intensified ethnic discrimination alongside development. For instance, rising standards of living among Uighurs and Tibetans in large part reflect the fact that Uighurs and Tibetans are increasingly migrating from the countryside to towns and cities in search of work, like everywhere else in China. Yet it is precisely in these towns and cities where they experience some of the strongest forms of discrimination given that urban economic activities are dominated by Han Chinese. Experiences of discrimination and exclusion are therefore likely to increase alongside rising incomes and falling poverty.
Of course, these considerations apply to migrants throughout China. Why then are Tibet and Xinjiang exceptional? They are exceptional because recent development strategies have intensified the appropriation of local ownership by Han Chinese outsiders. Uighurs and Tibetans up to the present have remained the most distinct and least-sinicised nationalities in China, and thus the least adapted to compete in an economic environment increasingly dominated by Han Chinese.