Your People Shall be Your People: What the Belt Road Initiative Should Learn from Xinjiang’s History and Present

Abstract

This thesis will examine the potential effects the Belt and Road Initiative on locals, especially the poor and ethnic minorities, in Xinjiang. The work discusses four main and inseparable themes that speculates what may happen specifically to the people in Xinjiang, a region that remains a priority for economic modernization, due to the Belt and Road Initiative. These include, but are not limited to, ethnic minority social unrest, international geopolitics, forced migration, and lastly trade. By analyzing history, prior large-scale projects throughout the frontier, previous and current government policies, and the region’s cultural dynamics I interpret how biopolitical strategies are being used as tools to control ethnic minority regions, as well as providing new methods to strengthen China’s domestic security. I also explain how the BRI, and the Chinese government, can foster ethnic inclusivity for a more wholistic social model of development. My process of a social operating model would run parallel to the economic model of development, which can lead to a less divisive future for the Belt and Road Initiative.