They’d probably want some degree of cultural and religious autonomy, and that’s politically unacceptable to Beijing.

I guess the unwillingness to give some level of autonomy is ultimately the downfall of most dictatorships. This will just keep festering unless they are willing to kill all of them.

The Turks have been making the same mistake with the Kurd for a long time. Instead of looking for a mutually acceptable solution they just keep oppressing with no end in sight.

There's no such thing as an Uighur, just funny looking Chinese people. There's no such thing as a Kurd, just Turkish people with a funny accent. They're just making their supposed cultural differences up, why can't they just be like us?

My guess: "Muslims answer to Allah" and an Imam from X country can unleash them against China, today or tomorrow. Why risk it...