Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Map: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Colonialism, 1759–2001
- 2 How the Uyghurs Became a ‘Terrorist Threat’
- 3 Myths and Realities of the Alleged ‘Terrorist Threat’ Associated with Uyghurs
- 4 Colonialism Meets Counterterrorism, 2002–2012
- 5 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013–2016
- 6 Cultural Genocide, 2017–2020
- Conclusion
- A Note on Methodology
- Transliteration and Place Names
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
2 - How the Uyghurs Became a ‘Terrorist Threat’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2026
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Map: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Colonialism, 1759–2001
- 2 How the Uyghurs Became a ‘Terrorist Threat’
- 3 Myths and Realities of the Alleged ‘Terrorist Threat’ Associated with Uyghurs
- 4 Colonialism Meets Counterterrorism, 2002–2012
- 5 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and the ‘People’s War on Terror,’ 2013–2016
- 6 Cultural Genocide, 2017–2020
- Conclusion
- A Note on Methodology
- Transliteration and Place Names
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 examines the phenomenon of GWOT and its impact on the Uyghurs and their relationship to the Chinese state. The first half of the chapter recounts the process by which the PRC branded the Uyghurs as a global terrorist threat, beginning shortly after the declaration of GWOT in September 2001, and successfully obtained international recognition of this branding within a year of the war’s beginning. The second half of the chapter charts how this recognition of Uyghurs as a transnational terrorist threat was reified and maintained by the ‘counterterrorism industrial complex’ that developed around GWOT in the US and Europe after 2001. More generally, the chapter highlights how these processes created a flawed narrative about Uyghur terrorism, which was over-exaggerated and assisted in justifying China’s suppression of Uyghur domestic dissent with impunity from the international community.
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- The war on the UyghursChina's campaign against Xinjiang's Muslims, pp. 63 - 96Publisher: Manchester University PressFirst published in: 2026
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