Xinjiang hires ex-soldiers to protect residents

Increased terror threat requires more manpower: expert

Urumqi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will for the first time recruit 3,000 ex-soldiers to protect residential communities, a move observers said is aimed at coping with increased violence and terrorism.

All soldiers who left the service this year, who are under the age of 30, are "against separatism and illegal religious activities" and have no criminal record can apply for the job, the capital city's Civil Affairs Bureau announced Thursday on its website.

The soldiers have to undergo an application process, which includes a political examination and health check before being hired. Once they become community workers, they will be paid at least 3,000 yuan ($500) a month and given a local hukou, or residence certificate, the recruitment ad said.

"The recruitment is a way to maintain stability as well as to help demobilized soldiers get a job," the announcement said.

"This is the first time that we are employing ex-soldiers to maintain community stability," a male employee from the Civil Affairs Bureau, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Global Times.

Observers said that the move reflected the authorities' determination to fight terrorism and separatism, which have become increasingly serious in Xinjiang in recent years.

"The situation in Xinjiang is getting worse, and the government needs more people to prevent further riots from happening," Pan Zhiping, the director of the Research Institute of Central Asia at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Xu Jianying, a professor with the Research Center for Chinese Borderland History and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agrees.

He blamed the involvement of hostile forces in neighboring regions outside China for an increase in violence in Xinjiang since 2012.

Sixteen police were killed and an equal number were injured after a border patrol armed police division in Xinjiang was raided in 2013, the Xinhua News Agency said.

In March, a group of terrorists led by Xinjiang separatist forces killed 31 people in the Kunming railway station in Yunnan Province. Three of the suspects were sentenced to death and one was sentenced to life in prison.

The local police and military have increased their patrol in Urumqi and other areas prone to terror attacks.

The governments are also mobilizing civil servants to boost exchanges with people at the grass-roots to reduce ethnic conflicts and monitor the spread of religious extremism.

"Maintaining stability in communities is very significant, as violence and major terrorist activities start in local communities," Pan said.

Demobilized soldiers of high political quality and military experience will be able to prevent groups from organizing violent and terrorist activities, Pan said. He added that most community workers in Xinjiang who patrol at night currently are women with no military experience.

In the face of increasing terrorism, the Xinjiang government launched a campaign to crack down on violent and terrorist crimes in May, that will last until next June. Since the campaign's launch, Xinjiang police have busted 115 suspected terrorist gangs, investigated 44 cases involving the spread of explosive making methods online and arrested 238 illegal scripture teachers as of November, according to Xinjiang government's official news portal ts.cn.

However, Xu cautioned that although more people involved in maintaining stability helps guarantee the safety of residents, they can also bring an unnecessary sense of tension among people.

It is also important for authorities to win the support of the Uyghur people who have remained on the sidelines of the government's anti-terrorism campaign, experts say.

"They (the Uyghurs) are more easily instigated by extremists due to a lack of knowledge of terrorism," Pan said.

Since August, the Xinjiang government has been holding a series of cultural activities including short sketch comedies and drawing competitions to help Uyghur people understand extremism and separatism.