A former judge in the western region of Xinjiang was sacked from his position and expelled from the Communist Party in early June for “being lenient on terrorists suspected of endangering local security and trying to reduce sentences for the terrorists.” A string of violent attacks in major cities in China over the past few years struck the nerve of the entire Chinese population and particularly the current administration. The 2014 Kunming Railway Attack and the one in Tiananmen Square in 2013 pointed to the deteriorating ethnic relations between the ethnic minorities of Tibetans and Uyghurs and the Han majority. In the face of such increasing violence, the present administration further strengthened its control on public order, increasing the presence of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Xinjiang and Tibet. Last year alone it is reported that more than 1,400 people were convicted for harming national security.[Source]
