Taiwan and Xinjiang, two places that Chinese leaders view as well-springs of separatism, emerged as focal points yesterday as China’s legislature began the second half of its annual meeting. Officials from the Muslim-dominated region of Xinjiang talked tough about cracking down on ‘terrorists’ who were trying to split the vast north-western territory from China. Xinjiang delegates to the National People’s Congress accused the East Turkestan Islamic Movement – which advocates Xinjiang independence – of killing nearly 200 people during the 1990s. The organisation ‘is part of international terrorism. It harms national security, the people’s interests and unification’, said Mr Simayi Tieliwardi, the top government official in the Xinjiang region. He said the regional government had taken ‘strong and determined’ anti-terrorism measures with no major incidents since 2001. Full Story