Reports of Chinese Ethnic Riots Are Viewed as Accurate

China kept a tight lid Monday on reports of rioting in a remote northwest border region, but a Western diplomat said he was told by Chinese officials that the reports are essentially accurate.

Chinese sources over the weekend said the government in western Xinjiang region had sent in troops to quell rioting by hundreds of Muslim Uighurs near Kashgar, a city on the old Silk Road route near the border with the Soviet Union’s Asian republics.

Officials in the Kashgar district and city public security bureaus, reached by telephone from Beijing, confirmed that Kashgar had been closed to foreigners but gave no reason why, saying they “weren’t clear” about unrest in the region.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a member of his embassy met with a Xinjiang official Monday in Beijing and was told that “the reports of unrest appear to be accurate.”

The Chinese sources said troops were sent to Kashgar.

The riots are believed to be the first large-scale unrest reported since China’s crackdown last year on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing. Xinjiang officials had warned of increased ethnic unrest.