The perils of disharmony

But is this sustainable? Tibetans and Uighurs are only two of the groups which may not accept the growth-for-freedom trade-off that China's government offers. There are the unknown numbers of adherents to the Falun Gong movement; tens of millions of Christians who cannot follow their faith freely but already probably outnumber the 75m members of the Communist Party; farmers who have been victims of local-authority land-grabs; and many young who, unlike their parents, take economic prosperity for granted and are frustrated by the restrictions on their liberty.

By resorting to repression, Beijing can easily contain the disruption in Xinjiang. Despite its xenophobic propaganda, the integrity of the People's Republic's territory is not under threat. But something just as important is: the harmony which the government espouses as China's greatest national value, and without which the regime will find it harder to survive.

© The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009