The deadly attack by Islamist separatists on a police barracks in China’s Muslim-majority north-west has left the Chinese authorities aghast, seemingly fulfilling the warnings given by nervous officials that Uighur separatists would use the Games to attempt a publicity-seeking attack. For China, the stakes could not be higher. [The] Games are seen as a way of showing the world that China has emerged as a global economic powerhouse. Patriotism has combined with nervousness to make these Games highly political. [Any] challenge therefore assumes unusual importance as it is seen to reflect on the party’s boast and on Chinese pride. Not all has been smooth-running, however...

Western criticism of China’s human rights record was probably also expected. But the bigger challenges have been emotional and political. [For] Beijing, however, the real danger never came from the distant and sparse Tibetan plateau but from a far more disaffected region: China’s restive Muslim provinces. The Uighurs of Xinjiang have long complained of religious and political oppression under nearly six decades of Chinese communist rule. Numbering around eight million, they have recently been the target of infiltration and agitation by al Qaeda and extremist groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Chinese authorities claim to have foiled a series of plots, although a militant group has claimed responsibility for explosions in four cities, including two bus bombings. The latest attack has put Beijing on full alert. The Olympics will go ahead with panache. But beneath the glitter lurk ingredients all too common nowadays: worry, a security alert and overreaction. The Games come at a high price.

... contd.