China has said that it has prevented armed Muslim separatists from blowing up oilfields, power plants and highways in the country's northwestern Xinjiang region. Chinese police have cracked down on illegal possession of explosives since July in the region where Muslims make up a narrow majority of the population, Wang Lexiang, Xinjiang's deputy chief of public security, said on Wednesday. He said this had helped China fight what he called the "three forces" of religious "extremism, separatism and terrorism" in the mainly Muslim region. "We've forcefully dealt a blow to the 'three forces' and maintained stability in Xinjiang," he also told Ta Kung Pao, a Beijing-funded Hong Kong newspaper.The number of violations of rules governing explosives increased by 195 per cent last year, he said. Armed Uighur separatists, who are Central Asian by blood and Muslim by religion, have been for decades attempted to make the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang an independent Islamic state called East Turkestan.
"The social situation is still grave," said Wang, adding that more than 41 tons of explosives had been seized in the region since 1990. Police had also confiscated 6,540 grenades and 4.15 metric tons of raw materials to make explosives during the period, he said