Aceh in Indonesia, for example, seems to be doing better since Jakarta implemented some meaningful autonomy.

Riots in Xinjiang point to a new dimension to ethnic conflict in China

It suggests that economic policy rather than ethnic policy may be the root cause of conflict.

Enjoy.

“Xin/jiang has received many favorable policies in economic development, education and employment”
–Sure, but whether the policies are evenly distributed among residents of Xinjiang is another issue. Most of the financial benefits are concentrated in Urumqi, where over 70 percent of residents are Han. However, I admit, the issue of fairness of financial/development policies is prominent in many parts of China.
–benefits such as regional government, economic development, and gas pipelines/other energy development, again, are run by Han (as stated in the article you read: 中共在新疆扶持许多维族干部，但“一把手”仍然由汉人主政). Though being run by Han does not mean the benefits are for only Han, it does show that Uyghurs are disproportionately absent from political positions in the region.

While “majority of Uighurs are financially better off than in the past,” the proportion of improvement in financial conditions between the Uyghurs and Han Chinese is very skewed. The overwhelming majority of Uyghurs are still poor. You can see Tyler Christian’s book for specific statistics on the financial conditions of Uyghurs.

Regarding employment, while what you described may be true in some cases, I believe the overwhelming majority of places, regardless of what’s stipulated in law, do not hire Uyghurs (or other ethnic minorities) because they do not want events like Shaoguan to happen. They are afraid that once they extend jobs to ethnic minorities, they will group together, misconstrue events/perceptions/words/conversations/etc, and end up clashing with others. This is true even among Han, where in they do not want to hire too many from the same village to prevent clashes between groups from different villages. While this is unfortunate, I am confident that this line of thinking is true amongst factory owners.

Additionally, I do not believe the affirmative action for Uyghurs will “create a culture where Uighurs do not work as hard because their job is secured by the favorable policy.” If Uyghurs don’t work, the boss would have no problem replacing him with another Uyghur or someone else willing to do the job. For every lazy Uyghur worker, there are 10 willing ones.

Is your argument that the Uyghurs are upset because of the restriction on religion? While that is part of the problem, I believe it has equally as much (if not more) to do with grievances on social, cultural, educational, and economic factors as well.

Take two corporate CEOs. The one who gets paid $4.0M per year will be livid if he finds out the CEO at a competing company earns $4.2M. He will complain about how unfair the situation is, and will demand to be paid at least as much as the other.

Most people are generally satisfied with whatever their status is, if everyone else around them is also at the same level. But, if they see their neighbor rise to a higher level, they will no longer be happy.

Seems like money and economic development isn’t everything.