On May 29, 2008, Nicholas Kristof published a report about his trip to Kashgar, China.  Kashgar is the old capital of the Uyghur empire.  It's completely under control of China now, and the Uyghurs are greatly outnumbered by the Han Chinese.  I was there the summer of 2000. 

Kristof reports:  Then in March, China announced that it had foiled a plot “to create an air crash,” in a passenger plane shortly after it took off from the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi. In April, the authorities said that they had confiscated explosives from Uighurs who were planning suicide bomb attacks. “This violent terrorist gang secretly plotted to kidnap journalists, visitors and athletes during the Beijing Olympics,” The Associated Press quoted Wu Heping, a spokesman for the Public Security Ministry, as saying.

The above is a great example of Chinese media propaganda.

The Uyghurs, also spelled Uighurs, would not commit violence against foreign journalists.  Uyghurs look to America for help against the Chinese.  In my travels in Xinjiang province, Uyghurs consistently praised America. 

A tiny number of Uyghurs have committed terrorism, but they always target the Chinese government, and it has nothing to do with any jihad.  It has everything to do with being occupied by China and having their culture and language systematically obliterated.  They used to be the largest ethnic group in this area which they call East Turkestan.  Since the takeover by the Chinese government in the 1950s, Han Chinese have been relocated and are now the dominant and governing group.  

Please read Nicholas Kristof's report.  Terrorism and the Olympics