Liuzhou blasts: Bombings raise specter of unrest that China’s leadership fears

Liuzhou blasts: Bombings raise specter of unrest that China's leadership fears

BEIJING — A series of bomb blasts in southern China on Wednesday surely sent shock waves through the country’s leadership, which is ever anxious about maintaining social harmony under one-party rule.

     The afternoon explosions in the city of Liuzhou killed at least seven people and wounded over 50. Authorities detained a 33-year-old local man suspected of carrying out the attacks, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, which said his surname appeared to be ethnic Han.

     The violence came a day before the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a national holiday. Chinese media broadcast images of a partially collapsed building and rubble-strewn streets. Bombs went off at 17 locations, including government offices, a hospital and a prison.

     The city lies in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, an economically backward part of China bordering Vietnam that rarely makes headlines. Xinhua did not mention a possible motive for the bombings. Some online media outlets alleged the suspect had a disagreement with a hospital over medical treatment, but state-run China Central Television contradicted this report.

     An act of this scale might be beyond a lone wolf, and the investigation could uncover a bigger bomb plot. Local media said authorities found 60-odd suspicious packages after the explosions.

     The blasts ripped through the city as President Xi Jinping, fresh from a U.S. visit, and other top Communist Party officials attended events in Beijing commemorating Thursday’s 66th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

     Thursday also marks 60 years since the establishment of the Xinjiang autonomous region, home to many of China’s Muslim Uighurs. Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the all-power Politburo Standing Committee in charge of minority issues, is visiting that northwestern region.

     Given the holiday’s dual significance, authorities had been working harder than usual to maintain public order. This makes the bombings in Liuzhou even more of a shock.

     In August, a Xinjiang court sentenced two people from Guangxi to life in prison for helping Uighurs emigrate illegally to Vietnam. The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said the bombs used in Liuzhou were made by Uighur separatists. Uighurs have chafed under the rule of the Han-dominated Communist Party. Beyond China, Uighur involvement is suspected in a deadly August bombing in Bangkok.

     Ethnic minorities are not the only hotbed of dissatisfaction in China. The party also faces dissent over the widening gap between rich and poor, its repression of civil society organizations and its censorship of the Internet. The lack of a clear explanation for the huge chemical warehouse explosions in Tianjin in August adds to a growing list of factors contributing to public anxiety. Rising wealth created by rapid economic development has tempered frustration with the political establishment. But if the economy continues to slow, China’s long-suppressed public discontent may boil over.

Noriyuki Doi in Shanghai contributed to this article.

Liuzhou blasts: Bombings raise specter of unrest that China's leadership fears