[WaPo] China has launched an extraordinary set of attacks against Communist Party members in Xinjiang and Tibet, with accusations of disloyalty, secret participation in religious activity, sympathy with the Dalai Lama and even support for terrorism. The accusations reflect President Xi Jinping's determination to push for ideological purity within the party nationwide, stifling debate and dissent.Critics say they also reflect the reality that the party's hard-line approach toward smasshing "the three evils of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism" has not only alienated many ordinary Tibetan and Uighur people but has also provoked dissent in its own ranks.
Xu Hairong, secretary of Xinjiang’s Commission for Discipline Inspection, complaied that some party officials openly criticize policies handed down from above. In his agency’s official newspaper, he wrote, "Some waver on clear-cut issues of opposing ethnic division and safeguarding ethnic and national unity, and even support participating in violent terrorist attacks."
An article published on party website China Tibet Online said 355 party members had been punished in Xinjiang last year for violating "political discipline." The article said that one had reposted an interview given by prominent Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, who was sentenced last year to life in prison on charges of advocating separatism.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party has been recruiting, and the number of members in Xinjiang is said to have risen by 21,000 to 1.45 million in 2014. And that has brought other problems.