Chinese state media continue to draw attention to the Jan. 5 police raid on an alleged East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) "terrorist camp" in the Pamir Mountains in western Xinjiang province. The shootout with suspected militants was first reported Jan. 8, and state media reported a day later on the "thousands" who turned out for the funeral of a police officer killed in the attack.

There is a concern in China, and among international audiences ahead of the 2008 Olympics, that the international Islamist militant movements will spread back from Afghanistan and Central Asia into China's Xinjiang province -- and potentially lead to another series of attacks in China by ethnic Uighur separatists, as was seen in the mid-1990s. But the timing of the current operation appears rather coincidental, as Beijing is decrying the nomination in the United States of a Uighur activist for the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to the Xinjiang Public Security Department, Chinese police Jan. 5 destroyed a "terrorist camp" run by the ETIM in the Pamir plateau area of Xinjiang, killing 18 suspects and capturing 17. One police officer was killed in the raid and another injured. Security officials reported that several hand grenades, homemade bombs and firearms were found at the scene, and said small-scale mining operations nearby were being used to raise money.

The Pamirs are in the area where Xinjiang borders Tajikistan and Afghanistan, making them a likely route for Islamist militants moving from Central Asia to northwest China. Rumors have steadily increased that the ETIM, or some form of Uighur separatist movement or Islamist militant movement, is re-forming in Xinjiang with assistance from Islamists in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Beijing has raised concerns that the Uighur militants will seek to strike in the capital during the 2008 Olympics, and has been increasing security operations to stem any expansion of militancy in Xinjiang.

Uighur separatists have been largely inactive since the late 1990s, when they carried out attacks in Xinjiang and Beijing. The announcement of the closing of a Uighur camp comes as Beijing is protesting the nomination of Rebiya Kadeer for the Nobel Peace Prize. Kadeer, a Uighur activist who was jailed for more than five years in China, is currently living in the United States. The coincidence of timing raises questions as to the accuracy of the Chinese security force's announcement. Beijing frequently attributes militant activities to groups like ETIM, regardless of whether they are involved.

Wildcat mining operations are not unusual, nor are criminal operations and the possession of explosives. Regardless of whether this was a resurgent group of Uighur separatists, Beijing is going to gain significant PR mileage out of the incident. Not only do Chinese officials want to deny Kadeer the bully pulpit that would come with a Nobel Prize, the central government can use the case to show the United States that China is an equal ally in the war against terrorism, and that Beijing is not a threat to the United States.

But there is a domestic aspect as well. This incident also creates a focal point for Chinese national unity. The Chinese government has been softening its rhetoric against Japan -- and while it vocally opposes moves by Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian seen as leading toward Taiwanese independence, Beijing does not want to act too strongly. It knows that it risks emboldening Chen and his supporters, as happened when Beijing tried to use missile exercises as a way to reshape Taiwanese politics, only to have the plan backfire.

By raising the Uighur "terrorist" issue, Beijing can create a sense of trouble and a rallying point for national unity without needing to threaten its foreign relations. This will not last long -- Chinese leaders do not want the threat to appear too large ahead of the Olympics. But it does serve as a way to shift attention to another security issue, diffusing some of the focus on economic and social problems. From Beijing's perspective, if it can keep Kadeer from receiving the Nobel Prize, then all the better.