Interesting Article on Xinjiang

Here. Basically, the far west of China has recently (ie in the last decade) undergone a process of Sinicization, as the Party is swamping the Uighur minority - in a sense, the natives - in Xinjiang with Han Chinese. People talk about China's problems with "ethnic minorities" but the case is often overstated - I think something like 97% of China's population is Han Chinese. So a minority like the Uighurs is pretty easily swamped by demographics. This is why I think the idea that a separatist movement in Xinjiang might disrupt China is basically a pipe dream - the current ratios are something like 50/50 Uighur/Han, and the Han portion is growing quickly with the economy. It's not pretty, but Xinjiang is part of China, now and for good. Interestingly, Tibet hasn't been subject to the same Sinicization - it's still 80% Tibetan, I believe.

Just to recap, Xinjiang is home to most of China's remaining oil (and I think some Natural Gas - not sure about that though) and is also adjacent to Kazakhstan, where China is investing billions in oil and natural gas developments. Those pipelines, you may imagine, will not be running west.