Xayar, an oasis town on the frontline of China’s homegrown “war on terror”, has the feel of a combat zone. Armed groups patrol the streets and every major building is protected by high walls and barbed wire.

Most of Xayar’s residents are Turkic-speaking members of the Muslim Uighur minority who before China’s 1949 communist revolution comprised more than 90 per cent of the population of the northwestern “autonomous region” of Xinjiang.

But after decades of state-directed immigration by Han Chinese, Uighurs now account for only about 40 per cent of Xinjiang’s 22m population. The region, which makes up about a sixth of China’s territory, is also autonomous in name only, with Han officials dominating the territory’s government and security apparatus.