A member of the Muslim ethnic Uighur minority in western China’s Xinjiang region, Rema, 22, huddles with friends in an Internet cafe in the booming regional capital of Urumqi to revel in America’s humiliation.

But his answer is as quick as it is unexpected when asked who his people view as the real enemy.

“China. Definitely!” he barks, shooting a sharp look.”We would rather see this happen to China than America,” he adds.

While the world focuses on unrest in Tibet and a resulting Chinese crackdown, Beijing’s leaders also face simmering tension in Xinjiang, where the reservoir of anti-China sentiment seems as deep as the region’s vast oil deposits.

Although extreme, Rema’s views are not uncommon among his fellow Uighurs, a Central Asian people whose language is related to Turkish and who eagerly denounced Chinese control to an AFP journalist.

Their reason are strikingly similar to those often cited for fuelling Tibet’s unrest: an influx of Han Chinese settlers, resulting fears for indigenous language and culture, accusations of religious oppression and general Chinese heavy-handedness.

“It not only could happen here -- it will happen if China keeps sending its people here,” said Abdil Musa, a 28-year-old Urumqi shop owner, referring to the Tibetan unrest.