May's Mostly Warfare Blog : 2016

A Soviet backed rebel in the Ili rebellion. WW2 in Xinjing was a very fascinating and extremely confusing affair. The Soviets and the Russian Empire before it always had a deep desire for the Central Asian region of China. During the Tungan uprisings in the 1860s, the Russian Empire was establishing its influence in the region when the various Islamic tribes temporarily drove the Qing Dynasty government away from the region. However, the Qing Dynasty retook the region before Russia could fully annex it. Even after the fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the Soviets, Soviet Russia was still extremely interested in the Region. The Qing Dynasty also had fallen, and was eventually replaced by the KMT government. The KMT government still had to deal with the Islamic uprisings in the region. The Soviet Union constantly invaded the region and riled up Islamic Rebels to rebel against the KMT government. Strangely, the remnants of the Russian White Army (they were defeated by the Soviet Russians in the Russian Civil War) and White refugee settlers willingly allied themselves with the Soviet Union against the KMT government. Despite the fact that THE SOVIET UNION DROVE THEM TO XINJING IN THE 1ST PLACE! Even during WW2, when the Soviet Union still backed Islamic rebels and battled KMT armies in Xinjing even when it was aiding the KMT against the Japanese army. Even after the defeat of the KMT and the take over of the Mao Zedong's Communist party (a so called "ally" of the Soviet Union), the Soviet Union still tried to steal Xinjing from China. Who controlled Xiniing was a bitter debated issue during the Soviet-Chinese cold war. The Soviet Union still continued to support anti-Chinese separatist groups. The Chinese government to this day still has to deal with Xinjing separatist movements, some with alleged connections to Al-Queda. I don't know how Russia is involved with those separatist movements in the present day