This paper will first show how Yang Zengxin, the ruler of Xinjiang from 1911 to 1928, aligned himself with Yuan Shikai, the first President of the Republic of China, instead of the revolutionaries because Yuan accorded more attention to the borderlands and the minorities and appeared willing, at least superficially, to offer aid to Xinjiang. Building on this explanation, the paper will demonstrate how Yang increasingly estranged himself from the Beijing government as he grew disillusioned over the attitude of Yuan's successors towards him and Xinjiang. It will argue, ultimately, that Yang Zengxin concluded a quid pro quo with the Soviet Union to the effect that he would promote cross-border trade, which led inadvertently to increased Soviet control over the local economy, even as the agreement consolidated Yang's position as governor of Xinjiang and further estranged him from the ruling elites in Republican China.

An account of the history of the Uyghur people is indispensable for understanding the current crisis in Xinjiang province. This is where China and the Uyghurs begins. As a historian of East Asia, Professor Rossabi approaches the problem of understanding by applying an objective procedure of fact-finding, as is required of researchers in his field. Objective, here, first implies the gathering of evidence and other reliable information from historical sources and from reports of events, also from reliable sources, as they unfold in real time. Secondly, it implies examining the available information critically, from more than one point of view.