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The Chinese are more afraid of the Uighurs than of the Tibetans who have no natural allies, although they have sentimental support in the West. As Muslims, the Uighurs don't feel at home in Han China but have a natural affiliation with the other Muslim countries to China's west. The two main Central Asian strongmen, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, are both in their 70s and have no obvious heirs or successors. Central Asia could easily go the way of North Africa, Yemen and Syria. And so the Chinese have good reason for looking on that 66-year-old Uighur woman with trepidation. Perhaps some high U.S. official should invite her over for tea.