China has the largest budget for suppressing internal dissent in the world -- far exceeding the money it spends on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that defends it from external threats -- and a massive military rally yesterday in Muslim dominated Xinjiang province shows where that money is being spent.

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China's People's Armed Police (PAP) and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) trained to fight the United States staged a huge military parade at Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital.

The parade showcased black clad PAP policemen with PLA assault rifles; black painted armored cars mounting machine guns and armed PLA infantry in camouflage uniforms in a renewed effort to cow Xinjiang's Muslims into submission.

This noisy show of force also showed these armed police shouting anti-terror slogans and promising to defeat terror while police armored cars rumbled through the streets.

Hundreds of ethnic Muslim Uyghurs have been killed by PAP over the past years in what Beijing routinely labels as terrorist attacks by Islamist militants. Only last week, three Uyghur men described as "thugs" by state-owned media stabbed five people dead before being shot dead by the PAP.

Analysts say the increase in the number of anti-terror rallies held by the PAP in several cities of Xinjiang are a response to increased in violence in the region where Muslim Uyghurs are fighting for independence from China.

Zhu Hailun, deputy secretary of the Communist Party in Xinjiang, said the Urumqi rally was a sign of "real action" to deepen the fight against terror. The rally followed others at Kashgar and Hotan in the Uyghur heartland.

He said pro-independence militants and extremists will be "smashed and destroyed."

"With guns by our bodies, knives unsheathed, fists out and hands extended, we must use thunderous power to strike hard against terrorist activities," said a boisterous Zhu.

The Communist Party of China (CPC), which rules China through a combination of internal repression, censorship of dissent and police brutality, routinely denies any repression in Xinjiang.

What isn't talked about a lot is that the CPC spends more money defending itself from the Chinese people than it does protecting China against its enemies such as the U.S. and Japan.

In 2013, the CPC spent more on public security ($112 billion) than on the PLA ($108 billion). After this revelation, the CPC stopped issuing comparative figures for public security and military spending. 

Tagschina, People's Liberation Army, Xinjiang, Muslims, People's Armed Police, PAP, People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Uyghurs, Communist Party of China