Chinese authorities detained Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti for “breaking the law.” Many regard Tohti, an economics professor at Beijing’s Minzu University, as the country’s most high-profile Uighur academic. Tohti’s arrest is part of Chairman Xi Jinping’s recent broader crackdown in China’s restive Xinjiang province. State media has characterized this repressive campaign as a “strategy shift” from development to maintaining stability.