Beijing: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday eager to highlight trade and investment between the two countries – including the controversial purchase of a Chinese surface-to-air missile system.
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But his visit risked being overshadowed by growing tensions over the diplomatic assistance Turkey is extending to China's ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim ethnic minority native to China's restive far-western region of Xinjiang.
A recent Reuters report kindled further tension over the highly sensitive issue, exposing the apparent practice of Turkish embassy officials in south-east Asia, particularly in Malaysia, to furnish Uighurs with travel documents allowing them to avoid deportation.
Beijing has also been angered by small but vocal demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara earlier this month that saw Turkish and Uighur protesters burning the Chinese flag outside the country's embassy and consulates.
Footage also emerged online of female Korean tourists being harassed and threatened in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
The protests stemmed from reports that Uighurs were banned from observing Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
The Turkish foreign ministry issued a statement saying reports of Uighurs being "banned from fasting and fulfilling other acts of worship have been received with sadness by the Turkish public opinion".
Mr Erdogan, in an attempt to smooth the situation, said the negative reports appeared to be an attempt by opposition groups to undermine his upcoming China trip and urged his countrymen not to "rise to the bait of provocateurs".
"Bilateral trade is growing; China has sold Turkey some weapons; and co-operation has been carried on in various fields," Yin Gang, a Middle East researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the New York Times.
"But the Uighur problem is somehow standing in the way. The Turkish public has been hostile to China because of it, and there is not much we can do."
Turkey and its people have long been among the most outspoken over the plight of Uighurs in Xinjiang, where outbreaks of ethnic violence have risen sharply in recent years.
Uighurs blame lack of economic opportunity due to government policies that discriminate against them and worsening religious repression.
The Chinese government blames separatist ideology that has increasingly gravitated towards terrorism.
The two opposing views are also used to explain the numbers of Uighurs sneaking out of China.
China says many of the illegal immigrants travel onward to Syria after arriving in Turkey, including to fight with the Islamic State. It has arrested Uighurs it claims have trained overseas and returned home with the intention of carrying out terrorist attacks.
There have been signs, however, that both sides are trying to smooth things over.
Turkey is regarded as a crucial waypoint in China's Silk Road economic infrastructure belt, and Chinese officials have said that the Uighur documents scandal appears to be the product of individual embassy officers going rogue rather than an explicit policy of the Turkish government.
