{"id":1238,"date":"2019-12-06T23:40:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T14:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2019-12-06T23:40:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T14:40:59","slug":"how-china-is-defending-its-detention-of-muslims-to-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2019\/12\/06\/how-china-is-defending-its-detention-of-muslims-to-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How China Is Defending Its Detention of Muslims to the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-04-19\/how-china-is-defending-its-detention-of-muslims-to-the-world<\/a>
Peter MartinApril 19, 2019, 6:01 PM GMT+9\u00a0Updated on\u00a0April 20, 2019, 4:27 PM GMT+9<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Shu Le County Education Center, a sprawling three-story complex in China\u2019s far west region of Xinjiang, the dormitories feature bars on windows and doors that only lock from the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside are hundreds of minority Muslim Uighurs who have no way of leaving without an official escort, even though Chinese officials who took a group of foreign journalists around the \u201ctransformation through education\u201d camp this week insisted they were there voluntarily. Asked what would happen if a Uighur refused to attend, Shu Le\u2019s principal Mamat Ali became quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t want to come, they will have to go through judicial procedures,\u201d Ali said after a pause, adding that many stay for at least seven months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
Sewing machines in a room at the Shu Le County Education Center in Xinjiang.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shu Le is one of an unknown number of re-education camps in Xinjiang, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of President Xi Jinping\u2019s Belt-and-Road Initiative to connect Asia with Europe<\/a>. The U.S. State Department says as many as two million Uighurs are being held in the camps, a number disputed<\/a> by Chinese officials even though they won\u2019t disclose an official figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, I participated in a government-sponsored tour along with four other foreign media organizations through three cities in Xinjiang. The schedule was tightly controlled, with events planned from early morning to 11 p.m., and it included stops in many of the same places I visited on an unguided 10-day trip to the region in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Are the Uighurs and Why Is China Locking Them Up?: QuickTake<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
The Shu Le County Education Center.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trip shows that Beijing is becoming more worried about an international backlash that has intensified of late, raising risks for investors already assessing the impact of a more antagonistic U.S.-China relationship. Muslim-majority countries have begun joining the U.S. and European Union in condemning China\u2019s practices, with Turkey\u2019s foreign ministry in February calling the \u201cconcentration camps\u201d a \u201cgreat embarrassment for humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xi\u2019s policies to pacify the local population have spawned the biggest challenge to China\u2019s international reputation since soldiers were sent to put down protests in Tiananmen Square three decades ago. After first denying the existence of the camps, China is now doubling down on the need for them, and beginning to defend them as a vital weapon against terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can see the Chinese government basically changed its position over time,\u201d said Maya Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThey switched from denial to a full-frontal counter offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the Vast Police State Taking Over China\u2019s Belt and Road<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this visit, Chinese officials said the foreign media had given a false impression of the government\u2019s efforts in Xinjiang. Most of the stops were focused on economic development and new education initiatives. The government\u2019s message was simple: Xi\u2019s policies were helping pacify the region and grow the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
Outside the main mosque in Kashgar, where a surveillance camera looks on.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exercise reflects Xi\u2019s increased confidence on the world stage, where he\u2019s directly challenged Western-style democracy with a centralized model of government that uses advanced technology to reward, punish and ultimately control the behavior of its citizens. He has a lot at stake in making it work: Backing down risks jeopardizing the Communist Party\u2019s grip on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t able to speak independently with any residents on the trip, or travel around without being followed. But the group was allowed to ask questions of officials, including repeated follow ups that at times angered our hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China Vows to Continue Crackdown Fueling Muslim Detention Camps<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit to Urumqi, Kashgar and Hotan stood in stark contrast to the trip I took in November. Back then, minders followed close behind, searches occurred repeatedly and officials demanded I delete photos on my mobile phone. I could only glimpse the heavily secured camps from a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
My minders when I attempted to walk on my own in Kashgar.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This time around, government vehicles freely moved through various checkpoints, and metal detectors in public places were removed. Police officers who crowded city streets were gone. Still, my attempts to walk around unescorted were repeatedly unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeing the first camp, we were taken for a lamb lunch where women in colorful dresses danced to a song called \u201cHappy Xinjiang.\u201d An official ran after me as I walked away from the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think you must be lost looking for the toilet,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease let me show you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Urumqi, we visited a graphic anti-terror exhibition featuring photos of decapitated and dismembered bodies. Later on at the main mosque in Kashgar, where a painting of Xi that earlier hung at the front had been removed, the imam said his father had been killed in a Uighur attack, leading him to \u201chate the terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Getting Harder to Report in China, Foreign Journalists Say<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s crackdown on the region began after a series of Uighur strikes on civilians starting in 2013, including a flaming car attack in Tiananmen Square. The escalation alarmed authorities who had repeatedly attempted to pacify Xinjiang, most recently after 2009 riots in Urumqi killed some 200 people. Most of the dead were ethnic Han, who make up more than 90 percent of China\u2019s population and the vast majority of the Communist Party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kashgar, I asked one guide if a single cadre in Xinjiang believed in Islam, which would be against rules in the officially atheist Communist Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
Visitors walk with shoe covers, alongside a Uighur man, at the main mosque in Kashgar.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t discovered one yet,\u201d said Wang Quibin, a local party leader in the city. \u201cIf we did, they would need to be punished severely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, he said, he asked a European official how their country controlled terrorism. \u201cThey said, \u2018We take measures to control it as long as human rights are protected.\u2019 I thought to myself, \u2018Then how can you control it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no call to prayer anymore, he added, because everyone has watches. He said young Uighurs who grew beards were challenging local authorities in a similar way to anti-government protesters wearing yellow vests in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
Copies of “The Governance of China,” right, at a hotel in Hotan.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another mosque in Hotan displayed copies of Xi\u2019s book, \u201cThe Governance of China<\/a>,\u201d at the same level as the Koran. Hotels we stayed in featured brochures with Xi\u2019s face along with his book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn our country there is no way to put religion above the law,\u201d said Gu Yingsu, head of the propaganda department in Hotan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Here Voluntarily\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

China has sought to make the Xinjiang re-education camps palatable to the rest of the world. It removed watchtowers and razor wire from the Shu Le facility earlier this year, according to Shawn Zhang, a Chinese law student in Canada who analyzes satellite imagery of the camps in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"relates
Satellite images of the Shu Le facility taken on Aug. 13, 2018, left, and March 15, 2019.Source: Google, DigitalGlobe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At a second re-education camp, the Moyu County Vocational Training Center in Hotan, Uighurs wearing ethnic clothes greeted us as we arrived. A staircase featured a large mural of the Great Wall and the words \u201cChina Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We observed a class in which men all painted the same landscape. Others learned practical skills such as Chinese massage techniques, and how to become waiters or nannies. There was even a class on botany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
Uighurs paint landscapes at the Moyu County Vocational Training Center in Hotan.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We were allowed to speak to detainees only with minders present. None appeared to be physically harmed. Bloomberg isn\u2019t identifying Uighurs in the camps, or using pictures of their faces, because it was unclear whether they were participating willingly in the events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China Takes Diplomats, Media to Xinjiang \u2018Re-Education Camps\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each time we asked them what crimes they had committed, and each time we received similar answers with the same key phrases. They had been infected by \u201cextremist thought\u201d and sought to \u201cinfect\u201d others before realizing the error of their ways in the camps. Many included the phrase: \u201cI want to say that I am here voluntarily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more striking, the same detainees could repeat their answers word for word when asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang\"\/
A weekly meal plan, and a surveillance camera, on a wall at the Shu Le County Education Center.Photographer: Peter Martin\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I asked our minders why the answers were so similar. Gu, the official from Hotan, kept silent. One of her colleagues said the answers weren\u2019t memorized. Xu Guixiang, deputy head of Xinjiang\u2019s publicity department, said it was only natural they gave the same answers because they were asked about committing crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps it\u2019s because they are nervous speaking to a foreigner,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is difficult for them to express what they want to say in Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-04-19\/how-china-is-defending-its-detention-of-muslims-to-the-world Peter MartinApril 19, 2019, 6:01 PM GMT+9\u00a0Updated on\u00a0April 20, 2019, 4:27 PM GMT+9 At the Shu Le County Education Center, a sprawling three-story complex … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4,5],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-human-rights","tag-mass-detention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}