{"id":1407,"date":"2020-02-17T00:18:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T15:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1407"},"modified":"2020-02-17T00:18:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T15:18:23","slug":"chinese-company-with-nt-farm-involved-in-xinjiang-political-indoctrination-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2020\/02\/17\/chinese-company-with-nt-farm-involved-in-xinjiang-political-indoctrination-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese company with NT farm involved in Xinjiang &#8216;political indoctrination&#8217; program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/xinjiang-nt-farm-owner-involved-in-controversial-chinese-program\/11916692?fbclid=IwAR3ANT717NVYtqL_qoyIVdm9ngyolWQ6UGlplvpS2fVy4B1GJOC9vDjkBts\">https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/xinjiang-nt-farm-owner-involved-in-controversial-chinese-program\/11916692?fbclid=IwAR3ANT717NVYtqL_qoyIVdm9ngyolWQ6UGlplvpS2fVy4B1GJOC9vDjkBts<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n\nBy&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/sowaibah-hanifie\/8286416\">Sowaibah Hanifie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Updated&nbsp;8 Feb 2020, 8:38am<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Chinese company that owns farmland in the Northern Territory has been cooperating with a controversial &#8220;political indoctrination&#8221; program in China&#8217;s far-western Xinjiang region, where more than 1 million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been detained in camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key points:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The company Xinjiang Yikang owns Florina station in Katherine<\/li><li>It is involved in a Beijing-led &#8220;village visiting&#8221; program in Xinjiang<\/li><li>Experts say the visits aim to politically indoctrinate and surveil Uyghurs<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chinese agriculture company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/rural\/2018-06-07\/chinese-owners-nt-station-want-to-grow-cotton-export-cattle\/9836104\">Xinjiang Yikang purchased Florina station in Katherine in 2016<\/a>&nbsp;under a subsidiary directed by chairman Hu Xiaolun and his son named YK Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, the company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/rural\/2018-06-07\/chinese-owners-nt-station-want-to-grow-cotton-export-cattle\/9836104\">said it intended to grow 5,000 hectares of cotton<\/a>, but the plan has since been put on hold because of water licencing issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, an article published on a Chinese local government website cited Mr Hu giving a speech during a so-called &#8220;Fanghuiju visit&#8221; in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The visits are a Beijing-led initiative where Communist Party cadres visit small villages in the north-western region, delivering political speeches and donations to the Uyghur people who live there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-11-25\/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed\/11719016\">&#8216;Arrest by algorithm&#8217;<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-11-25\/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed\/11719016\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/cm\/lb\/11746986\/data\/china-cables-data.jpg\" alt=\"'Arrest by algorithm'\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-11-25\/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed\/11719016\">The China Cables leak of highly classified documents reveals the scale of Beijing&#8217;s repressive control over Xinjiang, where more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups are detained.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2018\/05\/13\/china-visiting-officials-occupy-homes-muslim-region\">condemned by Human Rights Watch (HRW)<\/a>, which says the visits are aimed at &#8220;[surveilling] people and [subjecting] them to political propaganda&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ABC is not alleging any employees at Florina station are involved in Xinjiang Yikang&#8217;s operations in China, including the visits to Uyghur villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;[Fanghuiju visits] are problematic because they represent part of the government&#8217;s broader campaign to engineer people in that region, to become loyal subjects of the Chinese Community Party (CCP),&#8221; HRW researcher Maya Wang told the ABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It is a package that includes both a donation [to villagers] and political indoctrination that includes speeches, and clear indication that people should be loyal to the Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/xinjiang-researchers-say-chinese-companies-donate-to-villages-a\/11927246\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/image\/11927230-3x2-700x467.jpg\" alt=\"A Xinjiang Yikang representative hands out donations to Uyghur villagers.\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/xinjiang-researchers-say-chinese-companies-donate-to-villages-a\/11927246\"><strong>PHOTO:<\/strong>&nbsp;Human Rights Watch says the visits, which involve donations, are also aimed at surveilling local Uyghur villagers.&nbsp;(Xinjiang Yikang)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;These visits [reinforce to Uyghurs] the message: they need to change, they have no choice and they need to be re-engineered to something else.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many countries, including Australia, have criticised&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-11-25\/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed\/11719016\">China&#8217;s human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang<\/a>, who have been subjected to arbitrary detention and mass surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xinjiang Yikang did not respond to multiple requests for comment on their involvement in the Fanghuiju visits program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Company also involved in controversial &#8216;poverty alleviation&#8217;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xinjiang Yikang&#8217;s website also said it employed poor workers from villages in Aksu prefecture \u2014 a major agriculture and textiles hub in Xinjiang \u2014 as part of a Chinese Government-led poverty alleviation policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/cotton-farmer-in-xinjiang-1\/11931496\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/image\/11931480-3x2-700x467.jpg\" alt=\"A farmer picks cotton from a field in Hami, Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/cotton-farmer-in-xinjiang-1\/11931496\"><strong>PHOTO:<\/strong>&nbsp;The majority of cotton grown in China comes from the far north-western Xinjiang region.&nbsp;(Reuters, file)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">German academic Adrian Zenz, who has been credited with helping uncover the network of detention camps in Xinjiang, has previously done research on these anti-poverty programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He says in most cases they are aimed at socially controlling and surveilling Uyghurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It makes people work in government-controlled environments where they can&#8217;t get Friday off to go to the mosque, where they can&#8217;t get down on their knees in order to pray,&#8221; he said, adding that employees also often had to move away from their families for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;It changes their traditional lifestyles, it changes their spiritual practices. It takes away their freedom because they&#8217;re being shifted around like pawns on a chess board,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Zenz said it was common for companies to support these employment programs because they could receive significant subsidies from the government around tax, labour and electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-10-17\/target-cotton-on-drop-suppliers-after-four-corners-investigation\/11607518\">Brands drop Xinjiang cotton<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-10-17\/target-cotton-on-drop-suppliers-after-four-corners-investigation\/11607518\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/cm\/lb\/11823312\/data\/target-and-cotton-on-custom-image-data.jpg\" alt=\"Brands drop Xinjiang cotton\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-10-17\/target-cotton-on-drop-suppliers-after-four-corners-investigation\/11607518\">Cotton On and Target Australia say they have stopped sourcing cotton from Xinjiang, due to concerns about mass human rights abuses there by Chinese authorities.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xinjiang Yikang&#8217;s online records show it has established 13 companies since 2001, when it purchased the formerly state-owned Xinhe County Grain Bureau Fat Chemical Plant in southern Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also owns shares in a company alongside the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a Beijing-controlled paramilitary organisation that governs a significant number of cities and agricultural land in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lianchao Han, the vice president of the pro-democracy NGO Citizen Power Initiatives for China, said Xinjiang Yikang&#8217;s rapid growth appeared to indicate it had close ties to the Chinese Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;[In 2014] according to the CEO, the company got about 1 billion yuan [$215 million] credit from China&#8217;s Agriculture Development Bank,&#8221; Dr Han told the ABC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2020-02-08\/xinjiang-nt-farm-owner-involved-in-controversial-chinese-program\/11916692?fbclid=IwAR3ANT717NVYtqL_qoyIVdm9ngyolWQ6UGlplvpS2fVy4B1GJOC9vDjkBts By&nbsp;Sowaibah Hanifie Updated&nbsp;8 Feb 2020, 8:38am A Chinese company that owns farmland in the Northern Territory has been cooperating with a controversial &#8220;political indoctrination&#8221; &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-1407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407","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=1407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}