The article does not allege genocide and the alleged police files do not present really any new significant information. We already knew that people sent to de-radicalization were overwhelmingly not doing it voluntarily. The notion of extremists just suddenly deciding to willingly sign up for de-radicalization was always asinine. The article tries to dig up and highlight the worst cases for detention that they could find with listed reasons that lack much context. There were certainly cases that appear to display a disregard for due process during this re-education campaign under Chen Quanguo (party secretary of Xinjiang from 2016-2021 who had also developed a reputation for repressive security crackdowns in Tibet) and Shohrat Zakir (Uyghur governor of Xinjiang from 2015-2021) with heavy-handed enforcement of vague ”anti-extremism” measures by local officials (much of the government bureaucracy and law enforcement being Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in areas of southern Xinjiang while mostly Han in areas of northern Xinjiang like Urumqi). Unsurprisingly, the end results are at least some false positives. Clearly not every single detainee that was sent to re-radicalization centers/re-education camps was necessarily a salafi terrorist or violent separatist. There was also very likely at least some sporadic abuse as you see in many prison contexts. The article fails to mention that the re-education camps were closed down in late 2019. Imo it's reasonable to say that the Xinjiang regional government under Chen Quanguo and Shohrat Zakir overreacted with overzealous counter-terrorist and anti-separatist policies even with the active presence of violent terrorist threats. Hopefully the repression will continue to ease with Chen Quanguo being recently replaced by Ma Xingrui as party secretary in Xinjiang and Erken Tuniyaz being the new governor.
The photographs give human form to a policy designed to deliberately target Uyghur families as a repository of identity and culture and - in China’s own words - to “break their roots, break their lineage, break their connections, break their origins”.
This quote is from a religious affairs official of Turkic heritage that was taken out of context by BBC and a large number of other western media outlets. Maimuer was referring to “two-faced people”:
Break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins. Completely shovel up the roots of “two-faced people,” dig them out, and vow to fight these two-faced people until the end.
The term “two-faced people” in Xinjiang refers to party or government officials who claim to be opposed to extremism while refusing to adequately support and enforce anti-extremism policy. This includes Han officials like Wang Yongzhi, who was removed from his government position for not sufficiently implementing anti-extremist measures. A state media outlet in Xinjiang attacked him as being a typical example of “two-faced people”:
Wang Yongzhi lost his ideals and convictions. He is a typical ‘two-faced man.
The article does not allege genocide and the alleged police files do not present really any new significant information. We already knew that people sent to de-radicalization were overwhelmingly not doing it voluntarily. The notion of extremists just suddenly deciding to willingly sign up for de-radicalization was always asinine. The article tries to dig up and highlight the worst cases for detention that they could find with listed reasons that lack much context. There were certainly cases that appear to display a disregard for due process during this re-education campaign under Chen Quanguo (party secretary of Xinjiang from 2016-2021 who had also developed a reputation for repressive security crackdowns in Tibet) and Shohrat Zakir (Uyghur governor of Xinjiang from 2015-2021) with heavy-handed enforcement of vague ”anti-extremism” measures by local officials (much of the government bureaucracy and law enforcement being Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in areas of southern Xinjiang while mostly Han in areas of northern Xinjiang like Urumqi). Unsurprisingly, the end results are at least some false positives. Clearly not every single detainee that was sent to re-radicalization centers/re-education camps was necessarily a salafi terrorist or violent separatist. There was also very likely at least some sporadic abuse as you see in many prison contexts. The article fails to mention that the re-education camps were closed down in late 2019. Imo it's reasonable to say that the Xinjiang regional government under Chen Quanguo and Shohrat Zakir overreacted with overzealous counter-terrorist and anti-separatist policies even with the active presence of violent terrorist threats. Hopefully the repression will continue to ease with Chen Quanguo being recently replaced by Ma Xingrui as party secretary in Xinjiang and Erken Tuniyaz being the new governor.
This quote is from a religious affairs official of Turkic heritage that was taken out of context by BBC and a large number of other western media outlets. Maimuer was referring to “two-faced people”:
The term “two-faced people” in Xinjiang refers to party or government officials who claim to be opposed to extremism while refusing to adequately support and enforce anti-extremism policy. This includes Han officials like Wang Yongzhi, who was removed from his government position for not sufficiently implementing anti-extremist measures. A state media outlet in Xinjiang attacked him as being a typical example of “two-faced people”: