{"id":930,"date":"2018-07-27T15:37:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T15:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=930"},"modified":"2020-04-04T19:58:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T19:58:40","slug":"why-china-is-re-educating-muslims-in-mass-detention-camps-read-more-at-https-asiancorrespondent-com-2018-07-why-china-is-re-educating-muslims-in-mass-detention-camps-4a4asr1kxhtrt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=930","title":{"rendered":"Why China is \u2018re-educating\u2019 Muslims in mass detention camps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Asian Corresponder<\/a><\/p>\n

CHINA\u2019S Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u00a0denies their existence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But extensive reporting by international media and human rights groups indicates that upwards of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs \u2013 a Muslim-minority ethnic group \u2013\u00a0have been detained<\/a>\u00a0in sprawling \u201cre-education\u201d centres in the far-western Xinjiang region of China.<\/p>\n

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The camps are not only massive, with some exceeding 10,000sqm, but have also been likened to\u00a0prison-like compounds<\/a>, with \u201creinforced security doors and windows, surveillance systems, secure access systems, watchtowers, and guard rooms or facilities for armed police\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China\u00a0calls it<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today\u201d. China has long been wary of its Uyghur population, particularly in the wake of\u00a0deadly riots<\/a>,\u00a0terrorist attacks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the flow of Uyghur militants<\/a>\u00a0to Syria and Iraq to fight with the Islamic State in recent years.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0China bans \u2018overly religious\u2019 Muslim names in Xinjiang\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the emergence of the re-education camps in Xinjiang raises a number of new questions: Why has the Communist Party come to rely on mass internment to control the Uyghurs? What are the implications for China\u2019s future political development under President Xi Jinping? And how should the international community respond?<\/p>\n

From social controls to \u2018re-education\u2019<\/h2>\n

Xinjiang\u2019s position at the crossroads of East and West, as well as the cultural, religious and ethnic differences between the majority Han and minority Uyghurs, have posed significant challenges to the Communist Party for decades.<\/p>\n

To bring more stability to the restive region, Beijing has pursued an\u00a0aggressive integration strategy<\/a>\u00a0defined by tight political, social and cultural controls, the encouragement of mass migration by the dominant Han Chinese population, and state-led economic development.<\/p>\n

In turn, the Uyghurs have increasingly chafed against these restrictive policies, resulting in periodic outbursts of violence.<\/p>\n

CHINA\u2019S Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u00a0denies their existence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But extensive reporting by international media and human rights groups indicates that upwards of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs \u2013 a Muslim-minority ethnic group \u2013\u00a0have been detained<\/a>\u00a0in sprawling \u201cre-education\u201d centres in the far-western Xinjiang region of China.<\/p>\n

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The camps are not only massive, with some exceeding 10,000sqm, but have also been likened to\u00a0prison-like compounds<\/a>, with \u201creinforced security doors and windows, surveillance systems, secure access systems, watchtowers, and guard rooms or facilities for armed police\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The US Congressional-Executive Commission on China\u00a0calls it<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today\u201d. China has long been wary of its Uyghur population, particularly in the wake of\u00a0deadly riots<\/a>,\u00a0terrorist attacks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the flow of Uyghur militants<\/a>\u00a0to Syria and Iraq to fight with the Islamic State in recent years.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0China bans \u2018overly religious\u2019 Muslim names in Xinjiang\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the emergence of the re-education camps in Xinjiang raises a number of new questions: Why has the Communist Party come to rely on mass internment to control the Uyghurs? What are the implications for China\u2019s future political development under President Xi Jinping? And how should the international community respond?<\/p>\n

From social controls to \u2018re-education\u2019<\/h2>\n

Xinjiang\u2019s position at the crossroads of East and West, as well as the cultural, religious and ethnic differences between the majority Han and minority Uyghurs, have posed significant challenges to the Communist Party for decades.<\/p>\n

To bring more stability to the restive region, Beijing has pursued an\u00a0aggressive integration strategy<\/a>\u00a0defined by tight political, social and cultural controls, the encouragement of mass migration by the dominant Han Chinese population, and state-led economic development.<\/p>\n

In turn, the Uyghurs have increasingly chafed against these restrictive policies, resulting in periodic outbursts of violence.<\/p>\n

Such fears are stoked by the fact that China, and its major tech companies such as Huawei, have begun to ink deals under the \u201cBelt and Road Initiative\u201d (BRI) to\u00a0export these cutting-edge surveillance technology and systems<\/a>\u00a0to a variety of countries, from Zimbabwe to Mongolia. \u200b<\/p>\n

What does all of this mean for states such as Australia that are increasingly economically interdependent with China?<\/p>\n

To begin with, Australia should simply call out Beijing\u2019s actions in Xinjiang for what they are \u2013 systematic violations of the human rights of the Uyghur people \u2013 much as\u00a0US Congressional leaders<\/a>\u00a0and some members of the European Union have done.<\/p>\n

Canberra has done so in the past with respect to the\u00a0Tiananmen Square massacre<\/a>\u00a0and other human rights violations. The scope of the Chinese government\u2019s actions in Xinjiang demands nothing less.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0China testing facial-recognition systems to track Uyghur community<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, Australian policymakers should recognise that the camps in Xinjiang, and the broader return of Maoist ideology, are arguably a sign of the Communist Party\u2019s insecurity not its strength.<\/p>\n

What is occurring in Xinjiang may appear to be far removed from Australia\u2019s national interests, but it provides evidence of the type of behaviour we may come to expect more of from an ascendant China, both domestically and internationally.\u200b<\/p>\n

In the final analysis, we as a nation should not remain silent while hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs are persecuted for simply being who they are.<\/p>\n

Read more at https:\/\/asiancorrespondent.com\/2018\/07\/why-china-is-re-educating-muslims-in-mass-detention-camps\/#4a4ASR1KxhtRTgqX.99<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asian Corresponder CHINA\u2019S Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u00a0denies their existence. But extensive reporting by international media and human rights groups indicates that upwards of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs \u2013 a Muslim-minority ethnic group \u2013\u00a0have been detained\u00a0in sprawling \u201cre-education\u201d centres in the far-western Xinjiang region of China. The camps are not only massive, with some exceeding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinas-uyghur-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}