{"id":214078,"date":"2019-07-02T18:37:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T01:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=214078"},"modified":"2021-09-14T17:21:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T00:21:54","slug":"research-challenges-official-picture-of-xinjiang-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2019\/07\/research-challenges-official-picture-of-xinjiang-camps\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Challenges Official Picture of Xinjiang Camps"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the Chinese government’s response to international criticism<\/a>\u00a0of its mass detention program in\u00a0Xinjiang<\/a>, authorities have defended the internment camps as legal “vocational training” facilities<\/a> designed to combat religious extremism. The centres are portrayed as inviting boarding schools equipped with volleyball courts and ping-pong tables<\/a>. However, according to a recent research report<\/a> by independent German researcher Adrian Zenz, the government’s own documents provide evidence to the contrary. Zenz writes that the camps are described in internal government documents as places of coercive internment<\/strong><\/a> complete with heavy police presence and brainwashing sessions. South China Morning Post’s Nectar Gan reports:<\/p>\n

Numerous government documents, for example, make clear that these \u201ctrainees\u201d are in fact in detention, despite propaganda efforts to paint them as attending \u201cvoluntarily\u201d. Phrases like \u201cdetained trainees\u201d and \u201cpersons detained in re-education\u201d frequently appear in the documents, including reports of government employees\u2019 visits to villages.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the \u201cschools\u201d shown in state media footage and selected for foreign diplomats and journalists to visit on their highly controlled tours to Xinjiang, the government-issued construction bids researched by Zenz feature heavily guarded, prison-like facilities that require high walls, barbed wire, watchtowers, elaborate internal camera systems, police stations and even bases for special police units.<\/p>\n

[… The Xinjiang “Education and Training Bureau” which oversees the camps,] and its local branches, the research paper says, are generally \u201clisted along with other internal security and law enforcement agencies such as the courts, the inspection bureau, the public security organs and the justice system. Their budgets are part of domestic security budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s narrative emphasises the vocational, language and legal training \u201ctrainees\u201d receive at the camps, but Zenz found at least five Xinjiang government or educational institution websites \u201cclearly and unambiguously state that [they] are dedicated brainwashing institutions\u201d. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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BREAKING: my new paper on Xinjiang’s camps is packed with strongly incriminating evidence on the nature & extent of the internment campaign. Based on detailed gov’t sources, this should be enough to spark significant int’l action against these atrocities.https:\/\/t.co\/U2es2Z7T82<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vrVbBZnfAQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) July 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n