“Step by step”: Leaked revelations on China’s repression of Uighurs
Imagine you are a student. The semester has ended, exams have been conquered and you anxiously await being greeted by family as you return home for break. But upon your return, the greetings never come. The New York Times reported that this is the reality for many students returning home from their studies in Hong Kong to Xinjiang, a region in Northwestern China. Scores of their loved ones have been forcibly detained in what Chinese officials deem “voluntary education and training” centres intended to “counter extremism.” However, recently leaked documents dubbed “The China Cables” offer some of the first concrete evidence to the contrary. Rebuked by Chinese officials as “pure fabrication and fake news,” the leaked documents illuminate the true nature of China’s re-education camps and the lengths officials are willing to go to in order to repress China’s Uighur minority.
The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is home to most of China’s minority Uighur population. Uighurs have historically faced rampant repression, leading to unrest and outbreaks of violence. President Xi Jinping has positioned instances of violence in Xinjiang, such as the 2009 Urumqi riots, within American narratives on the War on Terror to justify a violent crackdown on Uighur citizens. This has culminated in “a quiet campaign of mass detention and forced assimilation in Xinjiang.” Disappearances have become commonplace, claiming as much as 40 per cent of the region’s adults and sometimes encompassing entire families.
Previous knowledge of the camps was shrouded in uncertainty. A rare and choreographed glimpse into the camps was granted to the BBC in mid 2019, but revealed little. Amidst polished classes and exuberant dances, the only sign of suffering was found in graffiti that proclaimed small acts of rebellion including “oh my heart don’t break” and “step by step.” Accounts of former detainees have detailed forced indoctrination and rampant abuse, from torture to gendered violence. These accusations have included claims of rape, forced abortions, and forced use of contraceptives aimed to “wipe the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang as a separate cultural group off the face of the Earth.”
The China Cables pull back the stylized curtain to provide documented evidence of widespread human rights abuses in the region. The leaked documents reveal a manual for managing detainees, asserting that officials must never allow escapes, ensure strict discipline and punishment of behavioural violations, and “encourage students to truly transform,” all while ensuring their complete surveillance. Doors must be “double locked” at all times. Utilizing a mix of “Chinese bureaucratese” and “Orwellian doublespeak,” detainees are called “students” who officials aim to “graduate” from training programs. “Students” may leave under narrow conditions, such as illness, but officials must accompany, monitor, and control them while away. The China Cables also highlight a points-based behaviour-control system utilized by officials to determine the level of ideological transformation of the students, how close they are to graduating, and whether or not they receive perks, such as contacting family.
Family members, such as students returning from their studies in Hong Kong, also faced harsh controls. Additional documents also reveal official instructions to warn families that “their behaviour could either shorten or extend the detention of their relatives.”
The extent of the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), used by the Chinese government to collect data on citizens is also revealed in the documents. The IJOP is linked to an app used by police to gather information on individuals’ physical characteristics, “religious atmosphere,” and political leanings. It investigates things as arbitrary as recent travel, electricity use, neighbourly socialization, and app downloads in order to deem if behaviour is normal or suspicious. The level of “suspicious” behaviour to warrant detainment is low, including religious behaviour or the use of WhatsApp. “Bulletins” within the documents also detail how to implement IJOP data to investigate and detain large groups, and references the detainment of 15,683 Xinjiang residents flagged by IJOP in just one week in 2017. The reach of the IJOP is bolstered by stores of citizens’ biometrics, from DNA to voice samples, battalions of facial recognition cameras, and pervasive and abundant checkpoints, which submits citizens to routine psychological trauma of constant state control.
The potential of the China Cables to bring about change and accountability regarding the abuse of China’s Uighurs cannot be ignored. Claims of genocide have been made against China, as camp elements such as “mental harm,” forcible removal of children, and claims of prevented births amount to violations of the UN Genocide Convention. However, international reactions to China’s detention camps have been lackluster at best, most notably amongst Muslim-majority nations weary of damaging crucial economic ties to China. As the United States continues down an isolationist path and UN action is complicated by China’s Security Council membership, the outlook is grim. Yet these documents present a crucial development toward holding China accountable and making the plight of the Uighurs painfully clear while also raising awareness, step by step.