‘Fortified’ training camps for Uyghurs

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‘Fortified’ training camps for Uyghurs

Sunday, 19 April 2020 | Makhan Saikia

As China fears the rising Islamic terror may turn Xinjiang into China’s Libya or Syria soon, it, therefore, feels it necessary to train them into becoming ‘good citizens’. For Beijing, these large camps are voluntary vocational training centres where people imbibe job skills. However, according to the Western media, these heavily fortified camps are persecution camps

Last year in October, two groups of nations debated the grave accusations of Uyghurs’ human rights violations in Xinjiang. This episode revealed a global divide on the abuse of basic rights of the ethnic community, particularly Muslims, in China’s western province. It also highlighted the long arm of influence of Bejing’s money, muscle power and diplomatic influence across the world.

Xi Jinping regime’s carefully constructed narratives around the so-called “vocational training centres” in Xinjiang came to light last year via a leaked report in the Western media. For Beijing, these large camps are voluntary vocational training centres where people imbibe job skills before returning to their native places. However, according to the media reports, these heavily fortified camps are designed to turn the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities into good citizens who can learn and speak Mandarin. China is running these re-education camps since 2017. And the fact is that these repressive camps for the Muslims are meant for cultural genocide and brainwashing. However, China strongly rejects the accusations and calls it as an internal affair of the state.

Xi is a dab hand at manipulating his power and authority to consolidate his position within and outside the party. He is fast changing the global power order as well. Thus he has been rightly described as the reincarnation of Chairman Mao. With the gradual decline of the global liberal order, China has broadened its soft power and strengthened its position around the world. Also, America’s anticipated drawdown from many troubled and hotspots is directly encouraging China to gain a foothold in the global power structure.

The authorities in Beijing apprehend that with a global Islamic terror spiral, Xinjiang might turn into China’s Libya or Syria soon. In fact, China’s fear about separatism and terrorism, particularly about Islamic jehad, is quite understandable. And it’s real, not imaginary, in that province. The state intelligence officials and secret army data reveal that the Uyghur separatist groups and Islamist militants are backed by foreign nations, including the US. As the popular Government propaganda goes, the only intention of the outsiders is to destabilise China, particularly Xinjiang. Once it happens, i.e. the Islamic fundamentalists gain a firm ground, this will plunge the province into a year-long civil war. And the Communist leadership in Beijing has long been haunted by this fear. Hence, it is adopting best of its strategies against the radical elements and has put the entire region under surveillance.

However, is it justified to restrict the basic minimum freedoms of the locals in Xinjiang? Should all the Uyghurs pay the price for some of its compatriots raising the banner of revolt against the mainland?

Human rights are fundamental liberties. And imposing curbs on such basic rights is a grave crime. But then the Communists occupying the power corridors of China since 1949 have scant regard for fundamental rights and freedoms of anyone, not even the dominant Han ethnic ones.

What China says about Xinjiang is entirely different from what appears in the Western media and elsewhere. Particularly, “Global Times”, the only daily tabloid published by the Chinese Communist Party, offers the world a purely nationalistic perspective on the Xinjiang issue. To this newspaper, the Western reporting on Xinjiang and Uyghur is full of double standards. These media outlets report only the results, but sincerely fail to report underlying reasons, background and processes that led to the actions of Beijing in Xinjiang. For the party mouthpiece, the reporting about Xinjiang “vocational education and training centers”, as it calls, is nothing but misleading headlines, groundless accusations, obscure interviewees and double standards. The paper admits that such malicious campaign in the West seriously damages the image of China. It also highlights that the selective use of pejorative words such as “camps” instead of vocational education and training centres reminds one of Nazi concentration camps that existed during the Second World War to eliminate the Jews in Germany. Unlike the Nazi concentration camps, these education centres aim to minimise the actions of those who try to involve in committing crimes and particularly engaged themselves in terror activities.

Last year on October 1, while delivering his maiden speech on the occasion of the country’s 70th Independence Day celebration at the Tiananmen Square, Xi emphasized that ‘No force can shake the status of our great country; no force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation from marching forward’. Dressed in a traditional Mao suit, he reaffirmed that China is on its way to achieve peaceful rise, steered by the Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army and unity of its people, based on One China principle. This reminds the people of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Macao and lastly, Xinjiang that Beijing will not allow any force to violate the territorial integrity of greater China at any cost. The country has displayed indigenously developed intelligent weapon system (HSU 001), quantum computing, artificial intelligence and big data. In fact, the entire power show was simply to indicate that China can deter the US and its allies in any future conflict. Henceforth, in no uncertain terms, the separatists in Xinjiang and an external campaign accompanied by massive funding would really find it difficult to shake Beijing.

However, a constant pressure on the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang would send a negative signal to the outside world. If it’s a peaceful rise, China must see to it that its people are guaranteed the basic minimum fundamental freedoms and rights. Else the Uyghurs would become soft target for the global jehadi networks such as the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, etc. China’s rise will not be peaceful as it will be countered by both its immediate neighbours and the existing dominant powers around the world. Hence, while chasing the grand “China Dream”, and One Belt One Road, Xi must be extremely careful not to raise another boiling point like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and South China Sea in Xinjiang. While curbing the major terror game plans instigated by the Islamic radicals, Beijing should see to it that the ordinary Uyghurs and the rest of the locals remain faithful to the mainland. Re-education camps, the way it is conducted, may add anti-China feeling in this western province of the country. Restricting the movements of millions of Uyghurs may be counter-productive. The carrot and stick policy of the Communist power elite towards the minority Muslims may turn Xinjiang into another Syria or Libya of China. It’s better for Xi and China to lie low while handling the wounds of the Uyghurs.

(The writer is an expert on international affairs)

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