• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

China says it will continue 'training' Xinjiang people

by onlinecitizen
09/12/2019
in Asia
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0

Source: @uyghur_resim Instagram account

China on Monday defended its vast network of re-education camps in Xinjiang and said it would continue “training” residents, following explosive government document leaks detailing surveillance and control of the region’s Uighur population.
Rights groups estimate more than a million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are held in the facilities, which reports describe as indoctrination camps that are run like prisons and aimed at eradicating Uighur culture and religion.
The government has launched a propaganda drive in recent days to justify its security crackdown after the leaks emerged and the US House of Representatives passed a bill calling for sanctions against officials involved in the controversial policy.
In a press conference, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the far-west region, rejected the estimates by rights groups and foreign experts that over a million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are kept at the camps.
But he did not provide a figure for the number of people housed in what the government describes as “vocational education centres”.
“Students … with the help of the government have realised stable employment (and) improved their quality of life,” Zakir said.
Currently, those in the centres have “all completed their courses,” he said, adding that “there are people entering and exiting.”
In addition to the centres, the Xinjiang government’s next step is to “proceed with daily, routine, normal, and open educational training to village cadres, rural party members, farmers, herdsmen, and unemployed graduates of middle school and high school,” he said, without elaborating.
Last month, the New York Times obtained 403 documents on Beijing’s crackdown on mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region, including unpublished speeches by Chinese President Xi Jinping who urged officials to show “absolutely no mercy” against extremists.
A separate leak of government documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed how local officials were ordered to monitor camp detainees and prevent their escape.
After initially denying the existence of re-education camps, Beijing acknowledged it had opened “vocational education centres” in Xinjiang aimed at preventing extremism by teaching Mandarin and job skills.
Rights groups and foreign media, including AFP, have reported that official documents and satellite images show the facilities are equipped and run like prisons.

‘Seeds of a pomegranate’

On Monday, Xu Hairong, party secretary of Xinjiang’s capital city Urumqi, slammed the New York Times and ICIJ’s document leaks, accusing them of “maliciously distorting and slandering” the region’s re-education camps and “counter-terrorism, de-radicalisation work.”
Zakir also denounced the US Uighur rights bill as a “blatant act of hegemony.”
“All ethnic groups of Xinjiang express strong condemnation and resolute opposition to this,” he added.
Chinese state media have ramped up a defence of government policies in Xinjiang, posting on Twitter graphic videos with English subtitles of deadly attacks in the region.
At Monday’s press conference, officials disseminated copies of a state television documentary on fighting terrorism in the region.
Clips of attacks by alleged Xinjiang extremists were also shown, including a mass-stabbing in 2014 at Kunming train station in southwest Yunnan province, where knife-wielding assailants killed 31 people and injured more than 130 others.
Xinjiang is a “land of harmony and stability where people of different ethnic groups live and work in peace,” enunciated a male voice in English while a very different promotional video played before the press event.
Shots of dancing and waving ethnic minorities flashed by, as well aerial views of wind farms, railway lines, and verdant farmland.
“Different ethnic groups…remain firmly united like the seeds of a pomegranate,” the narrator read, as the video showed scenes of smiling and laughing Uighurs.
– AFP

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.
Tags: AFP

Related Posts

WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status
AFP

WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

27/01/2023
Chinese property giant Evergrande under ‘tremendous pressure’
China

Chinese property giant Evergrande under ‘tremendous pressure’

14/09/2021
Australia’s capital Canberra to enter virus lockdown
Health

Virus lockdown extended for Australia’s capital

14/09/2021
Messenger RNA COVID vaccines 66% effective against Delta: US study
Health

UK to vaccinate over 12s against COVID

14/09/2021
Politics

Facebook shields VIPs from some of its rules: report

14/09/2021
Malaysian PM, opposition in deal to boost stability
Malaysia

Malaysian PM, opposition in deal to boost stability

14/09/2021
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

A multi-party parliament is the only way to make sure that Singapore continues to not condone or tolerate corruption

03/02/2023
Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

03/02/2023
Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023

The Keppel bribery scandal tests Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption

02/02/2023
Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

02/02/2023
US businesses ‘fear internet curbs in Hong Kong’

Hong Kong offers free flights after COVID isolation

02/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

02/02/2023
India’s Adani shares plunge again after stock sale cancelled

India’s Adani empire loses more than US$100 bn after fraud claims

02/02/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
33

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

by Leong Szehian
28/01/2023
69

...

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

by Terry Xu
31/01/2023
39

...

December 2019
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Nov   Jan »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz