While these numbers are only estimates due to a lack of transparency from the Chinese government, up to 2 million Uighur Muslims are reported by the Council of Foreign Relations to have been wrongfully confined in detention camps all over the Xinjiang autonomous region of China. These camps are reported to force detainees to denounce Islam, pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, and rid their lives of any Uighur ethnic characteristics, all under prison-like conditions and surveillance. Former detainees reveal that a failure to do so is punished with torture, beatings, or sexual abuse.
And while only 27 of these camps have been confirmed to exist, Reuters journalists estimate there to be over 1,200 centers built for the mass detainments since 2014. Outside of the camps, the Uighurs live in a surveillance state where their every move is tracked by the CCP while their identity is repressed through the banning of Muslim prayer, names, attire, and the Uyghur language along with the mass destruction of mosques across the region. The circumstances in Xinjiang amount to a grave political challenge, that being an amassment of various human rights violations by the CCP on Xinjiang’s Muslim population. To name a few, Articles 2, 5, 9 and 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) have all been violated, despite China being a ratifier to the UDHR.
Exploring the Root of the Atrocities
The harsh crackdown in Xinjiang is presumed to be a hard power approach by China to take full control of the region to exploit its land, rich with oil and mineral resources, for development purposes. Specifically, for Xi Jiping’s multi-billion-dollar development project, the Belt-Road Initiative, intended to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks. With this, Xi aims to increase trade and stimulate Chinese economic growth. However, due to the autonomous status of the region and concentration of the ethnic minority within it, the Xinjiang Uighurs are partial to resisting the CCP’s development endeavors, as an influx of Han Chinese, China’s dominant ethnic group, have already begun to take over the region. Prior to the 2000s, the Uighurs were the majority population of Xinjiang. Now, 40% of the population is Han, with the capital of Urumqi being 95% Han. This phenomenon only fuels the fears of the Uighurs, as an increase in the Han population only decreases Uighur opportunities and subsequently marginalizes them, as the Mandarin-speaking Han are largely favored in all labor sectors, all of which are overlooked by the CCP.
Hostility towards the Muslim minority is further fueled by historic tensions between the region and Chinese authorities due to the ongoing East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM) which supports Uighur separatism and has been affiliated with Muslim extremism against the Han. Recent intensification of Uighur oppression and the expansion of detention camps in 2017 have only reignited such tensions between the two groups, aggravating the CCP’s arbitrary policies further.
Moreover, China’s totalitarian government and lack of transparency make it much more difficult for the global community to receive proper intel on Chinese internal affairs. Heavily censored media and news coverage is made sure to coincide with the CCP’s ideologies, resulting in minimal information regarding Xinjiang’s situation and making it much easier for authorities to implement arbitrary policies against any group within their borders. As of now, the only information available on the detention camps and treatment of the Uighurs has come from leaked documentation and testimonies from Xinjiang refugees.
Their lack of rights can be attributed to the policies of Xinjiang Secretary Chen Quanguo. Under Quanguo, the construction of the detention camps began. Seeing as he is a CCP-appointed official, just representation of the Xinjiang population is non-existent, further backed by Chen’s dismissal of all Uighur officials who were in office prior to his appointment.
Reactions, Both Local and Global
Those who have fled Xinjiang as well as those in support of the Uighurs, are able to outsource information regarding the crisis, however. This allows for better aid and political support from IGOs such as the UN, however any endeavors to condemn China to date have failed. On the 8th of July of 2019, 22 countries issued a statement calling for an end to mass detentions in China and expressed concerns over widespread surveillance and repression at the UN. The statement was repeated the same year in October, both of which received responding statements denying Chinese violation of Uighur rights. As a result, no concrete threat or punishment was provided for China, and such a response is unlikely to provoke reform on the CCP’s part, therefore demonstrating a failure by these organizations to follow through with their global missions of establishing humanitarian order.
Economically, Xinjiang experiences extremely rapid development. However, the benefits are averted from reaching the Uighurs, and instead have continued to marginalize them while benefiting the Han population. Unequal distribution of wealth is present, as those working in Xinjiang’s development projects are mainly Han and profits go mainly to Beijing. The 2012 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey indicates that the average annual income of a Han person in Xinjiang is approximately $4120, whereas the average income for Uighurs is around $1830.
In regards to economic impacts, China expects to receive extreme prosperity from the completion of the Belt-Road Initiative. The project is estimated by the World Bank to reduce aggregate trade costs between 1.1 and 2.2 percent for the world. For the economies of nations directly connected by the initiative, the change in trade costs will range between 1.5 and 2.8 percent. Altogether, it is made evident that the oppression of the Xinjiang region is being carried out for its immense economic profits.
Yet despite many accusations, China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied the Uighur population as being marginalized and detained against their will, standing by the title of "vocational education training centers” used as an ethical form of counterterrorism. Making it clear that there is no action being taken by China to halt the expansion of these detainment centers.
The Takeaway
For the Uighur population, countermeasures in their favor have been minimal due to totalitarian rule. Besides the various UN statements, NGOs such as the World Uyghur Congress and the Human Rights Watch are organizing protests in support of the Uighurs to raise awareness about the conditions in Xinjiang. It is expected by the Uighur Muslims that China lifts their anti-Islam policies and the surveillance state, as well as eradicating all detention camps. Yet again, these expectations are unlikely to be realized due to the failure of organizations and member states in holding China accountable for its actions.
For many nations, acting against China isn’t beneficial, especially if they are stakeholders in the Belt-Road Initiative. Few nations protest the initiative while around 130 countries have already invested in the project. Objecting to Chinese development in Xinjiang would only wane its economic benefits, and while many nations who are involved in the Initiative denounce the CCP for its abuse of Uighur rights, no serious action is taken against China to deter it from its oppressive behavior out of fear of economic losses.
However, if there is a lack of unanimity by the global community to condemn China and subsequently impose effective punishment such as economic sanctions, China will not be persuaded to halt its actions, and, as a result, might create a blueprint for the future mistreatment of other ethnic groups within states all to benefit an economy. Stakeholder nations in the initiative play an even larger role, considering they are funding an enormous Chinese development plan which cannot succeed without foreign support. Without leverage from these key players, it is unlikely that the human rights crisis in Xinjiang will be halted.
Comments