As recently reported in the press, since Spring 2017, hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang have “disappeared” into “political re-education centres,”euphemistically labelled mäktäp (Uy. schools) by frightened locals. Their purported crimes vary from travelling abroad to study (or having a relative who did so) to having Western social media apps on their phone. Most…
To suppress views of China that it does not like, the party is trying to replicate its domestic censorship on a global scale, says Isabel Hilton This is a guest contribution to our debate: Should the West worry about the threat to liberal values posed by China’s rise? KISHORE MAHBUBANI urges “Western minds” to seek…
Astana can’t afford to push Beijing too hard, even on behalf of its own citizens detained in Xinjiang re-education camps. In early 2017, reports began to emerge that Chinese authorities in Xinjiang were ratcheting up security, flying in troops, and parading police convoys through the region’s cities. Chen Quanguo, appointed Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang the previous…
China’s massively popular social media platform WeChat appears to have further tightened requirements for user registration, demanding access to all files and media content, and potentially giving the authorities access to everything on a user’s smartphone, RFA has learned. A newly registered WeChat account resulted in a pop-up request on Thursday, calling for permission to…
Authorities in Qaraqash (in Chinese, Moyu) county, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), have detained nearly half of the population of a village in “political re-education camps,” according to a local official. Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” views have been jailed or detained in…
China’s surveillance state already tracks people’s faces. Now it’s also going to track their cars, the Wall Street Journal has reported (paywall). From July 1, China’s Ministry of Public Security will oversee a program to install a radio-frequency identification chip in the windshields of new cars when they’re registered. While installing the chips won’t be mandatory this…
FIFPro is concerned about the reported detention of one of China’s most promising young footballers. Erfan Hezim was reportedly taken to a “political re-education camp” in February for “visiting foreign countries” when he returned home from a trip to Spain and Dubai. The 19-year-old striker — also known as Ye Erfan – last year signed a 5-year…
Dolkun Isa, the president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress exile group, recently learned from a close family friend that his mother, Ayhan Memet, died in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on May 17 at the age of 78. Isa, who has lived in exile since 1994, last spoke with his mother more…
The persecuted community who are living in Turkey say Chinese authorities have recruited Uyghurs to watch over whether their behaviour is ‘suspicious’ or opposed to the ruling Communist Party. Gulgine and her family before they fled to Turkey. Her eldest son-Pakzat (stands between mother and father) before being sentenced for 13 years of prison by…
The firms profiting from China’s rights abuses are often backed by Western investors. BY CHARLES ROLLET ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MAGEE FOR FOREIGN POLICY In the far western region of Xinjiang, China has created one of the world’s most sophisticated and intrusive state surveillance systems to target the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority. Part of what Beijing…
