海角大神

Eighteen months after the first reports of a major security crackdown in China鈥檚 frontier province of Xinjiang, the world is beginning to wake up to evidence that Beijing is forcing an unprecedented detention and indoctrination program on the Muslim Uyghur ethnic group.

A United Nations panel in mid-August heard what one member called 鈥渃redible reports鈥� that as many as 1 million Uyghurs are being interned and subjected to political re-education. And in a flurry of statements late last month, several senior US officials and politicians condemned China鈥檚 treatment of the Uyghurs, citing the same figures.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an attempt to brainwash an entire people because of their religious and political beliefs,鈥� says Nicolas Bequelin, East Asia director for Amnesty International. 鈥淭he policy aims to marginalize and stamp out an entire ethnic group.鈥�

But awareness is not translating into action 鈥� not yet, at any rate.

鈥淭he world is starting to pay a little more attention to the fate of the Uyghurs,鈥� adds Mr. Bequelin, but few governments have spoken out and none have taken any firm steps to oppose the campaign. And that may be simply because, as China鈥檚 clout spreads worldwide, countries eager for a share of its trade and investment do not dare alienate Beijing. Even governments that have previously spoken up for vulnerable Muslim populations around the world have remained silent, underscoring China鈥檚 increasingly pivotal role beyond its neighborhood.

鈥淕overnments are not willing to speak up because they would be risking too much economically,鈥� says Peter Irwin, advocacy director for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC.)

Big Brother gets bigger

At the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva earlier this month, Vice Chair Gay McDougall said China had made Xinjiang 鈥渟omething resembling a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a kind of no-rights zone.鈥� Critics fear the pervasive surveillance state erected in the region may be a testing ground for broader use elsewhere in the country.

Beijing insists that its harsh policies in the restive, mainly Muslim province are aimed at curbing Islamic extremism. Uyghur separatists have staged sporadic bomb and knife attacks, and an editorial in the Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper argued recently that Xinjiang 鈥渉as avoided the fate of becoming 鈥楥hina鈥檚 Syria鈥� or 鈥楥hina鈥檚 Libya鈥� 鈥� because of 鈥渢he high intensity of regulations.鈥�

In Geneva, Chinese delegate Hu Lianhe denied that as many as a million people were being held, but explained that 鈥渢hose deceived by religious extremism鈥� were being sent to 鈥渧ocational education and employment training centers.鈥� He did not say how many such people had been sent to such centers.

But new evidence suggests that the crackdown has reached unprecedented proportions, with over 1,000 detention centers built or enlarged since early 2017. Former detainees have reported being obliged to spend their days reciting Chinese laws, watching pro-government propaganda films, swearing loyalty to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and renouncing tenets of their faith.聽

Outside these centers, Xinjiang regulations ban 鈥渁bnormal鈥� beards and veils in public, as well as certain names, including Mohammed. Uighur areas have been flooded with police, and live under one the most sophisticated and pervasive surveillance systems in the world. CCTV cameras use facial recognition technology, and authorities are collecting and registering residents鈥� DNA and iris scans, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

鈥淚t is likely that experiences learned in the re-education program will inform social re-engineering practices in the rest of the country,鈥� predicts Adrian Zenz, a Xinjiang expert at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany. 鈥淚n a more subtle and refined way they could be used against more stubborn pockets of Muslim or 海角大神 sentiment.鈥�

Dr. Zenz published research three months ago 鈥� based on studies of Xinjiang government procurement bids, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with officials 鈥� estimating the number of Uyghurs undergoing 鈥渢ransformation through education鈥� (as Chinese officials call it) at possibly 1.1 million. That is around 10 percent of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.聽

The Chinese government has offered no legal justification for the detentions, nor is it clear whether there are any official criteria governing detainees鈥� release.

鈥淭he goal is to produce long-term change through intimidation in an entire ethnic and religious population,鈥� Dr. Zenz says. 鈥淚t is hard to compare it with anything else鈥� in recent history.

US 'deeply troubled'

The Chinese campaign has caught little international attention until now, partly because before Zenz鈥檚 report most evidence was anecdotal, and from politically motivated groups like the WUC. Foreign journalists have found it almost impossible to report from Xinjiang, and Uyghur exiles are afraid to speak for fear of what might happen to relatives in China.

But last month, in connection with a State Department-organized international conference on religious freedom, US officials broke their silence with a spate of comments.

Though President Trump鈥檚 administration has shown little interest in human rights abroad, and has a history of controversial comments toward Islam, 鈥渞eligious issues are something that the Republican Party very easily gets behind,鈥� says James Millward, an expert in Uyghur affairs at Georgetown University in Washington. 鈥淭he US has traditionally been concerned about religious freedoms abroad.鈥�

At the conference, Vice President Mike Pence accused Beijing of 鈥渉olding 鈥� possibly millions of Uighur Muslims in so-called re-education camps, where they鈥檙e forced to undergo round-the-clock political indoctrination.鈥�

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leveled a similar accusation, and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, speaking at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, said that the Uyghurs鈥� 鈥渞eligious and ethnic identity is literally being extinguished by the Chinese government.鈥�

The day before, a senior US diplomat had told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that 鈥渢he United States is deeply troubled by the Chinese government鈥檚 worsening crackdown鈥� in Xinjiang and called on other countries to join in Washington鈥檚 denunciations.

鈥淲e have been quite disappointed at the lack of response,鈥� says the WUC鈥檚 Mr. Irwin. 鈥淭he reason things have gone as far as they have is that China saw no one was going to object so they pushed things further.鈥�

European diplomats say they raised the Uyghurs鈥� plight at a human-rights dialogue with Chinese officials in Beijing last month, but that was as far as the issue went.

Majority-Muslim reactions

Most striking is the silence from Muslim countries and organizations that have in the past leaped to the defense of other Muslim peoples, such as the Palestinians or the Rohingya.

鈥淥ver the years there have been really muted reactions from the Middle East鈥� to events in Xinjiang, says Dawn Murphy, an expert in China鈥檚 relations with the Middle East at the US Air War College in Alabama.

Many Arab countries, not eager to draw attention to their own human rights records, 鈥渁ppreciate China鈥檚 respect for the principle of non-interference in other countries鈥� affairs,鈥� Professor Murphy suggests. 鈥淎nd looking broadly at their relations with China, they have likely decided that their economic and political interests are more important鈥� than the Uyghurs鈥� human rights.

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has said nothing about Xinjiang since 2015, when it protested a government edict forbidding civil servants and students from observing the holy fast of Ramadan.

Closer to China, the last Malaysian government cooperated with Beijing to deport a number of Uyghur asylum-seekers. In return, says Ahmad Farouk Musa, head of the Islamic Renaissance Front think tank in Kuala Lumpur, the Chinese government appears to have paid off significant debts held by the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

鈥淏usiness speaks louder than a humanitarian crisis,鈥� Dr. Musa says. But the new Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamed, has promised a more independent line towards Beijing, Musa points out. 鈥淣ow we are not scared to stand up to China.鈥�

Meanwhile the Turkish government 鈥� traditionally the region鈥檚 strongest supporter of the Uyghurs, their ethnic cousins 鈥� has been tight-lipped over the 鈥渞e-education鈥� program. The increasingly autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an, turning East in his search for allies, is seeking Turkish membership in the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and is thought unlikely to needle Beijing amid a bitter political and economic dispute with Washington.

Some activists say they still hope that as news from Xinjiang spreads, it will spur pressure on China, despite Beijing鈥檚 economic clout.

In the past, the WUC鈥檚 Mr. Irwin points out, 鈥渟tates did not really believe the figures we were talking about. Now that there is a firmer basis for them we hope there will be more of a reaction. The issue is filtering up the system in the US, at least.鈥�

In November, China is due to undergo its five-yearly 鈥減eriodic review鈥� by the UN Human Rights Committee. Uyghur activists hope their nascent momentum will 鈥減ush the international community to make strong statements鈥� at that meeting, Irwin says.

鈥淏ut getting governments to pass laws鈥� to punish China, he adds ruefully, 鈥渋s another story.鈥�