Beijing rejects Uighur camp allegations
BEIJING: China on Tuesday aggressively countered fresh allegations over the so-called “brainwashing” internment camps for Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, saying that there were no ethnic, religious or human rights issues in Xinjiang.
Beijing’s reaction came in response to possibly the largest leak of classified Chinese government documents to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), describing the repressive manual followed in camps where more than a million members of the Uighur Muslim community are being interred.
The leak of documents was followed by critical statements from the US, the UK, Germany and the European Commission, who also demanded access to the camps.
A response from the foreign ministry called the news articles and statements “smearing and slandering accusations”.
The statement said the current governance policies in Xinjiang will be continued. However, it didn’t mention the prison camps, which Beijing has referred to as “vocational and re-education camps” in the past.
“Since Xinjiang has severely cracked down on violent and terrorist crimes in accordance with the law and attached importance to source control, there have been no violent terrorist incidents in the region for three consecutive years,” spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
Geng said there were no “ethnic, religious, or human rights issues in Xinjiang” and accused the western media of attacking the counterterrorism de-extremisation” measures taken by the Xinjiang administration.