‘Trainees have all graduated’

Xinjiang chairman: Locals can freely visit facilities, attend courses

BEIJING: Trainees taking part in courses on the standard Chinese language, laws and vocational skills, as well as deradicalisation programmes at vocational education and training centres in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, have all graduated, a senior regional official said.

The centres will now open to all locals who wish to improve themselves, and different training programmes will be offered, said Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government.

Establishing the centres in accordance with the law for people who committed petty crimes or minor offenses while involved in terrorism and extremist activities is a helpful exploration in combating terrorism as well as extremism, he said on Monday.

The centres have been portrayed as “concentration camps” with “violations of human rights” or “ethnic oppression” in the so-called Uygur

Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 passed by the United States House of Representatives on Dec 3.

Some foreign media also claimed that there were between 1 million to 2 million people at the centres.

“Such claims are groundless and pure fabrication.

“Also, those who have been taking part in the courses on the standard Chinese language, laws and vocational skills – as well as the deradicalisation programmes – have all graduated.

“They’ve found jobs and their quality of life has been improved,” Shohrat said at a news conference organised by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

The centres will open to all locals who have the desire to improve their standard Chinese language, vocational skills and knowledge of laws.

They can choose to take courses of different lengths while coming and going freely, he added.

The chairman said the centres are part of the region’s measures to root out terrorism and extremism.

“Measures against terrorist attacks and extremists taken in Xinjiang are no different from those in many other countries, including the US,” he said.

“Some people in the US should discard their biases and not practice double standards regarding terrorist attacks and extremists,” he said.