China: Uighur Muslims held to give them a ‘civilised’ life
▶ New report is the ruling party’s latest effort to defend its extrajudicial detention of minority groups
China yesterday said its mass internment of Muslims was meant to bring a destitute people who are easily led astray into the “modern, civilised” world.
The report is the Communist Party’s latest effort to defend its extrajudicial detention of Central Asian Muslim minorities against mounting criticism.
China’s resistance to western pressure over the camps highlights its growing confidence under President Xi Jinping, who has offered Beijing’s authoritarian system as a model for other countries.
A UN panel and a human rights group estimated that one million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities have been arbitrarily detained in China’s far west Xinjiang region.
The report by the official Xinhua News Agency indicated that the party’s vision in Xinjiang is to assimilate the indigenous Central Asian ethnic minorities into Han Chinese society and a modern lifestyle.
Xinjiang Governor Shohrat Zakir said the authorities gave the minorities lessons in Mandarin, Chinese history and law, to steer them away from extremism and towards a modern life in which they would feel “confident about the future”.
“It’s become a general trend for them to expect and pursue a modern, civilised life,” Mr Zakir said.
He said the measures were part of a broader policy to build a “foundation for completely solving the deeply rooted problems” in the region.
China has long regarded its ethnic minorities as backward, said James Leibold, from Melbourne’s La Trobe University.
Dr Leibold said Beijing considered them to be superstitious, deviant and potentially dangerous, and regarded its role to be one of “bringing them into the light of civilisation, to transform them”.
Despite growing alarm from the US and the UN, China has maintained that Xinjiang’s police surveillance is necessary for countering latent extremism and preserving stability.
The Turkic-speaking Uighurs have resented restrictions on their religious practices. They say they experience widespread discrimination in jobs and access to passports.
Mr Zakir said authorities provided free vocational training in skills geared to manufacturing, food and service industries. He said trainees were paid a basic income during the training, in which free food and accommodation were provided.
The report was in response to accounts from those who had been detained. They said they were held in political indoctrination camps where they were forced to denounce Islam and profess loyalty to the party.
Ethnic Uighurs and Kazakhs say that innocuous acts such as praying regularly, looking at a foreign website or taking phone calls from relatives abroad could mean they are sent to a camp. Mr Zakir, however, said the training centres were for people “who are influenced by terrorism and extremism, and those suspected of minor criminal offences” who could be exempt from criminal punishment.
He did not say whether such people were ever formally charged with any crime or provided a chance to defend themselves against the claims.
The governor did not say how many people were in such courses, but said some would be able to complete their courses this year.