Let's put the Uyghur concentration camp lie to rest.
The Vocational Education and Training Centers are sometimes called the Xinjiang re-education camps, and allegedly are Nazi Germany style concentration camps for the Uyghurs, which mainly occupy Xinjiang, in an attempt to suppress Islam and to sinicize an ethnic minority. The official claim is that over one million Uyghurs are interned. China vehemently denies this, with the support of other eastern countries. Who is telling the truth?
First off, China is certainly not anti-Muslim. There are [39,000 mosques in China. 25,000 of which are in Xinjiang][24], [Islam is growing][25], and [anti-Islamic words are censored on Chinese social media][26]. Finally, here are a couple of video examples of Muslim celebrations in China: [Eid el-Fitr][27] and [Ramadan][28].
So, what is China's goal here? According to China, it is to fight terrorism, which is certainly a [real issue][37]. Here are the terror attacks in China perpetrated by radical Uyghurs in the last decade:
* [2011 Kashgar Attacks][29] * [2011 Hotan Attack][30] * [Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554][31] * [June 2013 Shanshan Riots][32] * [2012 Tiananmen Square Attack][33] * [April 2013 Bachu Unrest][34] * [2014 Kunming Attack][35] * [May 2014 Ürümqi Attack][36]
This is also much more contentious on the world stage than is portrayed in the United States. In fact, [22, mostly western countries signed a letter calling for China to close the facilities, but there were also 37 countries defending China. Many of which are Muslim-majority][38]. Xinjiang's population is [increasing][48] and minority ethnic groups, like Uyghurs, are allowed to have more children than Han Chinese families. Even more damning, [France][50] attempted to start a very similar de-radicalization effort. Although the program came to a premature end, there was no condemnation of France in the western MSM.
China has also invited the [UN][39], the [World Bank][40], and [diplomats][41] to tour the facilities as well. In the case of the World Bank:
> The team conducted a thorough review of project documents, engaged in discussions with project staff, and visited schools directly financed by the project, as well as their partner schools that were the subject of allegations. **The review did not substantiate the allegations.**
-World Bank (my emphasis)
So, where are the extreme claims in the west coming from? [Here][42] is the original UN report that [Reuters has cited][43]. If you look at the references, over one-fifth of them are [Radio Free Asia][44], which was [founded by the CIA to create propaganda][45]. The one million figure comes from Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow of the Victims of Communism Foundation and far-right fundamentalist Christian who believes his "work" against China is led by God. [This][47] report by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders exposes the methodology of this research. The one million figure is derived from *eight interviews*, one Uyghur in each village that the researchers visited. I think this makes it clear that there is bias in the western narrative. For a more hands-on approach, there are several examples of amateur videos of life in Xinjiang, like [this one][49].
(end of blog post)
There are also two Grayzone articles ([1][51], [2][52]) that use primary sources to make similar conclusions. We probably share several sources in common, but I do not cite the Grayzone anywhere here.
I did not want to cite some random Chinese guy's blog in my blog post, but I did find this interesting. China allowed the [BBC to tour the "concentration camps"][53] and, in my opinion, this video is filled with anti-China bias. I laughed out loud when they mentioned the writing on the walls that they couldn't show on camera, but later I found [this][54] blog post, which claims the interviewees were intentionally mistranslated. But again, this is just some random Chinese guy's blog--I don't speak Mandarin.
[24]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mosques_in_China [25]: https://time.com/3099950/china-muslim-hui-xinjiang-uighur-islam/ [26]: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/232039-China-prohibits-use-of-anti-Islamic-words-on-social-media [27]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cABIksHJkhY [28]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDauimHs8UA [29]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Kashgar_attacks [30]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Hotan_attack [31]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin_Airlines_Flight_7554 [32]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2013_Shanshan_riots [33]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Tiananmen_Square_attack [34]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2013_Bachu_unrest [35]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Kunming_attack [36]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2014_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_attack [37]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-china/uighur-is-fighters-vow-blood-will-flow-in-rivers-in-china-idUSKBN16848H [38]: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/11/asia/xinjiang-uyghur-un-letter-intl-hnk/index.html [39]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang/china-says-it-welcomes-u-n-to-visit-xinjiang-via-proper-procedures-idUSKCN1P10IG [40]: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2019/11/11/world-bank-statement-on-review-of-project-in-xinjiang-china [41]: https://time.com/5496435/china-12-diplomats-tour-xinjiang/ [42]: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23452&LangID=E [43]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-un/u-n-says-it-has-credible-reports-that-china-holds-million-uighurs-in-secret-camps-idUSKBN1KV1SU [44]: https://www.rfa.org/english/ [45]: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/26/archives/worldwide-propaganda-network-built-by-the-cia-a-worldwide-network.html [46]: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/15/asia/united-nations-letter-xinjiang-intl-hnk/index.html [47]: https://www.nchrd.org/2018/08/china-massive-numbers-of-uyghurs-other-ethnic-minorities-forced-into-re-education-programs/ [48]: https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/xinjiang-reports-high-rate-of-population-increase [49]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF02xWgkAJ0 [50]: https://www.france24.com/en/20160913-france-deradicalisation-centre-islamist-threat-jihadism-terrorism [51]: https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/21/china-detaining-millions-uyghurs-problems-claims-us-ngo-researcher/ [52]: https://thegrayzone.com/2018/08/23/un-did-not-report-china-internment-camps-uighur-muslims/ [53]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmId2ZP3h0c [54]: https://medium.com/@sunfeiyang/breaking-down-the-bbcs-visit-to-hotan-xinjiang-e284934a7aab