Cables have China in a spot

Niraj Srivastava
Former Ambassador

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THE world has known for some time that China has detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Muslim natives of the northwestern province of Xinjiang, and placed them in ‘re-education camps’. But so far information about the ‘camps’ has been based on eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery, or statements by relatives of detainees.

For the first time, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a non-profit organisation, has released a set of highly classified Chinese government documents which furnish hard evidence of the existence of these camps and provide a glimpse into the lives of inmates. The ICIJ has released dozens of investigations in the past, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Panama Papers’. The documents relating to the camps, called ‘China Cables’, were released by the ICIJ and 17 media partner organisations in 14 countries on November 24.

The leaked documents include ‘telegram’, or the operations manual, consisting of nine Chinese language pages dated November 2017 that contain over two dozen detailed guidelines for managing the camps. They also include four shorter Chinese-language intelligence briefings, known as ‘bulletins’, providing instructions on the daily use of the Integrated Joint Operation Platform (IJOP), a mass surveillance and policing programme, that analyses data from Xinjiang. Both the telegram and the bulletins are classified ‘secret’ by the Chinese authorities.

The Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language, account for nearly 11 million people in a population of 1.4 billion, of whom 92% are Han Chinese. In 2009, Uighurs rioted in Xinjiang’s capital city of Urumqi, killing nearly 200 people, most of them Han Chinese. Again, in 2013, they carried out a string of deadly attacks on civilians in several Chinese cities, killing dozens. There were also reports of many Uighurs joining the IS in Iraq.

Beijing responded to the above developments by imposing harsh measures. Severe restrictions were placed on religious practices in Xinjiang. Many Islamic practices, including keeping a beard, certain prayers, and religious attire such as the burqa were banned. In 2017, China launched a campaign of mass detention and forced assimilation. Large numbers of people began to disappear, according to witnesses and news reports. Rumours of secretive detention camps started circulating.

China tried to keep the camps a secret, but in October 2018, after satellite images and eyewitness accounts made it undeniable, the Governor of Xinjiang acknowledged the existence of what he called ‘professional, vocational training institutions’. He said the objective was to de-radicalise those suspected of terrorist or extremist leanings. In a White Paper released in August 2019, the Chinese government proclaimed the ‘vocational training centres’ a resounding success.

The China Cables is the first leak of a classified Chinese government document revealing the inner functioning of the detention camps, and the harsh conditions inside them. For example, the telegram instructs camp personnel on such matters as how to prevent escapes, maintain secrecy, methods of forced indoctrination, how to control disease outbreaks, and when to let detainees see relatives or even use toilet. The minimum duration of detention is one year, though some detainees are released sooner.

The bulletins, on the other hand, provide a glimpse into the IJOP, which is used for collecting personal information on Chinese citizens from a range of sources, including closed-circuit cameras with facial recognition. This information is processed, using artificial intelligence, to draw up lists of so-called suspicious persons, many of whom end up in the camps. The number of inmates in these camps is estimated to be over a million.

Detention of Uighurs is not limited to those living in China, but extends to those living abroad. Bulletin No. 2, dated June 16, 2017, instructs Chinese officials to collect information about Uighurs who have spent time abroad and those who have foreign citizenship. It instructs embassy officials to arrange to deport anyone who has given up, or ‘cancelled’ Chinese citizenship. It also defines the role of China’s embassies and consulates abroad in collecting information for the IJOP.

The China Cables are of interest to India because there are many parallels between what China is doing in Xinjiang, and what it has been doing for decades in Tibet. In both cases, it has tried to wipe out the religion and culture of an entire people. It has changed the demographic structure of the two provinces by forcibly settling large numbers of ethnic Han Chinese in them. Some analysts have used the term ‘cultural genocide’ to describe this. Both Tibet and Xinjiang have witnessed multiple uprisings that have been brutally crushed by China. 

And despite practising such policies, China had the cheek to express concern about Kashmir in the UNGA in September 2019, after the abolition of Article 370. Many observers are of the view that India should express concern about what China has done in Tibet and Xinjiang. In fact, that is what 23 states, including Japan, Australia, and Canada, did last July. They wrote a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemning China’s mass detention of Uighurs and other minorities, and called on Beijing to allow UN officials access to Xinjiang.

The next time China expresses concern about Kashmir, India should do the same about Tibet and Xinjiang. What is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Double standards are not acceptable.