Secret documents reveal how China mass detention camps work
Beijing, Nov 25: The Chinese government has detained more than a million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other ethnic minorities for what it calls voluntary job training.
But a newly revealed classified blueprint shows that the camps Beijing runs in China's far west are instead secret centers for forced ideological and behavioral re-education.
The confidential documents, leaked to a consortium of international journalists, lay out the Chinese government's deliberate strategy to lock up minorities, most of whom are Muslims, to rewire their thoughts and even the language they speak.
The documents stipulate watch towers, double-locked doors and blanket video surveillance "to prevent escapes."
A sample of classified Chinese government documents leaked to a consortium of news organizations, is displayed for a picture in New York, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. Beijing has detained more than a million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities for what it calls voluntary job training. The confidential documents lay out the Chinese government’s deliberate strategy to lock up ethnic minorities to rewire their thoughts and even the language they speak. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
They describe an elaborate scoring system that grades detainees on how well they speak the dominant Mandarin language, memorise ideology and adhere to strict rules on everything down to bathing and using the toilet.
They also show how Beijing is pioneering a new form of social control using data and artificial intelligence.
With the help of mass surveillance technology, computers issued the names of tens of thousands of people for interrogation or detention in just one week, including university students and party officials who wouldn't need vocational training.
Taken as a whole, the documents give the most significant description yet of how the mass detention camps work in the words of the Chinese government itself.
Experts say they spell out a vast system that targets, surveils and grades entire ethnicities to forcibly assimilate them especially Uighurs, a Turkic minority of about 10 million with their own language and culture.
"They confirm that this is a form of cultural genocide," said Adrian Zenz, a leading security expert in the far western region of Xinjiang, where many Uighurs live.
"It really shows that from the onset, the Chinese government had a plan."
Zenz said the documents echo the aim of the camps as outlined in a 2017 report from a local branch of the Xinjiang Ministry of Justice: To "wash brains, cleanse hearts, support the right, remove the wrong."
China has struggled for decades to control Xinjiang, where hundreds, both Uighurs and Han Chinese, have died in terror attacks, reprisals and race riots.
In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched what he called a "People's War on Terror" in response to terror attacks carried out by radical Uighur militants.
In late 2016, the crackdown intensified dramatically when Xi named Chen Quanguo, a hardline official transferred from Tibet, as Xinjiang's new head. Most of the documents were issued in 2017.
"Since the measures have been taken, there's no single terrorist incident in the past three years," said a written response from the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom.
"Xinjiang is much safer....The so-called leaked documents are fabrication and fake news."
The statement said that religious freedom and the personal freedom of detainees was "fully respected" in Xinjiang.
The documents came from an anonymous source, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists verified them by consulting experts, cross-checking content and comparing signatures.
They consist of a notice with guidelines for the camps, four bulletins on how to use technology to target people, and a court case sentencing a local Uighur party official to 10 years in prison for telling colleagues not to say dirty words, watch porn or eat without praying.
Issued to rank-and-file officials by the powerful Xinjiang Communist Party Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the documents confirm what is known about the camps from the testimony of Uighurs and Kazakhs, satellite imagery and highly restricted visits by journalists to the region.
Erzhan Qurban, a Chinese-born ethnic Kazakh, was held for nine months because he had spent time abroad in Kazakhstan.
Qurban said he was locked in a cell with 10 others last year, forced to sit rigidly for hours and forbidden to pray or even talk.
"It wasn't education, it was just punishment," said Qurban.
"I was treated like an animal."
Other detainees have said there was torture or rape at the camps.
The documents show direct links between the internment camps and the extreme digital surveillance in Xinjiang.
One document states that the purpose of the surveillance is "to prevent problems before they happen."
This is done through a system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform or IJOP, built by a state-owned military contractor.
The IJOP spat out the names of people considered suspicious for behaviour that includes going abroad, asking others to pray or using cell phone apps that cannot be monitored by the government.
These people were then called in for questioning and funneled into different parts of the system, from house arrest to detention centers with three levels of monitoring to prison.
Once inside, the documents show, detainees are subject to forced indoctrination.
The first item listed as part of the curriculum is ideological education.
It is partly rooted in the ancient Chinese belief in transformation through education - taken before to terrifying extremes during the mass thought reform campaigns of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.
The indoctrination goes along with "manner education," where behaviour is dictated, including ensuring "timely haircuts and shaves," "regular change of clothes" and "bathing once or twice a week."
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US lawmakers seek clarity over financial burden, human cost, endgame in Iran conflict
Washington: Tensions rose at the US Capitol on Tuesday as lawmakers sought clearer answers from the Trump administration on the objectives, duration and costs of the ongoing military campaign against Iran, even as preparations advanced for votes aimed at curbing the president’s war powers.
Senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, briefed members of the House and Senate for a second consecutive day behind closed doors, as reported by the Associated Press. The sessions came ahead of votes on war powers resolutions that would limit President Donald Trump’s authority to continue joint US-Israel operations without congressional approval.
Rubio told reporters that the president acted to prevent Iran from striking first. He rejected suggestions that Washington moved only because Israel was poised to launch its own offensive, saying instead that Trump believed the weekend presented a rare opportunity to act with maximum impact. “There is no way in the world that this terroristic regime was going to get nuclear weapons, not under Donald Trump’s watch,” Rubio said.
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The conflict has widened following US and Israeli airstrikes on February 28 that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has since launched missile attacks targeting US military bases in the region. At least six American service personnel have died so far.
The administration has indicated that supplemental funding may be required to sustain operations. It added that the concerns among lawmakers about the financial burden and potential for a prolonged engagement has disrupted legislative business, sharpening political divisions at the start of a competitive midterm election cycle.
Associated Press cited Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s concerns about what he described as possible “mission creep.” Senator Angus King questioned whether the United States had been drawn into war at Israel’s urging, while Senator Elizabeth Warren asked how the campaign aligned with Trump’s “America First” pledge to avoid extended foreign conflicts.
Defence official Elbridge Colby told senators the president had directed the military to degrade Iran’s missile capabilities and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, stressing that the objective was not nation-building. Trump, speaking separately from the Oval Office, dismissed claims that Israel had forced his decision and suggested the conflict could continue if necessary. He has not ruled out deploying US ground troops.
Senator Richard Blumenthal was quoted by Associated Press as saying that he feared the possibility of American boots on the ground while Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin defended the operation, saying the president had acted decisively.
Uncertainty over Iran’s future leadership has added to concerns, with questions mounting about who might succeed Khamenei as Trump rejected the idea of backing Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran’s former monarchy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the future of Iran should be determined by its people and House Speaker Mike Johnson said the United States would not engage in nation-building.
Lawmakers from both parties also reported a surge in calls from constituents seeking assistance for Americans attempting to leave the region as hostilities intensify.
The US Constitution grants Congress the right to declare war, however presidents have routinely begun military activities without formal declarations. Both houses are anticipated to vote on proposals that would require explicit congressional approval to continue operations. Some members have also argued that if constraints are not imposed, Congress should consider issuing an Authorization for the Use of Military Force to put lawmakers on the record.
Associated Press quoted House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries questioning the rationale for the campaign and saying there would be strong support among Democrats for the resolution. Johnson, however, warned that restricting the president during active combat could pose risks.
