Anonymous Xinjiang report attracts angst, agreement in questioning ‘genocide’ definition
- Authors claim criticism of China’s policies in the far western region are exaggerated and inaccurate
- One of the main targets of the document says it is a bad-faith attack that misrepresents data in his work
International pressure against China over its Xinjiang policies has gained traction in recent months, with China criticised over the treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. China has denied allegations of forced labour and detention. We look at the issues in this series.
Politicians in the United States, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands have said China’s policies in Xinjiang amount to genocide, citing allegations of as many as 1 million Muslim ethnic Uygur people from the region being held in detention camps.
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UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang
Beijing has rejected those accusations, saying the camps are vocational schools and part of efforts to combat poverty as well as counter extremist groups that instigated violence and terror attacks and sought to radicalise Muslim communities in the region.
As Xinjiang becomes another front in the multiplying lines of conflict between China and a grouping of countries allied with the US, an anonymous 18-page document started to appear in the email in-boxes of academics in mid-April titled: “Xinjiang: what do we know, how and why?”