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The world should ignore "gossip" about China's Xinjiang region and trust authorities there, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on Tuesday when asked if Beijing would allow international observers to inspect camps holding Muslims there.
Western countries including Canada, France, Germany, and the United States have called on China to close down camps in Xinjiang, where activists say as many as 1 million members of the Uighur minority and other Muslims are being detained.
China has said in the past that Xinjiang faces a threat from Islamist militants and separatists. It rejects all accusations of mistreatment and denies mass internment.
Germany cannot accept China’s “re-education” camps for Uighur Muslims, said the country’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday. Many refer to China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.They believe that the Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.China says world should ignore 'gossip' about XinjiangEstablished under the pretext of “political reeducation” for China’s Muslim population, Beijing has amped up its construction of detention camps in the past three months, expanding them by an additional 700,000 square meters, according to satellite imagery.China’s Muslim incarceration camps have attracted heavy criticism from the international community as Beijing continually denied their existence and repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses against the country’s Uighur minority for years, opting to call them “vocational camps” instead.Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group which makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has long accused China’s authorities for cultural, religious and economic discrimination.German FM to raise Uighur concerns on China visitWest calls on China to close Uighur detention camps
Germany cannot accept China’s camps for Uighur Muslims
After initial blanket denials, however, Chinese officials have said some people guilty of minor offences were being sent to "vocational" training centres, where they are taught work skills and legal knowledge aimed at curbing militancy.
State Councillor Wang Yi told reporters after a meeting with Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, that he hoped people would understand and support the Xinjiang regional government's efforts to combat terrorism, put an end to the spread of extremism and provide for social stability.
"(People) should not listen to gossip or rumour, because the Xinjiang regional government, of course, understands the situation in Xinjiang best, and not some other people or organisations," said Wang, who is also foreign minister.
China has stepped up construction of detention camps for the Muslim Uighur minority as the country’s security spending on its “open air prisons” increased by nearly threefold over last year’s figures.Meanwhile, Chinese spending on security-related construction spiked by nearly 20 billion yuan ($2.9bn), according to a report by the U.S.-based think tank Jamestown Institute.It constituted a 213 percent increase over last year’s spending figures.Many refer to China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.They believe that the Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.Camps are being expandedSince the start of 2017, China has expanded its concentration camps to cover an additional 2 million square meters, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institution (ASPI).Established under the pretext of “political reeducation” for China’s Muslim population, Beijing has amped up its construction of detention camps in the past three months, expanding them by an additional 700,000 square meters, according to satellite imagery.China’s Muslim incarceration camps have attracted heavy criticism from the international community as Beijing continually denied their existence and repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses against the country’s Uighur minority for years, opting to call them “vocational camps” instead.Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group which makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has long accused China’s authorities for cultural, religious and economic discrimination.
China triples spending to expand detention camps for Uighur Muslims
"The efforts are completely in-line with the direction the international community has taken to combat terrorism, and are an important part of the global fight against terrorism," Wang said.
"If we can take care of prevention, then it will be impossible for terrorism to spread and take root," he said.
Reports of mass detentions and strict surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims have prompted the United States to consider sanctions against officials and companies linked to suspected human rights abuses.
Researchers have noted that spending on security-related construction in Xinjiang tripled in 2017, and that despite the "vocational training" campaign, Xinjiang government data shows employment has not markedly improved.
China on Tuesday rejected Western countries' criticism of suspected mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang province, saying that the allegations were "seriously far away from facts". "We will not accept politically-driven accusations from a few countries that are fraught with biases," Le Yucheng, Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs, told the U.N. Human Rights Council.The minister spoke at the end of a debate on China's rights record, in which delegations from Britain, France, Germany and the United States voiced deep concern about what China says are vocational training camps.West calls on China to close Uighur detention campsSecurity spending soars in China's troubled Xinjiang region: report
China rejects Western concerns on alleged Uighur mass detentions
Western countries including Canada, France and Germany called on China on Tuesday to close down detention camps, which activists say hold 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims.At a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva -- which reports on human rights in each U.N. member state every five years and is reviewing China's record this week -- Beijing said it protected the freedoms of ethnic minorities.But one after another, Western countries spoke out against what they described as a deterioration in China's human rights since the last review, especially over its treatment of Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang.Beijing should "halt massive imprisonment" and "guarantee freedom of religion and belief, including in Tibet and Xinjiang," France's ambassador Francois Rivasseau said. Germany called for an end to "all unlawful detention including unconstitutional mass detention of Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang."Security spending soars in China's troubled Xinjiang region: reportCanada's envoy Rosemary McCarney said Ottawa was "deeply concerned by credible reports of mass detention, repression and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang."Canada recommends that China release Uighurs and other Muslims who have been detained arbitrarily and without due process for their ethnicity or religion," she said. Similar statements were made by diplomats from Australia and Japan.In his opening speech, Le Yucheng, China's vice minister for foreign affairs, made no mention of the allegations of mass detentions."We protect the rights of ethnic minorities in accordance with law, all 55 ethnic groups are represented in the National Congress and Chinese Communist Party," he said.A United Nations panel of human rights experts said on Aug. 10 it had received many credible reports that 1 million ethnic Uighurs in China were being held in what resembles a "massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy."China has said in the past that Xinjiang faces a threat from militants and separatists. It rejects all accusations of mistreatment and denies mass internment, although Chinese officials have said some citizens guilty of minor offences were being sent to vocational centres to work.Around 1,000 Tibetan and Uighur protesters from around Europe protested outside the U.N. headquarters in Geneva during the debate.
West calls on China to close Uighur detention camps
Spending on security-related construction tripled in 2017 in China's far western region of Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of detaining as many as one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, an academic analysis of government expenditure found.Beijing says its "vocational training centres" in Xinjiang camps teach employment skills and legal knowledge aimed at curbing religious extremism.The report published on Monday by U.S. think-tank the Jamestown Foundation examined government budget data and found spending on security-related construction in Xinjiang rose last year by nearly 20 billion yuan ($2.90 billion), or 213 percent."Xinjiang's budget figures do not reflect increased spending on vocational education ... as the region ramped up camp construction; nor do they reflect an increase in criminal cases handled by courts and prosecutors," said the report's author, Adrian Zenz, an anthropologist at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany.Activists urge deep scrutiny of China at UN rights gathering this week"Rather, they reflect patterns of spending consistent with the construction and operation of highly secure political re-education camps designed to imprison hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs with minimal due process."It also found that despite the purported large "vocational training" campaign, employment outcomes had not markedly improved, according to Xinjiang's own official employment figures.Whatever training the facilities do provide, Zenz said, it appeared it was not administered or paid for by the vocational education system.The Xinjiang government and the State Council Information Office, which doubles as the Communist Party's spokesman's office, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.On Tuesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not personally know how much Xinjiang's security expenditure was.Speaking at a daily news briefing, she asked whether Jamestown had also looked into how much money the Xinjiang local government had spent "developing the economy and improving lives".Reports of mass detentions and strict surveillance of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have prompted the United States to consider sanctions against officials and companies linked to accusations of human rights abuses.After initial blanket denials, Chinese officials said in recent weeks they were not enforcing arbitrary detention and political re-education across a network of secret camps, but rather that some citizens guilty of "minor offences" were sent to vocational centres to provide employment opportunities.While prison expenditure doubled between 2016 and 2017, spending on prosecution on criminal suspects was largely flat, Zenz said, indicating it was likely that few of the so-called criminals involved only in minor offences were put on formal trial.China's record will be examined by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, the first time since 2013, in a regular review expected to focus on its treatment of ethnic minorities, especially Uighurs and Tibetans. 
Security spending soars in China's troubled Xinjiang region: report
Activists called for U.N. member states to pressure China this week to account for alleged human rights violations, including the suspected mass detention of one million Muslim Uighurs in far-western Xinjiang province.China's record will be examined by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, the first time since 2013, in a regular review expected to focus on its treatment of ethnic minorities, especially Uighurs and Tibetans.China says Xinjiang faces a threat from Islamist militants and separatists. It rejects all accusations of mistreatment in an area where hundreds have been killed in unrest between Uighurs and members of the ethnic Han Chinese majority.While denying the allegations of arbitrary detentions and political re-education across a network of secret camps, however, officials have recently said some citizens guilty of minor offences were being sent to vocational centres to provide employment opportunities.Activists sharply criticised Beijing's rights record."In the last five years, generally the human rights situation in China has been getting worse, particularly in east Turkestan (Xinjiang) and Tibet, there has been an unimagineable deterioration," said Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uighur Congress."That's why we expect that the countries should be speaking loudly and strongly," he told Reuters in an interview at an activist forum on China held in Geneva on Friday.Xinjiang has become a "police state" where his mother died in a "concentration camp" in May, Isa said, adding: "We have never heard of people coming out from the camps."Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, told Reuters at the event: "The detention of over a million ethnic Uighurs is a tipping point for the international community. They really can't look the other way now..."Le Yucheng, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, will lead China's delegation to the session."Unequivocal Message""The Human Rights Council must send an unequivocal message to the Chinese government that their campaign of systematic repression in the XUAR (Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region), including the arbitrary detention of up to one million people, must end," Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, said in a statement.Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government in exile, took a swipe at Chinese President Xi Jinping's mantra of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era"."Socialism with Chinese characteristics means no democracy, one party dictatorship and essentially no human rights," Sangay said in a keynote speech at the Geneva event."If the U.N. Human Rights Council cannot make China accountable for human rights violations, then who will?"Golog Jigme, a Tibetan monk dressed in crimson robes, gave testimony about three jail terms he served before escaping and gaining political asylum in Switzerland in 2015."I still have scars on my hands and feet from torture sustained in prison," he told the forum."Please review the human rights situation in China carefully, critically. If the UN fails to make China accountable this time, it failed all humanity."China denies accusations of human rights abuses in Tibet.
Activists urge deep scrutiny of China at UN rights gathering this week