Confidential documents allegedly belonging to the Chinese police force have been shared by several international media, including Le Monde in France. They contain revelations about the 'professional training centres' of the Uyghur community in the Xinjiang region of China.
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Should we still doubt the Chinese repression of Uyghurs?
Among the documents allegedly hacked from Chinese police computers are thousands of portraits of Uyghurs. Young, old, women, men and children, were all photographed in a police station or on their arrival in one of the Chinese 'professional training centres.' These files, called XINJIANG POLICE FILES, were sent to researcher Adrian Zenz, who shared them with the media.
Among the many documents published by Le Monde on Tuesday 24 May are the instructions for the police at these centres:
If the students do not listen to the instructions, the armed police can fire warning shots. If the students do not yield to the deterrent, if they continue to escalate the tension, try to escape or take the officers' weapons, the officers will kill them.
The repression of the Uyghur community is as terrifying as it is meticulous. According to Le Monde, 12% of adults from ethnic minorities in the Konasheher district, in western China, were detained in these 'centres' in 2018. A rate that would be higher than in the Stalinist era.
Chinese government denies it
The Xinjiang Police Files revelations come as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is visiting China. A field investigation seems unlikely at this time. Especially as the 'vocational training centres,' also known by some as reform camps, are reportedly running at full capacity.
The head of the Chinese region, Chen Quanguo, is said to have welcomed, in reports to his Chinese Communist Party hierarchy, that the 'four ruptures' have been 'accomplished,' i.e. breaking family lines, relations between ethnic minorities and outside populations, as well as with their 'origins,' as the French media reports.
The Chinese government denies the implementation of a repressive system to reshape the Uyghur people, (about 10 million inhabitants in China, according to Le Parisien). The Chinese Embassy in London said:
There are no documents or orders for so-called detention camps. Professional training and education centres have been established for the purpose of preventing terrorism.
The Xinjiang Police Files seem to contradict China, in addition to the numerous testimonies of Uyghur victims.
This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.
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