DOCSLIB.ORG

Labor Transfer and the Mobilization of Ethnic Minorities to Pick Cotton

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Labor Transfer and the Mobilization of Ethnic Minorities to Pick Cotton INTELLIGENCE BRIEF Coercive Labor in Xinjiang: Labor Transfer and the Mobilization of Ethnic Minorities to Pick Cotton December 2020 Coercive Labor in Xinjiang: Labor Transfer and the Mobilization of Ethnic Minorities to Pick Cotton Contents By Dr. Adrian Zenz Executive Summary . .2 Executive Summary 1 . Introduction to Cotton in Xinjiang . .3 ew evidence from Chinese government docu- 1.1 Mechanization and Manual Labor in ments and media reports shows that hundreds Xinjiang’s Cotton-Picking Practices .........3 of thousands of ethnic minority laborers in Xin- N 1.2 Changes in the Size and Composition jiang are being forced to pick cotton by hand through of Xinjiang’s Cotton-Picking Workforce ......5 a coercive state-mandated labor transfer and “poverty alleviation” scheme, with potentially drastic conse- 1.3 The Significance of Cotton Picking quences for global supply chains. Xinjiang produces 85 for Xinjiang’s Poverty Alleviation percent of China’s and 20 percent of the world’s cotton. Through Employment Policies .............9 Chinese cotton products, in turn, constitute an import- 1.4 Implications for ant basis for garment production in numerous other Coercive Labor in Cotton Picking ...........9 Asian countries. 2 . The Coercive Nature of Xinjiang’s Previously, evidence for forced labor in Xinjiang per- Transfer of Rural Surplus Laborers . 10 tained only to low-skilled manufacturing, including the 2.1 History of Labor Transfer ..............10 production of textiles and apparel. This report provides 2.2 ‘Precise Poverty Alleviation’: new evidence for coercion specifically related to cotton Targeting Every Household ...............10 picking. These findings have much wider implications, affecting all supply chains that involve Xinjiang cotton 2.3 Intensified ‘Battle’: Militarized as a raw material. Training and Thought Transformation ......12 2.4 Implications .........................13 On Dec. 2, 2020, the United States placed a Withhold Release Order on cotton produced by the Xinjiang Pro- 3 . Evidence of Coercion in the Recruitment, duction and Construction Corps. However, this entity Transfer, and Management of Transferred only produces 33 percent of Xinjiang’s cotton and only Laborers in Xinjiang’s Cotton-Picking Sector . 13 0.4 percent of its highest-quality long-staple cotton. 3.1 Overcoming ‘Laziness’: How the This report provides evidence for coercive labor related State Mobilizes Minority Cotton Pickers ....13 to all cotton produced in Xinjiang. 3.2 Streamlined Process: Continued on next page Efficient Large-Scale Operations with Guaranteed Outcomes ...............16 3.3 Evidence Regarding Average Incomes for Cotton Picking ...............18 3.4 Implications .........................19 COVER: A farmer harvests cotton in a field in Hami, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. (PULATI NIYAZI/Getty Images) 4 . Conclusions . 19 2 December 2020 Executive Summary Continued from previous page The evidence shows that in low. State policies have greatly cers. Government supervision 2018, three Uyghur regions increased the numbers of local teams monitor pickers, checking alone mobilized at least 570,000 ethnic minority pickers, reducing that they have a “stable” state persons into cotton-picking reliance on outside Han Chinese of mind, and administer political operations through the govern- migrant laborers. The intensive indoctrination sessions. Some ment’s coercive labor training two- to three-month period of regions put Uyghur children and and transfer scheme. Xinjiang’s cotton picking represents a stra- elderly persons into centralized total labor transfer of ethnic mi- tegic opportunity to boost rural care while working-age adults norities into cotton picking likely incomes, and therefore plays a are away on state-assigned cot- exceeds that figure by several key role in achieving the state’s ton-picking work assignments. hundred thousand. poverty alleviation targets. These While not directly related to the targets are mainly achieved campaign of mass internment, Despite increased mechaniza- through coercive labor transfers. these labor transfers can include tion, cotton picking in Xinjiang persons who have been released continues to rely strongly on Cotton picking is grueling and from internment camps. manual labor. In 2019, about 70 typically poorly paid work. Labor percent of the region’s cotton transfers involve coercive mo- The data presented in this report fields had to be picked by hand bilization through local work provides strong evidence that – especially the high-quality teams, transfers of pickers in the production of the majority long-staple cotton predomi- tightly supervised groups, and of Xinjiang’s cotton involves nantly grown in southern Xin- intrusive on-site surveillance by a coercive, state-run program jiang’s Uyghur regions, where government officials and (in at targeting ethnic minority groups. mechanized picking shares are least some cases) police offi- 1. Introduction to Cotton in Xinjiang 1.1 Mechanization and Manual Labor in Xinjiang’s Cotton-Picking Practices Xinjiang produces over 20 percent of the world’s cotton.1 In 2019, Xinjiang. The Uyghur-majority Despite increased mechanization, Xinjiang produced 84.9 percent of regions in southern Xinjiang grow most of the cotton produced in Xin- all cotton in China. In 2018, China’s much of the region’s hand-picked jiang is still picked by hand. Hand- total raw cotton, yarn, textile, and cotton, which is of higher quali- picked cotton is more expensive to apparel exports constituted almost ty than machine-picked cotton. produce than machine-harvested 10 percent of the total value of na- They also produce nearly all of the cotton. While the government seeks tional exports.2 Some of the world’s highest-quality long-staple cotton to make Xinjiang cotton more highest-quality cotton comes from (cotton with long, silky fibers). competitive by lowering production 1 https://www.csis.org/analysis/addressing-forced-labor-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-toward-shared-agenda, p.5 2 https://www.csis.org/analysis/addressing-forced-labor-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-toward-shared-agenda, p.4 3 December 2020 labor from its extensive prison sys- tem for the arduous task. Xinjiang has also for years forced hundreds of thousands of secondary school students to pick cotton.4 Due to Xinjiang’s high produc- tion costs, its cotton production has been subsidized with central costs through mechanized har- per acre, over five times higher than government funds since 2011. vesting, it has also implemented a the 1,093 RMB (about $167) per Between 2013 and 2016, Beijing massive scheme to meet ongoing acre for machine picking. reduced the state-subsidized target manual labor needs by replacing price per metric ton of cotton by Han migrant cotton pickers with Cotton picking is seasonal labor 8.8 percent, heightening pressures local ethnic minority pickers. that takes place annually during an to reduce production costs (while approximately two- to three-month subsidizing the acquisition of har- In recent years, Xinjiang’s cost of period (September to November). vesting machines).5 manual cotton harvesting While cotton picking is paid work, it increased due to rising wages, is grueling labor from dawn to dusk Consequently, Xinjiang has heav- resulting in increased production and requires full relocation for the ily promoted mechanized cotton costs and reduced profit margins. harvesting months, and average harvesting. However, mechaniza- In the early 2010s, the cost of earnings can be below Xinjiang’s tion shares vary widely by region, producing manually-harvested minimum wage level and below and regions with and without cotton in regions under the publicly stated wages for low- substantial mechanization alike authority of the Xinjiang Production skilled factory work (see Section continue to rely on large numbers and Construction Corps (XPCC), a 3.3). Notably, cotton pickers in of manual pickers. paramilitary entity with a vast Xinjiang have long been difficult to economic network that produces find in sufficient numbers. As a re- In 2019, mechanized harvesting over a third of Xinjiang’s cotton, sult, cotton growers have relied on in the XPCC regions reached a was substantially higher than that hundreds of thousands of migrant share of 83 percent.6 However, in of that of fully mechanized U.S. workers from other Chinese prov- southern Xinjiang the mechanized cotton. Much of this cost difference inces who have to travel over long harvesting share stood at only 20 is related to higher labor expendi- distances, which further increased percent that year.7 In 2019, 30.2 tures due to lower levels of mecha- labor costs.3 In addition, Xinjiang percent (1.89 million of 6.27 million nization. In Korla, a cotton-growing has a history of using involuntary acres) of cotton plantations in Xin- region in central Xinjiang, the cost labor for cotton picking. The XPCC jiang were harvested through ma- of hand picking in 2018 was esti- especially is known to have used chinery, leaving nearly 70 percent mated at 5,706 RMB (about $874) to 3 https://archive.is/qr1Hp#selection-839.83-839.135; The increased cost of using migrant labor from other parts of China appears to be related at least in part to the fact that cotton growers paid for their round trip train fares, see e.g. http://web.archive.org/web/20201104204602/http://www.xjdaily. com/c/2018-09-26/2045657.shtml. 4 http://www.gov.cn:8080/govweb/jrzg/2006-09/04/content_376793.htm or https://archive.is/UHLHi. Starting in 1994, Xinjiang organized students from 3rd grade up to pick cotton every year. In 2005, Xinjiang organized 1 million school students to pick cotton. In 2006, the region forbade schools from sending primary school students to pick cotton. Sources: http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2006-08/15/content_362624.htm or https://archive.is/ZIKcU; http://web. archive.org/web/20201112173256/https://www.xzbu.com/2/view-505223.htm. 5 From 20,400 RMB/ton to 18,600 RMB/ton. http://jiuban.moa.gov.cn/fwllm/qgxxlb/xj/201410/t20141017_4107586.htm or https://archive.is/rIKYh; http:// www.cj.gov.cn/bmyy/tjj/tjbs/233541.htm or https://archive.is/Z9UE5.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "Thoroughly Reforming Them Towards a Healthy Heart Attitude"
    By Adrian Zenz - Version of this paper accepted for publication by the journal Central Asian Survey "Thoroughly Reforming Them Towards a Healthy Heart Attitude" - China's Political Re-Education Campaign in Xinjiang1 Adrian Zenz European School of Culture and Theology, Korntal Updated September 6, 2018 This is the accepted version of the article published by Central Asian Survey at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02634937.2018.1507997 Abstract Since spring 2017, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China has witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented reeducation campaign. According to media and informant reports, untold thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslims have been and are being detained in clandestine political re-education facilities, with major implications for society, local economies and ethnic relations. Considering that the Chinese state is currently denying the very existence of these facilities, this paper investigates publicly available evidence from official sources, including government websites, media reports and other Chinese internet sources. First, it briefly charts the history and present context of political re-education. Second, it looks at the recent evolution of re-education in Xinjiang in the context of ‘de-extremification’ work. Finally, it evaluates detailed empirical evidence pertaining to the present re-education drive. With Xinjiang as the ‘core hub’ of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing appears determined to pursue a definitive solution to the Uyghur question. Since summer 2017, troubling reports emerged about large-scale internments of Muslims (Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz) in China's northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). By the end of the year, reports emerged that some ethnic minority townships had detained up to 10 percent of the entire population, and that in the Uyghur-dominated Kashgar Prefecture alone, numbers of interned persons had reached 120,000 (The Guardian, January 25, 2018).
    [Show full text]
  • A Religious Minority Enslaved: Addressing the Complicity of U.S. Companies in Uyghur Forced Labor
    U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing A Religious Minority Enslaved: Addressing the Complicity of U.S. Companies in Uyghur Forced Labor Panel Sophie Richardson is the China director at Human Rights Watch. A graduate of the University of Virginia, the Hopkins-Nanjing Program, and Oberlin College, Dr. Richardson is the author of numerous articles on domestic Chinese political reform, democratization, and human rights in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Vietnam. She has testified before the European Parliament and the US Senate and House of Representatives. She has provided commentary to the BBC, CNN, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy, National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Dr. Richardson is the author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia University Press, Dec. 2009), an in-depth examination of China's foreign policy since 1954's Geneva Conference, including rare interviews with policy makers. Louisa Greve is the Director of Global Advocacy for the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). The UHRP promotes the rights of the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples in East Turkistan, referred to by the Chinese government as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Previously, Ms. Greve was Vice President for Programs and East Asia Director at the National Endowment for Democracy. She currently serves as Washington Fellow for CSW, an advocacy group promoting freedom of religion or belief for all peoples and faiths. Ms. Greve has served on the Amnesty International USA board of directors, the Virginia Advisory Committee of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Applying International Law Solutions to the Xinjiang Crisis
    Applying International Law Solutions to the Xinjiang Crisis Preston Jordan Lim* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 90 II. LEGAL CATEGORIZATION OF ABUSES IN XINJIANG............................ 94 A. Terms of Moderate Utility ....................................................................... 96 1. Genocide: A Term of Moderate Utility ................................................ 96 2. Cultural Genocide: A Term of Moderate Utility ................................ 102 3. Violative of Human Rights Treaties: A Term of Moderate Utility .... 107 B. Terms of High Utility .............................................................................. 111 1. Crimes Against Humanity: A Term of High Utility ............................ 112 i. Torture ............................................................................................ 117 ii. Forced Sterilization ....................................................................... 120 iii. Apartheid ....................................................................................... 122 2. Forced Labor, as Differentiated from Enslavement: A Term of High Utility ........................................................................................................ 125 III. HOLDING CHINA TO ACCOUNT ........................................................ 129 A. Suit Before the International Criminal Court ....................................... 129 B. Suit Before the International Court of Justice ......................................
    [Show full text]
  • VOC Exposes Beijing’S COVID-19 Coverup
    NEWSLETTER WINTER 2020-2021 VOC Exposes Beijing’s COVID-19 Coverup As the coronavirus began spreading Among the report’s shocking findings Throughout this prelude to the virus rapidly across the globe in March, VOC were that Chinese authorities: spreading worldwide and triggering mobilized to assess the information com- devastating lockdowns, the WHO acted ing out of China and the World Health n knew of the virus’s severity as early as a complicit partner in providing cover Organization (WHO). as November 2019 yet muzzled early for the CCP, with its Chinese-picked warnings from doctors on the ground; Director General Tedros Adhanom At a critical moment for public discourse n denied human-to-human transmission Ghebreyesus leading the charge. around China’s role in unleashing the despite full knowledge it was occurring; pandemic, VOC released its findings Our report equipped American policy- in a situation brief on April 10 called n allowed super-spreader events like makers and citizens with the facts to “The Coronavirus Coverup,” exposing Lunar New Year celebrations to go counter the CCP’s lies, garnering more the Chinese Communist Party’s sys- ahead; than 27,700 online views and dozens of tematic campaign of deception and n banned domestic travel from Wuhan citations in domestic and internation- propaganda—and its manipulation of while allowing international travel out of al media and news aggregators. Over the WHO—during the early stages of Wuhan to places like Italy and the US; the following weeks and months, we the outbreak. broadcast these facts in a major publicity n bought up and stockpiled quality medi- cal supplies and personal protective campaign across print media, TV, and Our report included a detailed timeline equipment, while selling or “donating” radio (see back cover), and our policy contrasting the CCP’s claims with the largely defective Chinese-made supplies recommendations gained extensive reality that led to the global pandemic.
    [Show full text]
  • Church House, Westminster Introduction
    4 - 7 June Church House, Westminster Introduction It is alleged that the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) has perpetrated and continues to perpetrate the most serious of international crimes against the Uyghurs and other Muslim Population in the Uyghur region (“Xinjiang”) of North West China. In June 2020 Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress formally requested that Sir Geoffrey Nice QC establish and chair an independent people’s tribunal to investigate ‘ongoing atrocities and possible Genocide’ against the Uyghur people. The Uyghur Tribunal was launched on 3 September 2020 with assistance from a non- governmental organisation, the Coalition for Genocide Response. The Uyghurs are a predominantly Turkic Muslim group and in the Uyghur region are estimated to number upwards of twelve million people. It has been widely reported that the PRC is detaining a significant proportion of the Uyghur population and other Muslim populations in camps which the PRC says are “vocational training centres” or “re-education centres” but are widely alleged to be involuntary detention centres which some have likened to “concentration camps”. There have been numerous other allegations of the PRC subjecting the Uyghurs and other Muslim population to killings, serious bodily or mental harm including torture, rape and other sexual violence, enslavement, forced separation of children from their parents, forced sterilisation, forcible transfer or deportation, apartheid, forced labour, forced organ harvesting, enforced disappearances, destruction of cultural or religious heritage, persecution, forced marriages and the imposition of Han Chinese men into Uyghur households. If proved, some of these allegations could lead to the conclusion that the PRC has embarked on a campaign intended to destroy, in whole or in part, the Uyghur people and their existence as a religious, racial, national, and ethnic group.
    [Show full text]
  • Strengthening the U.S. Response to Forced Labor in Xinjiang Olivia Enos and Tori K
    BACKGROUNDER No. 3586 | FEBRUARY 17, 2021 Strengthening the U.S. Response to Forced Labor in Xinjiang Olivia Enos and Tori K. Smith thnic Uyghurs in China are facing an unprec- KEY TAKEAWAYS edented assault on their civil liberties and freedoms. Since 2018, between 1.8 million The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prof- E and 3 million Uyghurs have been collectivized and its from its exploitation of the Uyghurs interned in political re-education camps in China.1 by subjecting them to forced labor in Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has stopped at little to advance its priorities,2 including by carrying out what the U.S. government determined constitutes The U.S. has a strategic interest in taking ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity.3 stronger action to block goods produced Part of the CCP’s systematic assault on Uyghurs with state-sponsored forced labor in includes subjecting them to forced labor, a form of Xinjiang from entering its markets. human trafficking under U.S. and international law.4 One well-documented means of collectivization5 is The U.S. should implement a tailored the CCP’s system of labor transfers both inside and “rebuttable presumption” and expand outside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Withhold Release Orders to combat the northwest China. Another form of forced labor occurs CCP’s human rights violations. in factories, many of which are adjacent to the camps.6 This paper, in its entirety, can be found at http://report.heritage.org/bg3586 The Heritage Foundation | 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400 | heritage.org Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond the Camps - Adrian Zenz - CECC Hearing Testimony, October 17, 2019
    Beyond the Camps - Adrian Zenz - CECC Hearing Testimony, October 17, 2019 Beyond the Camps: Beijing's Grand Scheme of Coercive Labor, Poverty Alleviation and Social Control in Xinjiang Adrian Zenz Senior Fellow in China Studies Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Washington, D.C. Written Testimony for the Hearing of the Congressional Executive Commission on China 1. Introduction After recruiting a hundred or more thousand police forces, installing massive surveillance systems, and interning vast numbers of predominantly Turkic minority population members, many have been wondering about Beijing's next step in its so- called "war on Terror" in Xinjiang. Since the second half of 2018, limited but apparently growing numbers of detainees have been released into different forms of forced labor. In this report it is argued based on government documents that the state's long-term stability maintenance strategy in Xinjiang is predicated upon a perverse and extremely intrusive combination of forced or at least involuntary training and labor, intergenerational separation and social control over family units. Much of this is being implemented under the heading and guise of "poverty alleviation". Below, the author identifies three distinct flow schemes by which the state seeks to place the vast majority of adult Uyghurs and other minority populations, both men and women, into different forms of coercive or at least involuntary, labor-intensive factory work. This is achieved through a combination of internment camp workshops, large industrial parks, and village-based satellite factories. While the parents are being herded into full-time work, their children are put into full-time (at least full day-time) education and training settings.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Supply Chains, Forced Labor, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
    CONGRESSIONAL -EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA STAFF RESEARCH REPORT MARCH 2020 Mar Global Supply Chains, Forced Labor, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA COMMISSIONERS House Senate James P. McGovern, Massachusetts, Chair Marco Rubio, Florida, Co-chair Marcy Kaptur, Ohio James Lankford, Oklahoma Thomas Suozzi, New York Tom Cotton, Arkansas Tom Malinowski, New Jersey Steve Daines, Montana Ben McAdams, Utah Todd Young, Indiana Christopher Smith, New Jersey Dianne Feinstein, California Brian Mast, Florida Jeff Merkley, Oregon Vicky Hartzler, Missouri Gary Peters, Michigan Angus King, Maine REPORT CONTRIBUTORS Luke Adams Steve Andrews Scott Flipse Megan Fluker Amy Reger About the Congressional-Executive Commission on China The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was established by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (Public Law No. 106–286) as China prepared to enter the World Trade Organization. The Commission is mandated to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China. Learn more at www.cecc.gov. INTRODUCTION Based on the findings of this report, the human As many as 1.8 million Uyghurs, ethnic rights abuses being committed in the XUAR Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities deserve a concerted response from the U.S. are, or have been, arbitrarily detained in the Government and the international community. Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). To that end, this report includes The severe human rights abuses, torture, recommendations for Congress and the political indoctrination, forced renunciations of Administration to address the system of forced faith, and widespread and systematic forced labor created by the Chinese government.
    [Show full text]
  • China's System of Oppression in Xinjiang: How It Developed
    CHINA’S SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION IN XINJIANG: HOW IT DEVELOPED AND HOW TO CURB IT JAMES MILLWARD AND DAHLIA PETERSON SEPTEMBER 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To meet these challenges and increase public aware- ness, we provide a slate of policy recommendations for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policies towards the United States, its allies, and China. These include Xinjiang have increased colonial development, further that the United States’ messaging strategy must more eroded Uyghur autonomy through force and ethnic clearly articulate the intended aims of its policy actions assimilationism, and co-opted the “Global War on on Xinjiang, including but not limited to the closure of Terror” framing to portray all Uyghur resistance as its internment camps, the reduction of surveillance, “terrorism.” Since 2016, an intensified regime of and the elimination of “pre-criminal” profiling of technologically-driven mass surveillance, internment, Xinjiang’s indigenous peoples. The Uyghur Human indoctrination, family separation, birth suppression, Rights Policy Act of 2020 and the Tariff Act of 1930 and forced labor has implicated the provinces and should be resolutely applied to address forced labor municipalities of eastern China that fund the Xinjiang and other repression. BIS and the State Department, gulag through the Pairing Assistance Program, as well along with academics, researchers, and NGOs, should as potentially thousands of Chinese and international publicly report on Chinese surveillance companies’ corporations that directly and indirectly supply and supply chains to close alternative solutions loopholes benefit from the system. and increase corporate due diligence. Candidates for the Entity List should also be informed by a public Today, more than 1,400 Chinese companies are repository of rights abuses in Xinjiang and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • FIRST PAGE for ALL WRITTEN TESTIMONY MATERIALS Adrian Zenz Expert and Researcher on China's Ethnic Minorities. (The Instituti
    FIRST PAGE FOR ALL WRITTEN TESTIMONY MATERIALS Adrian Zenz Expert and researcher on China’s ethnic minorities. (The institutional affiliation is withheld as the institution has requested not to be mentioned in public in relation to this research.) House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific: “China’s Repression and Internment of Uyghurs- U.S. Policy Responses“ September 26, 2018 Below is are excerpts from an academic paper co-authored by Adrian Zenz and James Leibold, submitted for publication, titled “Securitizing Xinjiang: Police Recruitment, Informal Policing and Ethnic Minority Co-optation”. The Scaffolding of Xinjiang's Police State In this section, we combine our analysis of advertised security-related recruitment with a discussion of the wider securitization infrastructure in Xinjiang. Over the last decade there has been a steady and strategic growth of the police force in Xinjiang that is in our view best understood through five distinct stages of development: a) before the 2009 riots (2003-2008); b) response to the 2009 riots (2009-2011); c) expanded policing in the rural south (2012- 2013); d) grid-style community policing and big data surveillance (2014-2015); and e) the massive expansion of surveillance manpower in tandem with the establishment of a dense convenience police station system under the XUAR's new Party Secretary Chen Quanguo (2016-2017). Estimating the Base Level (2003-2008) Despite claims that Wang Lequan ruled Xinjiang with an iron-fist during his fifteen-year tenure as Xinjiang Party Secretary (1994-2010),1 advertised police recruitment was relatively small prior to 2009. This reflected China’s overall security strategy, which at the time was more focused on large coastal cities.2 Xinjiang does not publish past or present numbers of active police officers.
    [Show full text]
  • Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee the Customs Amendment of the Australian Parliament
    Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee the Customs Amendment of the Australian Parliament Banning Goods Produced by Uyghur Forced Labour- Bill 2020 05 February 2021 World Uyghur Congress Adolf-Kolping-Straße 9, 80336 Munich, Germany TEL +49 89 5432 1999 | FAX +49 89 5434 9789 | The World Uyghur Congress, established in April 2004, is an international umbrella organization that represents the collective interests of the Uyghur people both in China and abroad. The principal objective of the WUC is to promote democracy, human rights and freedom for the Uyghur people and to use peaceful, nonviolent and democratic means to determine their future. Table of Contents I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 2 Key Takeaways ............................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Background ............................................................................................................................................... 3 III. Forced Labour in East Turkistan ...................................................................................................... 4 Forced labour of detainees in internment camps settings .................................................................................................. 6 Forced labour in the apparel and garment industry ...........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • China Cracks Down — the Uighurs
    CHINA CRACKS DOWN — THE UIGHURS By DAKE KANG and COLLEAGUES Associated Press STORY TK | ASSOCIATED PRESS 1 of 2 CHINA CRACKS DOWN — THE UIGHURS 1. CHINA CUTS UIGHUR BIRTHS WITH IUDS, ABORTION, STERILIZATION June 29, 2020: A state-orchestrated campaign is slashing births among the minority Uighurs of China’s far west Xinjiang region with brutal efficiency. https://apnews.com/article/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c Video: CHINA FORCES BIRTH CONTROL TO SUPPRESS MINORITIES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exAbNOo0Azc&feature=emb_title 2. GADGETS FOR TECH GIANTS MADE WITH COERCED UIGHUR LABOR March 7, 2020: The connection between a supplier that owns a Nanchang factory and tech giant Apple is the latest sign that companies outside China are benefiting from coercive labor practices imposed on the Uighurs. https://apnews.com/article/3f9a92b8dfd3cae379b57622dd801dd5 3. CHINA’S ‘WAR ON TERROR’ UPROOTS FAMILIES, LEAKED DATA SHOWS Feb 17, 2020: When a Chinese government mass detention campaign engulfed Memtimin Emer’s na- tive Xinjiang region three years ago, it wasn’t just the elderly imam who was locked away — three of his sons were as well. https://apnews.com/890b79866c9eb1451ddf67b121272ee2 TABLE OF CONTENTS | ASSOCIATED PRESS https://apnews.com/article/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c 1 June 29, 2020 China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization Mukhit Toktassyn ÿ AP Alif Baqytali plays on a tricycle at his home in Shonzhy, Kazakhstan . Baqytali’s mother, Gulnar Omirzakh, a Chinese-born ethnic Kazakh, says she was forced to get an IUD against her will. By ASSOCIATED PRESS The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children.
    [Show full text]