INDO-PACIFIC Contrasting Chinese and Foreign Media Accounts on OE Watch Commentary: Chinese state media outlets are promoting People’s Liberation Army (PLA) efforts to “expand employment and promote increases in income” in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. One recent report published by the People’s Liberation Army Daily boasted improvements to farming infrastructure at Tithier, Kizil Township, in Xinjiang’s County thanks to a locally stationed artillery regiment. The unnamed regiment “invited resident planting experts to carry out technical training for villagers in order to help the villagers expand the sales of agricultural products.” According to an article published by , Hongxing Village, in Kashi County’s Yangdaman Township, “two years ago, was still a poor village. Under the coordination of the armed police officers and soldiers, it has now become a happy home for the local people to live and work in peace.” Chinese state media reports portray the PLA in Xinjiang as benevolent local leaders determined to solve issues related to village economies. Narratives of government aid and assistance are disseminated to Chinese readers illustrating the importance and necessity of PLA and police presence in Xinjiang Province. Xinjiang. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Xinjiang#/media/File:China_Xinjiang.svg, By Joowwww - self-made; based on CIA. Public Domain Official Chinese government reports indicate that some domestic companies plan to relocate their production centers to Xinjiang at vocational training schools, more commonly identified by other media as “labor camps.” An official report published by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission on 5 December 2018, noted “with vocational skill education and training centers as carriers, (they) have attracted a large number of coastal enterprises from the mainland to invest and build factories, which will effectively expand employment and promote increases in income.” The People’s Daily recently claimed that the “relocation of (the) poor population from inhospitable areas achieves remarkable progress” in liberating Xinjiang residents from economic hardships. In the same article, a local party official is quoted as saying, “we must choose an appropriate relocation plan for the poverty-stricken households and develop the industries in resettlement areas so that these residents could actually be better off in the new places.” Two foreign media outlets paint a different picture of recent efforts by Chinese government officials to relocate rural to these centers in Xinjiang. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, citing an eye-witness account, noted on 23 August the detention centers not only subject Uyghurs to harsh conditions but also take advantage of them economically using extremely low wages. According to this article, Tahir Hamut, a Uyghur from Xinjiang, “…was forced into doing unpaid labor where he completed various tasks such as making bricks, shoveling gravel and picking cotton.” On 7 May The Japan Times, also utilizing an eye-witness account, reported that ethnic Kazakh, Gulzira Auelkhan “was paid only 320 yuan ($48) for close to two months’ work before her time at the factory was curtailed in December, and she was allowed to return to her family in Kazakhstan.” End OE Watch Commentary (Hartnett)

“Hongxing Village, two years ago was still a poor village. Under the coordination of the armed police officers and soldiers, it has now become a happy home for the local people to live and work in peace.”

OE Watch | October 2019 35 INDO-PACIFIC Continued: Contrasting Chinese and Foreign Media Accounts on Xinjiang

Source: Jiang Shan & Li Yanan, “’s Xinjiang provides focused assistance to areas of extreme poverty,” The People’s Daily, 30 June 2019. en.people.cn/n3/2019/0630/c90000-9592941.html

Relocation of poor population from inhospitable areas achieves remarkable progress. “Relocating the poor is an effective way to help those in poor natural conditions get rid of poverty. We must choose an appropriate relocation plan for the poverty-stricken households and develop the industries in resettlement areas so that these residents could actually be better off in the new places,” said Wang Fuyou, secretary of the party committee in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County.

Source: Liu Xin & Zhang Yinbo, “There are many happy events in the Red Star Village - Xinjiang Armed Police Corps help the poverty- stricken villages in southern Xinjiang eliminate poverty,” Xinhua News Agency, 4 September 2019. www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2019- 09/04/c_1124961324.htm Hongxing Village, two years ago, was still a poor village. Under the coordination of the armed police officers and soldiers, it has now become a happy home for the local people to live and work in peace. “Thanks to the good policies of the party and the help of the children, we have lived on the good day of today...” Seeing the armed police officers and men who came to visit them, the 63-year-old Red Star Village old party member Aini Kadir took everyone to visit the newly renovated courtyard and gave a thumbs up.

Source: “The economic structure of the autonomous region is stable and has a good development,” Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission, 5 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20190520143306/http:/www.xjdrc.gov.cn/ info/9923/23516.htm With vocational skill education and training centers as carriers, (they) have attracted a large number of coastal enterprises from the mainland to invest and build factories, which will effectively expand employment and promote increases in income.

Source: Wang Ge & Chen Tianjing, “An artillery regiment in the Xinjiang Military Region has taken measures to help ethnic minorities out of poverty,” People’s Liberation Army Daily, 31 August 2019. www.mod.gov.cn/power/2019-08/31/content_4849491.htm

In response to the characteristics of sufficient sunshine and large temperature differences between day and night, they encouraged villagers to plant grapes, hang apricots, watermelons, etc., and invited resident planting experts to carry out technical training for villagers in order to help the villagers to expand the sales of agricultural products. They actively contacted relevant enterprises in the field to guide the villagers to develop “order-based” planting, which greatly improved the income of the villagers.

Source: Umar Farooq, “China profiting off of forced labor in Xinjiang: report,”Anadolu Agency, 23 July 2019. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia- pacific/china-profiting-off-of-forced-labor-in-xinjiang-report/1562782

Tahir Hamut, like other members of the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority growing up in Xinjiang, began working in a labor camp during elementary school at the command of the Chinese government. Since that time, Hamut was arrested and sent to a re-education camp, where again he was forced into doing unpaid labor where he completed various tasks such as making bricks, shoveling gravel and picking cotton. “Everyone is forced to do all types of hard labor or face punishment,” he said. “Anyone unable to complete their duties will be beaten.” Hamut eventually escaped to the U.S. with his family in 2017, but his brother was subsequently arrested by Chinese authorities.

Source: “From camps to factories: Muslim detainees say China using forced labor in Xinjiang,” The Japan Times, 7 May 2019. https://www. japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/07/asia-pacific/camps-factories-muslim-detainees-say-china-using-forced-labor/

Auelkhan said she was paid only 320 yuan ($48) for close to two months’ work before her time at the factory was curtailed in December and she was allowed to return to her family in Kazakhstan. Xinjiang’s average minimum wage ranges between 820 yuan and 1,460 yuan per month, according to official statistics. and officials in the region have fiercely denied any connection between the camps and underpaid labor.

OE Watch | October 2019 36