The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-25)

A14 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 , 2022

BY LILY KUO

AND CATE CADELL

A cache of leaked documents
detailing draconian surveillance
and reeducation practices in Xin-
jiang has shed fresh light of the
scale of Beijing’s multiyear crack-
down on ethnic Uyghurs in the
region and cast a shadow over a
highly orchestrated six-day trip to
China by the U.N. high commis-
sioner for human rights, Michelle
Bachelet.
The files include thousands of
mug shots of detainees held in a
network of camps in Xinjiang, the
youngest a 14-year-old girl, as well
as details of police security proto-
cols that describe the use of ba-
tons and assault rifles, methods of
physically subduing detainees,
and a shoot-to-kill policy for any-
one trying to escape.
The trove of documents and
images — published on Tuesday
by Washington-based Victims of
Communism Memorial Founda-
tion and a consortium of media
including the BBC and USA Today
— dates back to 2018 and includes
policy notices and meeting notes
that detail growing paranoia
among Xinjiang officials over the
ethnic Muslim Uyghur popula-
tion and the formation of plans to
carry out the mass detention pro-
gram.
They dispute Beijing’s claims
that people willingly attended the
reeducation facilities. They also
add to a growing body of witness
accounts, public records and sat-
ellite imagery, and visits to the
region by diplomats and journal-
ists that have revealed the use of
forced labor, the separation of
children from their parents, re-
pressed birthrates of Uyghur resi-
dents, and mass detentions in
both “reeducation” camps and
formal prisons since 2017.
“The significance of this is that
we have unprecedented evidence
on every level,” said Adrian Z enz, a
senior fellow at the Victims of
Communism Memorial Founda-
tion who obtained and compiled
the leaked information. “It’s now
beyond any reasonable doubt
what is going on there and the

nature of the camps and the scale

of the internment.”

Chinese foreign ministry

spokesman Wang Wenbin strong-

ly criticized the release of the doc-

uments and called it “the latest

example of the anti-China forces’

smearing of Xinjiang.”

In a separate peer-reviewed re-

search paper published by Zenz in

the Journal of the European Asso-

ciation for Chinese Studies on

Tuesday, he detailed findings

from a leaked database that indi-

cated around 12 percent of adults,

over 22,000 people, were likely

detained in detention facilities or

prisons between 2017 and 2018 in

a single county called Konasheher

in Xinjiang’s southwest. Zenz did

not reveal the source for the infor-

mation, but said it came from

hacked police computers inside

Xinjiang.

Bachelet, who began a six-day

visit this week on the invitation of

Beijing, will go to Kashgar and

Urumqi in Xinjiang, according to

China’s Foreign Ministry, and her

trip will be conducted within a

“closed loop” as part of coronavi-

rus protection measures, a model

used during the Beijing Winter

Olympics in which only approved

individuals are allowed in. No me-

dia members will be traveling

with Bachelet.

Critics of her visit say the tour

— the first by a U.N. human rights

chief since 2005 — is at risk of

becoming little more than a

propaganda coup for the Chinese

government. Beijing has repeat-

edly denied accusations of com-

mitting cultural genocide against

its minority Uyghur residents in

Xinjiang, where an estimated

1 million to 2 million residents

have been incarcerated, accord-

ing to rights researchers.

On the second day of her mis-

sion to China to look into human

rights violations in Xinjiang,

Bachelet posed for photos with

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang

Yi, who gifted her a book by the

nation’s leader: “Excerpts from Xi

Jinping on Respecting and Pro-

tecting Human Rights,” saying he

hoped the trip would “help en-

hance understanding ... and clari-

Leaked files amid U.N.

visit o≠er rare peek at

harsh Uyghur policies

fy misinformation.”

Beijing has previously said that

such a trip would not constitute

an investigation into rights abuse

claims, which it calls “the lie of the

century.”

Citing the newly leaked files on

Tuesday, British Foreign Secre-

tary Liz Truss called on China to

allow Bachelet the freedom to in-

vestigate the claims. “If such ac-

cess is not forthcoming, the visit

will only serve to highlight Chi-

na’s attempts to hide the truth of

its actions in Xinjiang,” she said.

State Department spokesman

Ned Price said Friday that the

United States was “deeply con-

cerned” about Bachelet’s visit and

had “no expectation” that she

would be given the access needed

for an accurate assessment of the

human rights environment in

Xinjiang.

Rights groups are not optimis-

tic about the long-awaited trip,

either, which comes after more

than three years of negotiations.

Chinese authorities regularly

block or intimidate journalists

traveling in Xinjiang while also

organizing highly choreographed

visits by dignitaries and media

outlets from friendly countries.

Areas of Xinjiang, including

the cities Bachelet is set to visit,

have undergone localized demoli-

tions and remodeling, replacing

sections of old city infrastructure

with themed tourism villages that

contrast sharply with other parts

of the region.

“We don’t expect much from

this visit. Ms. Bachelet will not be

able to see much, or speak to

Uyghurs in a free and secure envi-

ronment, because of the fear of

reprisals after the team leaves,”

said Zumretay Arkin, spokes-

woman for the World Uyghur

Congress. “We believe that in this

context, the visit will do more

harm than good.”

The leaked files provide rare

glimpses inside active reeduca-

tion centers during the height of

the campaign in 2018. Images

show Uyghur detainees shackled

during interrogation and groups

of Uyghur men and women dur-

ing reeducation sessions overseen

by uniformed police officers.

Some of the thousands of mug

shots of the Uyghur detainees ap-

pear to show them crying or in

distress.

When asked whether Bachelet

would be able to visit detention

centers and “reeducation” camps

— centers that Chinese authori-

ties claim are vocational training

schools — China’s Foreign Minis-

try said it “rejects political ma-

nipulation.” Ahead of Bachelet’s

visit, state media outlets have run

articles headlined: “Xinjiang, the

most successful human rights sto-

ry.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman

Wang Wenbin said Tuesday that

U.S. and British calls for unfet-

tered access were an attempt to

“sabotage” the trip.

“It seems that the United States

and the United Kingdom and oth-

er countries don’t care about the

truth at all, but want to use the

visit of the high commissioner for

human rights to hype the so-

called ‘Xinjiang issue’ and smear

China,” he said.

Rights groups also point to the

fact that Bachelet’s office has yet

to release a landmark report on

Xinjiang despite having said in

December 2021 that the docu-

ment would be “released soon.”

Zenz said the timing of the doc-

ument trove was not originally

designed to coincide with Bache-

let’s visit to China, but said he

hopes the new findings influence

the outcome of the trip. Bachelet

has yet to comment on the files.

Some rights advocates say that

the visit is still important for rais-

ing awareness and that judgment

should be reserved until after the

trip is completed.

“We should give her the benefit

of the doubt and look at what

comes out of the visit. Even if she

doesn’t get unfettered access, if

she’s clear about what happened

and is able to highlight the ma-

chinery of these visits that the

Chinese government has imple-

mented for years, it’s already a

contribution,” said Christelle

G enoud, former human security

adviser at the Embassy of Switzer-

land in Beijing and a research

associate at King’s College

L ondon.

MARTIAL TREZZINI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

People carry flags in support of Uyghurs during a p rotest in front of the United Nations office in Geneva earlier this month. Michelle

Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, is on a six-day tour of China, the first by a U.N. human rights chief since 2005.

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