The Xinjiang Lie

While this is old news in 2024, the western media is still talking about it and it seems that some people haven't caught up yet. Whenever there is a discussion about China, the US state department crafted narrative on Xinjiang is repeated again and again. So, if you aren't caught up yet, that's okay, let's catch you up. 

Any honest look into this situation must begin with a crucial fact. If you look at the Global Terrorism Database, as of 2024, there have been 288 recorded terrorist attacks in China since 1989. When I initially looked into this a few years ago there was around 254 terrorist attacks, with a significant portion of them specifically in Xinjiang. People often understate and overlook how deep these problems ran in the area and how bad it was there for many years due to Islamic extremism. These weren't some minor attacks by irrelevant groups, but mass terror inflicted by multiple groups with various sources of funding and training. (we will get into this later) 

I would encourage anybody curious about the severity of the terrorism problem in China to watch one of the many documentaries made covering it: Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang, Tianshan: Still Standing - Memories of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang , or The War in the Shadows: Challenges of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang. These documentaries are disturbing, but comprehensive and complete with footage of attacks, interviews with victims and perpetrators, even detailing the infiltration of police forces. 

Unbeknownst to some, China shares a border with Afghanistan. Groups like the ETIM are active in Afghanistan (Syria too) where they train with ISIS and other Islamic extremist groups. This is covered in a short video by Syriana Analysis.  It should be no surprise that the ETIM and other related groups also receive funding from the US congressionally funded "NGO", the National Endowment for Democracy. If you have a look on their "grant search" page, you don't have to scroll far into the 278 available records on China to find grants for various Uyghur "human rights groups". Interesting enough just in 2020 the US removed the ETIM from the US terror list, which they had been on since 2002, as reported by VOA News.

Anyway, as the reader can see there was a severe necessity to combat extremism in China, specifically in Xinjiang. Instead of taking the 'US route' of annihilation and destruction, the CPC chose a more humane and constructive approach, implementing vocational training programs to de-radicalize extremists through education and further opportunities. This approach aims for reintegration of individuals as active members of society. Thanks to these vocational training and de-radicalization programs, there have not been any terrorist attacks carried out by Uyghur separatist groups or terrorist attacks in Xinjiang in 7 years. (Going off info from the GTD)  

So, what about all of the headlines and rumors you ask? Most of these have been dealt with. For example, it is commonly repeated that China had/has "1 million Uyghurs in concentration camps". Some even attribute this claim to "the UN", but does this claim hold any validity?

Not in the slightest. The UN actually never reported that "1 million Uyghurs were in concentration camps". A look at the official news release from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights immediately disproves the claim, revealing that it was, in fact, a single US member named Gay McDougall who made the statement. Further investigation into this will generally lead you back to two sources: Director and senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Adrien Zens and the well-known CIA front organization Radio Free Asia. Adrien Zens provides no proof for the claim other than a calculation created from the interviews of 8 people.

With that said, in November of 2019 the World Bank released a statement on a concluded review of a project in Xinjiang. I encourage everyone to read it. It states that a team conducted a review of documents, had discussions with staff, and visited the schools, concluding that "The Review did not substantiate the allegations." 

In July of 2019 a joint statement was made to the UN on behalf of 53 countries including Muslim majority countries, that voiced support for the policies in Xinjiang. For the sake of time, I will not reproduce it all here, but it is important to note that it states: 

China has invited a number of diplomats, international organizations officials and journalist to Xinjiang to witness the progress of the human rights cause and the outcomes of counter-terrorism and deradicalization there. What they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the media.

Furthermore, Cuba delivered a joint statement on behalf of 69 countries at the 50th session of the Human Rights Council. There were actually quite a few joint statements and letters made in support of China during this period.

Now, let's actually address what these vocational training centers are: schools. How do we know this? Because China has invited foreign delegates and reporters to the schools on many occasions. As already evidenced by the above, the common suggestion that China has denied access to these facilities is a lie. Anyone wanting to see for themselves can visit any large media outlet from BBC to Radio Free Liberty. Despite manipulative narration and spooky music, the footage doesn't make their case. You can see the same types of videos, but more in depth and without all of the music, from Chinese outlets like CGTN.

It was said that beards were made illegal in Xinjiang, but this is challenged by a video interview with a top religious leader in Xinjiang who has a beard himself. Though I think the claim is superficial to begin with, if any other proof is needed, a quick look on chinaislam.net.cn will reveal more beards. In this photo and this one for example.

The genocide claim is completely ridiculous and a gross misuse of the word that trivializes real genocides. It is nothing new for anti-communists to diminish the significance of actual events of genocide in an attempt to vilify socialist states or equate fascism and communism. However, looking at the white paper released in 2021 shows that from 2014 through 2020, the population in Xinjiang grew from 11.4 million to 13.6 million, in other words, the population went up by 20%. You can read more about demographics here.

The claims of the destruction of Uyghur culture are easily refuted by the many travel vlogs or food vlogs filmed there. Uyghur culture is very much alive and well. Ironically, while simultaneously claiming that the CPC is erasing Uyghur culture and religious practices, Radio Free Asia has provided a video of Uyghurs celebrating Eid in China's Xinjiang Region. However, this video is presented as "evidence" that the Muslim population is being "forced" by Chinese authorities to celebrate a Muslim holiday. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

The western media alleges that mosques are being closed and destroyed in Xinjiang, but some of the latest numbers available show that China has 39,135 mosques and other Islamic religious buildings. Over 24,000 of these mosques specifically in Xinjiang. Look at it like this: In 2023, Pew Research estimated that there are approximately 18 million Muslim adults in China. By dividing the number of Muslim adults with the total number of mosques we can figure that there is approximately 1 mosque per every 450 Muslim adults. Now, the US has around 4.45 million Muslims, and as of 2020 there were around 2,769 mosques. Doing the same math that we did for China; we can see that the USA has approximately 1 mosque per every 1,607 Muslims. In other words, China has nearly three and a half times more mosques per Muslim than the USA. A higher concentration of mosques means a greater availability of mosques.

I think you get the point. If eradicating the Muslim Uyghur population was the CPC's goal, they're doing a bad job. Nothing the CPC is doing would make sense if this was their goal. Why allocate 15 million Yuan (2.34 mil USD) to restoring, repairing, and preserving mosques and historical religious sites between 2012 to 2015? We could go on forever about the inconsistencies and contradictions present in the narrative, but I think this will suffice.

Perhaps before casting stones, Americans should remember their own history...