These people are systematically oppressed by their own government
We’ve been waking up to horrific stories every day
Heartbreaking images, separating mothers from their children
They live in a police state...
...where they’re monitored by one of the most advanced...
...and intrusive surveillance systems in the world
Imagine that the police force you to stand in front of a camera...
...for biometric data collection
Every online activity is tracked
Imagine that the police...
...force you to install a spying app on your phone
Their religion is restricted
Many traditional Muslim names are even banned for newborns
Party officials are frequently attacking Islam...
...as very old-fashioned, very backward
These are some of the suspected detention camps...
...where an estimated 1m Uighurs are held
Many of them have not been heard from since being detained
Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China...
...living mostly in the sensitive frontier province of Xinjiang
It’s more than four times the size of Germany and borders eight countries
It’s home to some 11m Uighurs...
...but because of immigration from the rest of the country...
...today nearly half of Xinjiang’s population...
...is Han—China’s dominant ethnic group
Nury Turkel grew up in Xinjiang
A Uighur now living in America...
...he campaigns against the oppression of his people
But speaking out against China can be dangerous
I worry my public advocacy will cause some unthinkable consequences...
...to my family members
I haven’t seen my mother for 15 years...
...this is the mildest form of torture...
...that the Chinese government is imposing on us
The Communist Party seems determined to crush Uighur identity...
...and is going about it in a systematic way
Although China has long been suspicious of the Uighurs...
...as it has been of many minority groups...
...its worries increased after al-Qaeda’s attack on America on 9/11
After 9/11 the Chinese government...
...taking an opportunistic position...
...claiming they are also a victim of global terrorism
In the minds of the party leaders...
...the Uighurs are different, and different is bad...
...because the control of the Communist Party...
...is the only thing that stands between China and total chaos
In addition to that there have been outbreaks of terrorism
So there was a sense that Xinjiang especially...
...was getting out of control and needed to be brought back in line
In 2014 a group of Uighur terrorists went on a stabbing rampage...
...in Kunming railway station—killing 31 people
This was one of several attacks...
...that fuelled the government’s hostility towards the Uighurs
The Chinese government likens Uighur to a cancerous tumour...
...Uighur Islam as a mental illness
Relations between Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang...
...have been tense for years
An eruption of violence in 2009...
...led the Chinese government to step-up security
But it wasn’t until Xi Jinping came to power...
...that China really tightened its grip on the Uighurs
Between 2012 and 2017 China’s domestic security budget doubled
In Xinjiang it tripled
In 2016 Xi Jinping appointed Chen Quanguo...
...as the party secretary of the province
This was a calculated move to suppress the Uighurs
Chen Quanguo is a hand-picked official trusted by Xi Jinping...
...handling two of China’s most sensitive regions
Mr Chen had a track record
He was party boss in Tibet from 2011-16...
...another region where China wanted to crush ethnic unrest
He introduced a system of pervasive and insidious control...
...he increased police presence...
...stepped-up the communist-propaganda campaign in Buddhist temples...
...and created a culture of fear...
...encouraging neighbours to spy on one another
Now he has taken these tested methods to Xinjiang
Images of Xi Jinping have been placed in some mosques...
...and on prayer mats across the province
An act that offends religious sensibilities
Beards and face veils have been banned...
...as have some halal products
This 800-year-old mosque...
...is one of many that has been closed or bulldozed
The Uighur language is banned in schools in parts of Xinjiang
Uighur heritage is being wiped out
It’s a cultural genocide
It is a very specific purpose...
...systematic method and ultimate goal...
...that is to stamp out Uighur identity
China is using world-leading hyper-surveillance techniques in Xinjiang
Face-recognition cameras monitor Uighurs on the streets
Spy apps track them online
My own family have deleted me from their social-media connections
Imagine that you missed your mother’s and father’s birthdays...
...because contacting them will endanger their lives...
...and may lead them to end up in the camps
Party informants even spy on Uighurs in their own homes
Roughly half of households are paired with a party member...
...who can drop in at any time
This official comes to their house...
...gives the children presents...
...talks to them about the wonders of Chinese communism...
...and of course reports back all sorts of details of interest to the authorities
If you stand in the way, we’ll take you in a camp...
...it’s a very clear policy
Many Uighurs have been detained in camps
China has spent hundreds of millions of dollars...
...building at least 90 new compounds like these
People can be imprisoned for many reasons…
...or none at all
We don’t quite know how many people are in these camps...
...but probably the latest figures are...
...at least a million people...
...are in camps now
That’s of the order of one in six of the adult population
That’s an enormous number
Inside Uighurs are brainwashed
There are also reports of inmates being tortured
According to the survivors’ personal account...
...they are forcing Uighurs to denounce their religion
You have to allow us to convert you...
...to be reformatted, reprogrammed...
...to become just another Han Chinese
China’s official line is that the camps...
...are designed to re-educate extremists and fight terrorism
But there’s another reason
And it has to do with China’s ambitious economic project...
...known as the Belt and Road Initiative
Five years ago I put forward the Belt and Road Initiative
Loosely based on the historic Silk Road...
...this vast collection of infrastructure projects...
...seeks to connect China with Africa and Europe
This would significantly expand China’s economic influence
It spans over 70 countries and will cost hundreds of billions of dollars
Xinjiang is sort of central to Xi Jinping’s grand project
That project is Xi Jinping’s...
...sort of signature foreign policy...
...and therefore Xinjiang is so important to that...
...that he just does not want any trouble coming from Xinjiang
The Uighurs are victims of China’s determination...
...to exercise complete control over its population
Their future is uncertain
I don’t want to end up in the history books
I want to live just like anyone else...
...and my people deserve to live in this world with respect and dignity