Western countries, including Germany, have demanded China shut down detention camps where up to a million ethnic Muslims are reportedly being held. Beijing has rejected the demands as being "politically driven."
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China has dismissed criticism of the suspected mass internment of Uighur Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang.
At a United Nations review of the country's human rights record in Geneva on Tuesday, China said "training centers" to equip people with employable skills had helped quell Islamist extremism in once troubled Xinjiang.
Rights activists, however, say the centers are political indoctrination camps where ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities are taught Communist propaganda and forced to renounce their faith.
At Tuesday's UN review — a process every member state undergoes every four to five years — the United States, France, Germany and several other countries called on China to address concerns about its treatment and heavy surveillance of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Mark Cassayre, the US charge d'affaires, urged Beijing to "immediately release the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of individuals" arbitrarily detained in the region's camps.
China's Uighur heartland turns into security state
China says it faces a serious threat from Islamist extremists in its Xinjiang region. Beijing accuses separatists among the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority of stirring up tensions with the ethnic Han Chinese majority.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
China's far western Xinjiang region ramps up security
Three times a day, alarms ring out through the streets of China's ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, and shopkeepers rush out of their stores swinging government-issued wooden clubs. In mandatory anti-terror drills conducted under police supervision, they fight off imaginary knife-wielding assailants.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
One Belt, One Road Initiative
An ethnic Uighur man walks down the path leading to the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamakan Desert. A historic trading post, the city of Kashgar is central to China's "One Belt, One Road Initiative", which is President Xi Jinping's signature foreign and economic policy involving massive infrastructure spending linking China to Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
China fears disruption of "One Belt, One Road" summit
A man herds sheep in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. China's worst fears are that a large-scale attack would blight this year's diplomatic setpiece, an OBOR summit attended by world leaders planned for Beijing. Since ethnic riots in the regional capital Urumqi in 2009, Xinjiang has been plagued by bouts of deadly violence.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Ethnic minority in China
A woman prays at a grave near the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamankan Desert. Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking distinct and mostly Sunni Muslim community and one of the 55 recognized ethnic minorities in China. Although Uighurs have traditionally practiced a moderate version of Islam, experts believe that some of them have been joining Islamic militias in the Middle East.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Communist Party vows to continue war on terror
Chinese state media say the threat remains high, so the Communist Party has vowed to continue its "war on terror" against Islamist extremism. For example, Chinese authorities have passed measures banning many typically Muslim customs. The initiative makes it illegal to "reject or refuse" state propaganda, although it was not immediately clear how the authorities would enforce this regulation.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
CCTV cameras are being installed
Many residents say the anti-terror drills are just part of an oppressive security operation that has been ramped up in Kashgar and other cities in Xinjiang's Uighur heartland in recent months. For many Uighurs it is not about security, but mass surveillance. "We have no privacy. They want to see what you're up to," says a shop owner in Kashgar.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Ban on many typically Muslim customs
The most visible change is likely to come from the ban on "abnormal growing of beards," and the restriction on wearing veils. Specifically, workers in public spaces, including stations and airports, will be required to "dissuade" people with veils on their faces from entering and report them to the police.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Security personnel keep watch
Authorities offer rewards for those who report "youth with long beards or other popular religious customs that have been radicalized", as part of a wider incentive system that rewards actionable intelligence on imminent attacks. Human rights activists have been critical of the tactics used by the government in combatting the alleged extremists, accusing it of human rights abuses.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
Economy or security?
China routinely denies pursuing repressive policies in Xinjiang and points to the vast sums it spends on economic development in the resource-rich region. James Leibold, an expert on Chinese ethnic policy says the focus on security runs counter to Beijing's goal of using the OBOR initiative to boost Xinjiang's economy, because it would disrupt the flow of people and ideas.
Image: Reuters/T. Peter
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French Ambassador Francois Rivasseau told the forum China should "halt massive imprisonment" and "guarantee freedom of religion and belief, including in Tibet and Xinjiang," while representatives from Canada and the UK warned the human rights situation had "deteriorated."
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng rejected those statements, saying his country protected the freedoms of its 55 ethnic minorities.
"We will not accept the politically-driven accusations from a few countries that are fraught with biases and in total disregard of the facts," Le said.
Yasheng Sidike, the Uighur mayor of the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, told the UN the government's policies in Xinjiang meant there had been "no incident of violent terrorism" for the past 22 months.
Peter Irwin, a program manager and researcher for the World Uighur Congress, told DW the difference between China's view and the reality described by rights groups was stark.
"China has been calling these camps vocational centers, so in China's narrative, it is consistent that no such camp [as how we describe them] existed," he said.
"China should cooperate with the UN's procedures … and allow UN monitor groups to go to the region and inspect the conditions at the camps."
During the UN review, several hundred Tibetan and Uighur protesters marched through Geneva chanting "Shame on China!" and holding signs saying "STOP China ethnic cleansing of Uighurs" and "Tibet dying, China lies."