Berliner Boersenzeitung - Blocked roads, crumbling camps as China moves Xinjiang detentions out of sight

EUR -
AED 4.264446
AFN 80.668398
ALL 97.984494
AMD 448.858014
ANG 2.07817
AOA 1064.805606
ARS 1463.085261
AUD 1.779729
AWG 2.090131
AZN 1.982458
BAM 1.956489
BBD 2.359575
BDT 142.009993
BGN 1.95573
BHD 0.437773
BIF 3482.495974
BMD 1.161184
BND 1.497414
BOB 8.076774
BRL 6.452115
BSD 1.168811
BTN 100.275301
BWP 15.716533
BYN 3.825047
BYR 22759.202064
BZD 2.347373
CAD 1.592981
CDF 3351.176458
CHF 0.930918
CLF 0.029271
CLP 1123.259459
CNY 8.3292
CNH 8.342229
COP 4685.957139
CRC 589.507528
CUC 1.161184
CUP 30.77137
CVE 110.302881
CZK 24.667379
DJF 208.13327
DKK 7.463277
DOP 70.514824
DZD 151.095513
EGP 57.37676
ERN 17.417757
ETB 162.379363
FJD 2.646916
FKP 0.864339
GBP 0.867294
GEL 3.147085
GGP 0.864339
GHS 12.155174
GIP 0.864339
GMD 83.024528
GNF 10139.569496
GTQ 8.970158
GYD 244.433945
HKD 9.115182
HNL 30.574763
HRK 7.534456
HTG 153.460059
HUF 400.364531
IDR 18909.877837
ILS 3.908202
IMP 0.864339
INR 99.840149
IQD 1531.139016
IRR 48914.866837
ISK 142.396261
JEP 0.864339
JMD 186.785755
JOD 0.823254
JPY 172.878249
KES 151.011781
KGS 101.541578
KHR 4683.527769
KMF 493.067719
KPW 1045.092822
KRW 1611.421711
KWD 0.355218
KYD 0.974043
KZT 614.716402
LAK 25196.870211
LBP 104025.505382
LKR 351.893879
LRD 234.342497
LSL 20.802323
LTL 3.428674
LVL 0.702389
LYD 6.33423
MAD 10.536518
MDL 19.752954
MGA 5181.82419
MKD 61.581148
MMK 2438.117417
MNT 4162.66655
MOP 9.450627
MRU 46.447048
MUR 52.764134
MVR 17.885984
MWK 2026.713477
MXN 21.829024
MYR 4.936193
MZN 74.269954
NAD 20.802323
NGN 1775.879918
NIO 43.015143
NOK 11.897368
NPR 160.440481
NZD 1.951897
OMR 0.446463
PAB 1.168801
PEN 4.167667
PGK 4.834702
PHP 66.151417
PKR 332.640201
PLN 4.262147
PYG 9050.185993
QAR 4.260963
RON 5.077162
RSD 117.121675
RUB 90.570045
RWF 1688.894552
SAR 4.3551
SBD 9.660538
SCR 16.895294
SDG 697.288895
SEK 11.284099
SGD 1.49193
SHP 0.912508
SLE 26.068429
SLL 24349.447832
SOS 667.935137
SRD 43.503164
STD 24034.1598
SVC 10.2266
SYP 15097.537553
SZL 20.795321
THB 37.788432
TJS 11.173637
TMT 4.075755
TND 3.370335
TOP 2.71961
TRY 46.748144
TTD 7.934793
TWD 34.094445
TZS 3033.606174
UAH 48.876706
UGX 4189.438755
USD 1.161184
UYU 47.636359
UZS 14843.225353
VES 135.655323
VND 30364.955815
VUV 138.765127
WST 3.186541
XAF 656.188002
XAG 0.030713
XAU 0.000349
XCD 3.138157
XDR 0.816087
XOF 656.188002
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.251978
ZAR 20.771278
ZMK 10452.043547
ZMW 26.67337
ZWL 373.900703
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Blocked roads, crumbling camps as China moves Xinjiang detentions out of sight
Blocked roads, crumbling camps as China moves Xinjiang detentions out of sight / Photo: Pedro PARDO - AFP

Blocked roads, crumbling camps as China moves Xinjiang detentions out of sight

A policeman waves reporters away from a desert prison in Xinjiang, part of a network of detention facilities transformed by China's shifting policies in the northwestern region.

Text size:

Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been swept into internment camps where human rights abuses are commonplace, researchers, campaigners and members of the diaspora say.

Beijing says the facilities were voluntary centres for teaching vocational skills, closed years ago after their inhabitants "graduated" into stable employment and better lives.

Analysts counter that some camps have been refitted as others have shut down.

"Several hundred thousand" people have likely been sent to work at high-security industrial parks while others languish in renamed or repurposed compounds, said Darren Byler, an assistant professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University who studies detention patterns in Xinjiang.

In July, AFP attempted to visit the sites of 26 alleged camps in Xinjiang named in research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

Some bristled with staffed guard towers, security cameras and high walls topped with barbed wire, while others lay in disuse.

ASPI, a think tank partly funded by Western governments, used satellite imagery, public documents and other sources to pinpoint the locations.

Beijing rejects its findings.

- 'Nothing may be photographed' -

According to ASPI, at least eight camps dot the landscape around the mostly Uyghur city of Artux.

One alleged detention centre seemed to be built around 2017 and was expanded the following year, the group says.

To reach the site, three AFP reporters drove along a highway closely followed by a convoy of unmarked cars.

After an hour, they reached a turnoff blocked by metal gates bearing the insignia of China's public security ministry.

Beyond them, a road stretched into the desert towards a group of buildings in the distance.

The gates opened to allow other vehicles to pass, but remained shut when AFP drove up.

An AFP reporter asked a Uyghur policeman if they could enter.

"This is a prison -- you definitely can't come in," he replied, adding that it was a "restricted area".

"Nothing may be photographed or filmed," he said politely but firmly.

The policeman did not respond to questions about people interned at the facility and AFP left the area.

A total of 10 sites observed by AFP appeared operational based on the presence of staff and the condition of external security infrastructure.

Some compounds, often in remote areas, spanned hundreds of thousands of square metres, hidden behind five-metre-high walls with razor wire and watchtowers.

AFP was not able to enter any Xinjiang prisons, or identify anyone who was indisputably incarcerated.

- Fallen into disuse -

A further five sites of alleged detention centres seem to have fallen into disuse.

These areas matched ASPI's descriptions but were abandoned, and showed signs that security architecture had been removed.

AFP drove into an ordinary-looking residential complex about an hour's journey from the city of Kashgar.

There, a crumbling wall around three metres high stood among rows of identical apartment blocks.

Citing satellite imagery, ASPI says the wall was built in 2017 to seal off four blocks of the complex.

New structures likely housing detainees were built inside the perimeter, which had a high-security entrance.

Later imagery shows much of the security apparatus was removed from around 2019, according to ASPI research.

AFP reporters were able to walk freely into that part of the complex.

Children kicked a football outside the entrance to one of the four apartment blocks.

Between the blocks lay rows of derelict prefabricated sheds.

Most were locked and empty, but inside some of them, bunk beds, tables and other furniture could be seen.

In one, scores of dust-caked sewing machines lay on rows of desks.

To protect their safety, reporters did not ask any locals whether the buildings had been used for detentions.

- Converted -

A further seven sites now appear to have been converted, including a pair of buildings on either side of a quiet stretch of road an hour southwest of Kashgar.

ASPI says the buildings housed a "re-education facility" called Konasheher-6, but it appeared to change role in 2019.

AFP reporters walked along the road between the structures, which were bordered by metal railings and connected by a covered walkway.

Now, the low-slung pink-and-yellow blocks appear similar to regular Chinese schools.

They looked out onto a well-kept football pitch, a running track, basketball and volleyball courts and ping-pong tables.

A painted slogan urged pupils to "study hard... to realise the Chinese Dream", invoking a pet phrase of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Unusually, a blue-and-white police box opened onto one side of the sports area, though it was unclear if it was staffed.

The visit took place during the summer holiday and no schoolchildren were there.

But at other such locations identified by ASPI, AFP saw groups of teenagers playing football and other sports.

Other places were marked for other uses, including training centres for Communist Party officials.

A few kilometres southeast of Kashgar, five-metre-high walls topped with electric wire towered over a sleepy farming village.

Construction waste piled high beneath the exterior walls, but a glance through an entrance gate revealed well-maintained interior lawns and buildings.

A security guard confirmed that the site used to be a detention centre but said that "all the people inside have now gone".

(U.Gruber--BBZ)