Approximately 50% of what you hear is outright propaganda, as we know the CIA’s affiliates churn out. We also see CIA assets pushing narratives on Reddit. The next 25% is poorly researched speculation by an evangelical end-timer, and the final 25% is an accurate description of the PRC’s response to far right, religious terrorism and separatism.

First, let’s just establish using safe, American sources that a bunch of Uyghur people went to fight with ISIS in Syria, then returned. Let’s also establish that there have been consistent terrorist attacks with significant casualties and that the CIA and CIA front-groups have funded and stoked Islamic extremism across the world for geopolitical gain.

Now, we need to consider potential responses.

The CPC could give up and surrender Xinjiang to ISIS. This option condemns millions of people to living under a fundamentalist Islamic State, including many non-Muslims and non-extreme Muslims. This option creates a CIA-aligned state on the border, and jeopardises a key part of the Belt and Road initiative, which is designed to connect landlocked countries for development and geopolitical positioning. This option also threatens the CPC’s legitimacy, as keeping China together is a historical signifier of the Mandate of Heaven.

The next option is the American option. Drone strike, black-site, or otherwise liquidate anyone who could be associated with Islamic extremism. Be liberal in doing so. Make children fear blue skies because of drones. When the orphaned young children grow up, do it all again. You can also throw a literal man-made famine in there if you want.

The final option is the Chinese option. Mass surveillance. Use AI to liberally target anyone who may be at risk of radicalisation for re-education. Teach them the lingua franca of China, Mandarin. Pump money into the region for development. When people finish their time in re-education, set them up with state jobs. Keep the surveillance up. Allow and even celebrate local religious customs, but make sure the leaders are on-side with the party.

Let’s take a moment to distinguish that last approach from that of Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany wanted to exterminate the undesirables. Initially it was internment in concentration camps with the outcome up in the air, with a vague hope of shipping them to Madagascar or palestine, but it later morphed into full extermination. All throughout, Nazi Germany was pushing strong rhetoric of antisemitism and stoking ethnic hatred in the public sphere.

There’s no evidence, including from leaked papers, that the goal of the deradicalisation programme is permanent internment or annihilation of Islam. In fact, the leaked papers have Xi explicitly saying Islam should not be annihilated from China:

Mr. Xi also told officials to not discriminate against Uighurs and to respect their right to worship. He warned against overreacting to natural friction between Uighurs and Han Chinese, the nation’s dominant ethnic group, and rejected proposals to try to eliminate Islam entirely in China.

“In light of separatist and terrorist forces under the banner of Islam, some people have argued that Islam should be restricted or even eradicated,” he said during the Beijing conference. He called that view “biased, even wrong.”

As for permanent internment, we know from leaks that the minimum duration of detention is one year — though accounts from ex-detainees suggest that some are released sooner.

Unlike Nazi Germany, there’s no stoking of inter-ethnic hatred or elimination of a specific culture; the CPC actively censors footage from terrorist attacks in China to avoid such an outcome. Xi doesn’t go on TV calling any ethnicity rapists or murderers. Uighur culture is actively celebrated in the media and via tourism. Xinjiang has 24,400 mosques, one per 530 Muslims. That’s three mosques per capita more than their western peers.

Could China’s approach be done better? Almost certainly. Is it the most humane response to extremism we’ve seen so far? That’s for you to decide.

(Reposted from here )

The other post summarizes the facts (or at least "what we know") nicely, but as far as opinions, I guess it's somewhere between "well they can't just let ISIS fester in remote rural areas of the country" and "this kinda borders on religious persecution, and surely crosses the line in practice, no matter what Xi is saying publicly".

As someone who is neither a CPC member nor a Chinese citizen, I don have much more to contribute to the discussion since they're gonna do what they're gonna do no matter what I have to say about it, but I'm not going to carry any water for the US State Department.

I'm not really convinced that China is going to be able to steer back towards socialism, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. There definitely doesn't seem to be anything if a revolutionary nature happening there currently. Nevertheless, when Chinese interests clash with western capitalist interests, I'm willing to offer critical support. When Chinese interests clash with those of it's workers (as they often do under the current system), I will support the workers, of course.

I think you've pretty much got it. I doubt we can really gleam the true nature of the camps/work training centres but it's pretty obvious that it is not as bad as the media claims while (some of it) may be considered a human rights violation. A large part of their motivation for running these programs is as already mentioned, curbing separatist and terrorist movements but almost more importantly, Xinjiang is placed right within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). So the program will involve development into the region as well as work training. I wouldn't be surprised if there are also more extreme measures taken for people they deem as higher risk. One way I like to think about it is by comparing it to the One Child Policy. The motivation for their program isn't necessarily malevolent or genocidal, but they aren't going to place a high value on some individual freedoms.

Some things that may provide some further context is that (1) China actually has quite extensive affirmative action programs for ethnic minorities. For example, minority regions don't have to pay tax to the central government, so that the money can be spent on development. There are also immense education benefits, to the point that some Han Chinese (half) joke about wanting to marry an ethnic minority so their children can get the benefits. (2) Since the time of Hu Jintao's leadership, they have significantly stressed that development was the key to maintaining a "harmonious society". I pretty much see the current programs as a continuation of that.

I don't know. I don't believe what america is saying but i also kinda don't believe what china is saying. so i don't bother to have an opinion on it cuz im cool

This is a pretty good read on the subject - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1287411708374454273.html

Goes pretty in depth about various aspects of it.