Is the Uyghur Genocide real?

Here’s what we know so far:

We know the camps exist. The difference in narrative is what goes on inside them. China claims that there are two sets of camps: the first are vocational training centers where Xinjiang residents can voluntarily study and learn life skills. The other camps are prisons for terrorists only.
The Western narrative is that Uyghurs are being rounded up based on their ethnicity and religion alone, and are being hauled off to concentration camps for forced labour, torture, rape, abuse, and brainwashing.

So, where is the evidence?

So far any evidence for what goes on inside these camps has taken three forms:

• Photos/videos
• Leaked documents
• Testimonies

Testimonies may provide some context, but on the whole they are only hearsay and cannot necessarily be proven outright without concrete evidence. Leaked documents, likewise, cannot necessarily qualify as concrete evidence due to the possibility of forgery. So that leaves us with photos and videos.

Examining the Photos

Our first photos:

Actually these are real photos taken by the Chinese government. They were intended to be promotional photos showing the success of China’s efforts to combat separatist notions, inspire the detainees about the benevolence of the Chinese motherland, etc etc. etc.¹

So it’s a photos of Xinjiangese detainees in a Xinjiangese prison, being indoctrinating with Chinese dogma.

Doesn’t exactly look like a good time, but I don’t see any burns, scars, or other evidence of torture/abuse. I see a bunch of detainees being lectured to by a hopelessly out-of-touch assimilation program.

Our next footage:

Here we see huge swathes of prisoners being transported at once, which is as far as I’m concerned not a very usual practice in any country. Their uniforms say “Kashi Detention House.” China claims everyone here is a criminal.

Definitely suspicious.

One more video to examine:

While the announcements in the background certainly sound authentic, there are also a lot of questions unanswered here.

• First of all, why is he just wearing normal clothes? Shouldn’t he be in a prison uniform?
• I know this guy is a model and everything, but he looks in pretty good shape for someone in a concentration camp. Shouldn’t there be more evidence of abuse? Black eyes, busted lips, etc? He doesn’t even look sleep deprived.
• The room is also pretty nondescript and could be anywhere. For a minute he points the phone at the window but it doesn’t reveal much else about his location. The windows are barred up (which makes it look like a detention center at first glance), but this is actually pretty common in older Chinese buildings.
• It’s easy to get handcuffs online.
• Being able to smuggle in a phone is theoretically possible, but having full charge and even data? There’s a lot that doesn’t add up.

While Mr Ghappar’s case is definitely one we should all keep an eye on, it’s not fair to call it definitive evidence just yet.

Finally, we have the Xinjiang Victims Database:

Xinjiang Victims Database

Over 13 500 individual victims published, complete with all personal information including full name, age, photograph, likely place of origin, likely site of incarceration, status of detention, etc.

It’s an incredible database. I urge everyone, no matter where you stand on this issue, to visit the site.

13 500+ is a lot. But it’s not 1 million. Something to keep in mind.

Our next piece of evidence is a horrific video of police brutality.

WARNING: the following video contains graphic violence. Do not click unless you’re ready to see it.

What we see here appears to be horrific police brutality.

The two men are Chinese. The victim appears to be Uyghur.

In the video, the vehicle license plate appears to read “F 1573,” where the license plate character “F” may indicate that, assuming this man was a‌rreste‌d in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the po‌li‌ce are specifically located in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

So, does this prove the existence of concentration camps? Of course not. Does it give credence to the narrative that there is strong discrimination against Uyghurs? Maybe.

There have been many incidents of police brutality against other Han Chinese, not just Uyghurs. So this may not be an proof of a discrimination problem as much as it is evidence of a police brutality problem.

It is also unclear if the two men are even police officers. They may have simply gotten their hands on a couple of police uniforms and a pair of handcuffs.

So the video is ambiguous, to say the least.

That’s it for our photographic evidence.

Everything else I can find online are leaked documents and testimonials from escapees. I’m not saying we should reject these outright, because they may be true. But for now we can’t make any decisions without concrete, tangible evidence.

“Without much tangible evidence, why are Western audiences so skeptical about the true nature of these camps?”

My guess would be two things: the buildup and the secrecy.

First, the buildup. In 2009 China declared a “people’s war on terror” that would aim to eliminate religious extremism from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Over the next few years, the following policies were forcefully applied:

• Replacing of the Uyghur language with Standard Mandarin as the medium of education in primary schools
• Banning the wearing of beards, veils, and headscarves
• Banning fasting and praying while on the job
• Banning naming children religiously-influenced names (such as as Muhammad or Fatimah)
• Countless remands, detentions, arrests, and incarcerations for amorphous reasons
• Banning the refusal of drinking alcohol
• The destruction of thousands of mosques and the removal of Arabic-language signs from Muslim businesses

This eventually culminated in the establishment of the camps we see today. To add to international suspicion, these camps are regarded with a high level of secrecy and no one beyond government officials are allowed to go near them.

Why It's So Difficult for Journalists To Report From Xinjiang

How extensive restrictions have shaped the story in Xinjiang, China

If they are just vocational training centers, why can’t we go take a look?

The most suspicious part was the CCP’s official narrative on the camps, which kept changing. They couldn’t get their official story straight.

So far they’ve changed their official narrative five times:

1. 2013–2018: “The camps are a complete fabrication.”²
   Chinese foreign ministry claims they “had not heard” of any such situation in Xinjiang, despite publication on deradicalization centres in a 2016 issue of People’s Daily.³
2. October 2018: “There are camps, but they are just vocational training centers.”⁴
   At this time, the Xinjiang government on revised its local laws to encourage “vocational skill education training centers” to “carry out anti-extremist ideological education.” This was basically the first time China admitted to the English-speaking world that the camps were real.
3. August 2018: “The camps are merely deradicalization centers for terrorists in the region.”⁵
   At this time there was a UN meeting in Geneva. The delegation from China denied the existence of “concentration camps” but admitted that “Some minor offenders of religious extremism or separatism have been taken to ‘vocational education’ and employment training centers with a view to assisting in their rehabilitation.”
4. December 2019: “We used to have camps, but not anymore. All attendees have graduated and gone home.”⁶
   China held a press conference in which regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir claimed that the camps were boarding schools where trainees could go home or ask for leave whenever they wanted. He later stated that all the participating “trainees” had graduated and gone home.
5. July 2020: “Torture and abuse may be occurring in some camps, but this is not an official policy.”⁷
   When confronted with apparent testimonies of abuse and torture, Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said in a public interview: “I cannot rule out, you know, single cases. For any country. These are single cases. … With regards to that video tape, I’ll get back to you.”

Five narrative changes so far. Maybe we can expect more in the future.

For those of you who like watching worms struggle on the ends of their hooks, I highly recommend the video version of the interview in which a few pieces of photographic evidence are enough to reduce Xiaoming to desperate stuttering and stammering:

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, you have to at least admit that having so much official inconsistency doesn’t exactly inspire trust. Can you blame anyone for being skeptical?

As for the secrecy, well that’s simple enough. Every time a journalist tries to ”go to Xinjiang and see for yourself!” they are followed, their cameras are confiscated, and they are shooed off.

What is there to hide? Chinese media slanders Western press for labeling it “genocide,” but if they refuse to give it a credible voice, who is supposed to fill the silence? China has only itself to blame for other countries assuming the worst.

My conclusion

In looking for concrete evidence, I am still left wanting. However, in light of

• The CCP’s inconsistent narrative
• The policies enacted during the previous decade of China’s “War on Terror”
• The constant refusal to allow journalists, either foreign or native, go anywhere near them
• The first two photographs of Xinjiang detainees
• The video of the transfer of huge numbers of bound and blindfolded prisoners, and
• The Xinjiang Victims database

I can definitely say we have a right to be suspicious. That said,

• Evidence of abuse, torture, rape, sterilization, and brainwashing have so far only been presented in the form of “leaked documents” and testimonials, which cannot necessarily be taken as concrete evidence (at least not by my standards)
• There is so far no leaked footage from within the camps
• There is so far no leaked photographic evidence of abused and tortured detainees

As grisly as that last evidence would be, the world would kind of need to see them in order to reach a fair conclusion.

Alternatively, the CCP would have to start allowing journalists to enter these camps and interview the “attendees” at their leisure. No harassment, no confiscating equipment, no threats of detention. Investigators should be allowed access with zero advance warning. If China can allow that to happen and subsequently no defaming evidence is found, then I’ll happily lay the case to rest and say “I was wrong.” But this is so far not the case.

Weak counterarguments

For everyone’s amusement, let’s end off on shooting down some common counterarguments. These will get progressively stupider as we move down the list.

“So-called testimonies from supposed “escapees” are identical to the faked Nayirah testimony back in 1990. The Xinjiang testimonies are the exact same thing: a story fabricated by Western conspirators to justify militarized or coercive action.”

True, we’ve fallen victim to faked testimonies before. But we’ve also seen legitimate testimonies from time to time. I think it makes more sense to examine them case-by-case rather than dismissing all of them as either 100% lies or 100% legitimate. Of course, a testimony without physical proof can only be just that, a testimony.

“The terror attacks in Xinjiang were so terrible. Do you know how many innocent Han were targeted and ruthlessly killed? The CCP’s response to extreme terrorism and secession is 100% correct.”

No one’s arguing that domestic terrorism is okay. But concentration camps are not the answer.

“The quality of life in Xinjiang has increased by x times, and the CCP’s initiative to y and z have accomplished a, b and c…”

Irrelevant. If I’m trying to prove the existence of Guantanamo Bay, the evidence doesn’t suddenly disappear when I look at Cuba’s GDP growth rate or any other irrelevant stat. Xinjiang “re-education centers” are the same case.

“X number of Muslim countries signed a survey saying they approved of China’s methods. The only naysayers are the US and it’s lapdogs. Shouldn’t we trust other Muslims on how to deal with Muslims?”

Great, except every country that opposed the camps are first world countries with developed economies and every country that supports the camps in Xinjiang are developing countries that can’t afford to lose China as a valuable trading partner. Not to mention the other signatories on the approval list don’t have the best track records when it comes to human rights either. It’s kind of hard to such narratives seriously when only dictatorships are your best company.

“If there was really any so-called genocide, wouldn’t there be a mass exodus of refugees?”

One, most Xinjiangese are not issued passports. So if they want to escape, they must escape the old-fashioned way.

That does not bode well for a region surrounded by desert and mountains. There is simply no way to actually leave Xinjiang and enter another country without answering to border patrol.

Two, even if they did manage to sneak past the Chinese guards, they’d have either answer to Pakistan, Tajikistan, or Kazakhstan, all of which are either sympathetic or ambivalent to their plight. Usually they just catch them and send them back to China.

Their only hope is Turkey, but even then, Turkey is in a difficult position with China and is slowly being cajoled over the years. At present, there are only an estimated 50,000 Uyghur refugees living in Turkey.

“Better education centers than bombs and drone strikes! China invests and builds, the US destroys and kills! What a double standard!”

You do realize you can criticize both America’s and China’s respective “wars on terror” at the same time, right? It’s “condemn one, embrace the other.” You can condemn both.

“Here are photos of my trip to Xinjiang last year. Here’s photos of Xinjiangese people smiling and laughing. Here’s photos of me eating at a Xinjiang restaurant. Here’s photos of…”

No one cares about your #blessed vacation in Xinjiang. For every photo you can post of a town in Xinjiang living their normal life, I can respond with a photo of a Xinjiang mosque being torn down or photos of police waving away journalists and trying to confiscate their cameras.

“Here are the official photos and videos of the Xinjiang vocational education centers. You can see clearly they are just like normal schools, designed to give Xinjiang reliable work and life skills.”

And here are the official photos and videos of North Korean vocational education centers. You can see clearly they are just like normal schools, designed to give North Koreans reliable work and life skills.

My point is no one wants to see your official videos. We want to see either leaked footage from inside the camps or unfettered access for independent journalists and investigators.

“If Xinjiangese are really so oppressed in China, how come they can qualify for University with lower gaokao reuslts? Or not be subject to the one-child policy? Or… or… !”

All irrelevant. The question in focus here is whether or not torture, abuse, and even genocide are occurring in Xinjiang’s camps. That’s it.

“You think China is oppressing Xinjiangese? Then explain famous actress Dilraba! She is one of the most popular stars in China!”

And the US elected a black president twice. Are you meaning to say there is no systemic racism in the US?

“Have you been to Xinjiang? Where are the camps! Come to Xinjiang and see for yourself!”

I command anyone who says this to cease existing. The fabric of the universe was not designed to withstand the weight of so much infinitely negative IQ in one place.