China says it may eventually phase out ‘vocational training centres’ in Xinjiang where 1 million Uygur Muslims are reportedly held for ‘re-education’
- Region’s chairman Shohrat Zakir says ‘if one day the society no longer needs them, then these training centres will gradually disappear’
- Camps in far western region where more than 1 million Muslims are said to be held for political re-education have drawn international condemnation
China’s top official in Xinjiang on Tuesday said the “vocational training centres” in the far western border region could eventually be phased out, as Beijing comes under growing international pressure over the mass detention camps.
“Generally speaking, we will have fewer and fewer people at these centres and if one day the society no longer needs them, then these training centres will gradually disappear,” Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang government, said during a panel session at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
Zakir was the first Chinese government official to suggest that the centres – which Beijing denies are the concentration camps described by foreign media – were a temporary arrangement.
They have drawn international condemnation from foreign governments and human rights groups, who say Chinese officials are holding more than 1 million Uygurs and other Muslims for political re-education. According to Beijing, the centres are “pre-emptive measures against extremism” that offer “trainees” job and other life skills.
But former detainees have told foreign media they were subjected to abuse and torture at the centres, and some have testified about their experiences before the US Congress – claims that Beijing has denied.
In addition to Uygurs from Xinjiang, Muslim minorities and even foreign citizens have been detained in the camps, according to media reports. United Nations human rights researchers have said the camps held more than 1 million Uygurs and other Muslims .
When asked by reporters on Tuesday, Zakir declined to say how many “trainees” were at the centres, but said the exact number was less than a million.
“As to how many trainees are at these centres … the number is dynamic and changing,” he said. “It’s far from the hype perpetuated by some people that there are nearly 1 million people at these centres.”
Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International, said the official’s comments showed that Beijing was under pressure.
“The Chinese government has said that these centres provided job training and good treatment to the people in the region. If this is true, then why phase them out? This just contradicted their own claims,” he said.
“The response showed that they are controlling the number because of international pressure and the centres are in fact detention facilities and not the ‘vocational training centres’ that they have said.”
Adrian Zenz, an expert on the region with the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany, said the authorities were likely to keep the camps running for a long time.
“I think the Chinese Communist Party would like this to come across as a softening, and it is part of its propaganda strategy, but I would not call this statement a softening stance,” he said.
“I am certain that the government in Xinjiang will keep at least a good number of these camps, although some might be put into hibernation mode. They work as a powerful deterrent, and a certain, perhaps much smaller percentage of the population, will likely remain in them.”
Repeating Beijing’s official line, Zakir said the centres provided free skills training, food and accommodation, and that the “trainees”, who joined “voluntarily”, were free to take leave and return home if they wished.
But he said no religious activities were allowed at the centres.
Zakir was speaking during a panel discussion at the yearly gathering of the NPC, China’s legislature. Such sessions are usually heavily scripted and most questions are prepared in advance.
Tuesday’s panel discussion was open to foreign media and attended by dozens of delegates from the region including Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang party boss who is also a member of the party’s top decision-making body, the Politburo.
US lawmakers have called on the administration of US President Donald Trump to consider imposing human rights-related sanctions on Chen.
Zakir, an ethnic Uygur, boasted that the region had reported no violent terror attacks in the past two years and three months, and none since Chen became party chief. Chen did not take questions from the media on Tuesday.
The “vocational centres” have drawn fire from multiple Western governments and beyond.
Pakistan, China’s closest ally in the Muslim world, broke its silence on the issue in September, openly criticising Beijing’s treatment of Uygurs when its federal minister for religious affairs warned that the restrictions would fuel extremism, rather than counter terrorism.
Ankara also weighed in last month, a spokesperson for Turkey’s foreign affairs ministry calling on China to close the camps, saying they were a “great shame for humanity”.
China has recently ramped up its international campaign to justify the centres, and organised trips for select diplomats and journalists to see them.
A diplomatic source in Beijing, who requested anonymity, questioned when the camps would be closed, given the lack of a timeline, and how many people were actually being held there.
The source said they were “concerned about the constant side blows against the work done by the media, which has been and keeps being crucial in pointing out human rights abuses in China and elsewhere”. The source added that access to the re-education camps was “granted only to very select places, to very select journalists and diplomats”.
Last week, China invited diplomats from about half a dozen countries including Myanmar, Greece, Vietnam and Singapore to Xinjiang, including a tour of the “training centres” in Kashgar.
