Xinjiang: China’s white paper may point to forced labour claims, experts say
- The 1.29 million workers cited as getting ‘vocational training’ each year could be an indication of forced labour, according to researcher Adrian Zenz
- He says the document tacitly acknowledges the coercive nature of the centralised training system and transfer of surplus rural labourers
Released on Thursday by the State Council, China’s cabinet, the white paper said the regional government had organised “employment-oriented training on standard spoken and written Chinese, legal knowledge, general know-how for urban life and labour skills” to improve the structure of the workforce and combat poverty.
Beijing is under increasing international pressure over its policies in the far western region, where it is believed to have detained at least 1 million Uygurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities in internment camps.
Its white paper said the regional government provided vocational training to an average of 1.29 million urban and rural workers every year from 2014 to 2019. Of those workers, about 451,400 were from southern Xinjiang – an area it said had struggled with extreme poverty, poor access to education and a lack of job skills because the residents were influenced by “extremist thoughts”.
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Adrian Zenz, a researcher focusing on Xinjiang and Tibet, said it was the first time the Chinese government had given a specific response to allegations of forced labour through its coercive vocational training both outside and inside the internment camps.