appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Associated Press

An official from China’s Communist Party signalled Monday that there would likely be no let-up in its crackdown in the remote Xinjiang region, but said the government’s focus is shifting more to addressing the roots of extremism.
China’s policies in Xinjiang, home to the Uygurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, have become a major point of division with the US and other Western nations over alleged human rights violations.
“We cannot be complacent at this moment, because the threats are still out there,” Xu Guixiang, the deputy director general of the Xinjiang Communist Party publicity department, said in an interview in Beijing.
Analysts say China has detained more than a million people in Xinjiang, forcing many to give up at least elements of their faith and traditions.
Xinjiang forced labour concerns threaten to derail China-EU deal
Chinese officials tout the success of their effort to deradicalise the population and provide job training, saying the region has not had a terrorist attack in four years.
Xu did not directly answer whether security measures would be relaxed but said that “four years free of terrorism does not mean there is no threat or danger at all”.
He said the party is consolidating the measures taken to date and would also explore ways to achieve sustained stability in multi-ethnic border areas such as Xinjiang, a region in China’s far west about 2,400km (1,500 miles) from Beijing.
“We need to think more about how to solve the deep-seated issues, including the social foundation and the soil that give rise to extremism and terrorism,” he said.

Xu repeated the government’s vehement denials of forced labour, in which vocational training graduates are allegedly pressured to work in factories both in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China.
He said that 117,000 people have gone to work in other parts of China since 2014 through programmes that have enabled them to develop skills and leave farms for higher-paying factory work.
The US customs agency has blocked imports of clothing and other goods from Xinjiang this year over the forced labour issue, and UK politicians are demanding that British companies ensure their supply chains are free of forced labour.
The US restrictions have driven some of the region’s firms to seek other markets, Xu said, both at home and abroad.
“One can’t assume that Xinjiang companies can’t live without the US market or some US companies,” he said.
Earlier Monday, Xu and other officials held a three-hour news conference in Beijing to refute persistent and mounting international criticism of the government’s actions in Xinjiang.
US to block import of cotton goods produced by Xinjiang’s leading supplier
They brought two graduates of vocational training centres and two other workers, and showed video interviews with others. All extolled the opportunities given to them. None said they were forced to do anything.
Xinjiang authorities have not allowed journalists for foreign news media to report freely in the region, allowing access only on controlled visits that they arrange.
Elijan Anayat, a spokesperson for the Xinjiang government and an ethnic Uygur, said that reports of forced sterilisation to limit Uygur population growth was sheer fabrication by anti-Chinese forces.
Xu, in the interview, echoed that denial.
He attributed a recent fall in Xinjiang’s birth rate to a younger generation wanting smaller families and stricter implementation of limits on the number of children since 2017.
The birth rate fell to 10.7 per 1,000 people in 2018, after holding steady at around 15.5 for the previous eight years.
The family planning policy was revised in 2017 to allow two children for urban families in Xinjiang, and three children for rural families.


Defects – not jumping tourists – caused deadly Xinjiang bridge collapse: report

Hormuz oil crisis hits China; a family of dentists: 5 weekend reads you missed

Chinese crystal ‘paves way’ for GPS-free thorium clock navigation

China has mapped out a third new county in Xinjiang. Why?

Xinjiang

China says no let-up in Xinjiang crackdown but may shift policy

Chinese flags on a road leading to a facility believed to be a re-education camp on the outskirts of Hotan in Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

Xu Guixiang, the deputy director-general of the Xinjiang Communist Party publicity department, speaks during an interview in Beijing Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. The Chinese Communist Party official signaled Monday that there would likely be no let-up in its crackdown in the Xinjiang region, but said the government's focus is shifting more to addressing the roots of extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China defends its ‘vocational training centres’
in Xinjiang white paper

Chinese flags line a road leading to a facility believed to be a re-education camp where Muslim ethnic minorities are detained on the outskirts of Hotan in Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

Apparel group urges US to lead multinational campaign against forced labour in Xinjiang

Uygur workers in a cloth factory in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: Shutterstock

Leading products exported from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Image: CSIS

Australian researcher hits back at Chinese tabloid over Xinjiang report

The ASPI identified and mapped more than 380 suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang that have been built or expanded since 2017. Photo: AFP

This photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows a man walking past a screen showing images of China's President Xi Jinping in Kashgar in China's northwest Xinjiang region. - China has enforced a massive security crackdown in Xinjiang, where more than one million ethnic Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are believed to be held in a network of internment camps that Beijing describes as "vocational education centres" aimed at steering people away from religious extremism. (Photo by Greg Baker / AFP) [08NOVEMBER2020 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT: AFP

(FILES) this file photo taken on May 30, 2019 shows watchtowers on a high-security facility near what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. - The US announced September 14, 2020 it would block a range of Chinese products made by "forced labor" in the Xinjiang region, including from a "vocational" center that it branded a "concentration camp" for Uighur minorities. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

News

China

Politics

Diplomacy


Local Communist Party says it will look to address roots of extremism but says threats remain
China is accused of detaining up to a million Uygurs and other Muslims and using forced labour



Local Communist Party says it will look to address roots of extremism but says threats remain.


China says no let-up in Xinjiang crackdown but may shift policy

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Local Communist Party says it will look to address roots of extremism but says threats remain China is accused of detaining up to a million Uygurs and other Muslims and using forced labour

Local Communist Party says it will look to address roots of extremism but says threats remain

China is accused of detaining up to a million Uygurs and other Muslims and using forced labour