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SYDNEY: China’s network of detention centers in the northwestern Xinjiang region is much larger than previously thought and has expanded in recent years, according to research presented by an Australian think tank on Thursday (Sept. 24). ).
The Australian Institute for Strategic Policy said it had identified more than 380 “suspected detention centers” in the region, where China is believed to have detained more than a million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkish-speaking residents.
The number of installations is roughly 40 per cent higher than previous estimates and, according to Australian researchers, has been growing despite claims by China that many Uighurs have been released.
READ: US House votes to ban Xinjiang imports for forced labor
Using satellite imagery, eyewitness accounts, media reports and official construction bidding documents, the institute said that “at least 61 detention sites have seen new construction and expansion works between July 2019 and July 2020.”
In 2020, fourteen more facilities were being built and around 70 fences or perimeter walls have been removed, indicating that their use has changed or they have been closed.
US lawmakers recently voted to ban imports from Xinjiang, citing the alleged use of systematic forced labor.
Beijing recently published a white paper defending its policies in Xinjiang, where it says training programs, job schemes and better education mean life has improved.
He has defended the so-called training centers as necessary to end extremism.
Following the publication of the latest report, the nationalist tabloid controlled by the Chinese government, the Global Times, cited “sources” as saying that collaborators with the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy, Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske, were prohibited from entering China.
