Australia suspects Xinjiang has more than 380 'detention camps' 4
The number of alleged `detention facilities` in Xinjiang announced by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) on September 24 is about 40% higher than the institute’s previous estimate.
`The findings of this study contradict claims by Chinese officials that all ‘trainees’ from vocational skills training centers graduated by the end of 2019,` said ASPI researcher Nanthan Ruser.
ASPI researchers used satellite images, eyewitness accounts, media reports and many other sources to detect and classify the above facilities, depending on security features such as walls.
They discovered at least 61 new and expanded facilities in the year up to July this year.
A guard station near a vocational training center on the outskirts of Hetian city, Xinjiang, China, May 30, 2019.
ASPI’s data is part of the Xinjiang Data project, which includes detailed studies not only of the network of suspected detention facilities, but also of cultural sites in the autonomous region.
Researcher Ruser noted that many of the centers that have been expanded are higher-security facilities, while others are built near industrial zones, suggesting that people are being brought here for `coercion`.
The information was released by ASPI in the context of increased tensions between Australia and China in recent years when Canberra accused Beijing of interfering in internal affairs, something Beijing denied.
Since early 2017, China has been accused of sending about a million Uighurs and Muslim minorities into concentration camps.
US President Trump in June signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which calls for sanctions against those responsible for `mass detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang`,
China calls America’s moves on Xinjiang `crude interference` in its internal affairs.
Mai Lam (According to Aljazeera, Xinhua)
