China's plans for Xinjiang, and what it means for the region's ...

Uyghurs and other Muslims pray at a mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region during a state-organised visit by foreign ... Menu Close Home Edition Africa Australia Canada Canada(français) España France Global Indonesia NewZealand UnitedKingdom UnitedStates Edition: Availableeditions Global Getnewsletter Becomeanauthor Signupasareader Signin GemmaWare,DanielMerino,TheConversation,AnnaHayes,CynthiaFayeIsley,DarrenByler,DavidTobin Authors GemmaWare EditorandCo-Host,TheConversationWeeklyPodcast,TheConversation DanielMerino AssistantScienceEditor&Co-HostofTheConversationWeeklyPodcast,TheConversation Interviewed AnnaHayes SeniorLecturerinPoliticsandInternationalRelations,JamesCookUniversity CynthiaFayeIsley PostdoctoralResearchFellowinEnvironmentalScience,MacquarieUniversity DarrenByler AssistantProfessor,InternationalStudies,SimonFraserUniversity DavidTobin LecturerinEastAsianStudies,UniversityofSheffield Disclosurestatement DarrenByler'sresearchhasbeenfundedbytheSocialScienceResearchCouncil,LuceFoundation,AmericanCouncilofLearnedSocietiesandtheCarnegieCorporation.AnnaHayesisaresearchfellowoftheEastAsiaSecurityCentre,ajointinitiativeofBondUniversity,theUniversityofNewHavenandtheChineseForeignAffairsUniversity.DavidTobindoesnotworkfor,consult,ownsharesinorreceivefundingfromanycompanyororganisationthatwouldbenefitfromthisarticle,andhasdisclosednorelevantaffiliationsbeyondtheiracademicappointment. CynthiaworksontheDustSafeprogramatMacquarieUniversityasapostdoctoralresearcher.TheDustSafeprogramreceivedfundingfromanAustralianGovernmentCitizenScienceGrant,CSG55984toM.P.Taylor. Partners Viewallpartners UyghursandotherMuslimsprayatamosqueinKashgarinChina’sXinjiangUyghurAutonomousRegionduringastate-organisedvisitbyforeignjournalistsinApril2021. WuHong/EPA Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Messenger WhentheBeijingWinterOlympicsopenonFebruary4,diplomatsfromanumberofcountries,includingtheUS,UK,CanadaandAustralia,willnotbetheretowatch.TheirdiplomaticboycotthingesonconcernsabouthumanrightsabusesinChina’sXinjiangUyghurAutonomousRegion.InthisepisodeofTheConversationWeekly,wetalktothreeexpertsaboutChina’slong-termvisionforXinjiang,andwhatitsstrategytheremeansfortheregion’spersecutedUyghurs. Wealsolookatthetoxicheavymetalsarelingeringinpeople’shomes.Aresearcher,whoreceivesvacuumcleanerdustinthemailfromaroundtheworldandtestsit,revealswhatshefound. InternationalpressureismountingontheChinesegovernmentoverthesituationinXinjiang.InDecember,soonafternewsofthediplomaticOlympicboycottemerged,theunofficial,London-basedUyghurTribunalfoundthatthePeople’sRepublicofChinahadcommittedgenocide,crimesagainsthumanityandtortureagainstUyghurs,KazakhsandotherminoritygroupsintheXinjiangregion.Thetribunalisindependentanditsverdicthasnoforceunderinternationallaw.Chinadismisseditsverdictandsaidallegationsofforcedlabourandgenocidewere“viciousrumours”.However,intheaftermath,theofficeoftheUNHighCommissionerforHumanRightssaiditwouldsoonpublishanassessmentofthesituationintheXinjiangregion. Readmore: HowanindependenttribunalcametorulethatChinaisguiltyofgenocideagainsttheUyghurs It’sdifficultforresearcherstogetafullpictureofwhat’shappeningtodayintheregion.DarrenByler,aseniorlecturerinpoliticsandinternationalrelationsatSimonFraserUniversityinCanada,whohaslivedinXinjiangandlastvisitedin2018,sayshegetshisinformationfromnewspassedtomembersoftheUyghurdiasporabyfamilyandfriends.BylersaysitappearsfewerUyghursarenowbeingdetainedbytheauthoritiesininternmentcampsthantheywereafewyearsgo.However,hesaysthere’swidespreadfamilyseparationand“hundredsofthousandsofpeoplearestillmissing”.Thoseoutsidethecampsliveunderarepressivesurveillancesystemin“sortofanopenairprison”,hesays. Severalcampshavebeenclosedorabandoned,othersturnedintopre-trialdetentioncentres,whileothershavebeenturnedintofactories.“Itdoesappearasthoughthestatewasmaybeactingmorere-activelytointernationalpressureandwantingtoclosethemmorequicklythantheywereatleastintendingattheoutset,”saysByler. DavidTobin,alecturerineastAsianstudiesattheUniversityofSheffieldintheUK,explainsthelongerhistoryofChina’srelationshipwithXinjiangandtheUyghurs.“TheunderlyingprobleminhowXinjiangisisgovernedinChinaisthenotionthatUyghurswerebarbariansandbecamehumanbybecomingChinesein1949,”saysTobin.“Andthenwhentheystarttobeseenashumanit’sonlybecausetheyhavetobeintegratedintoChina.”Whilethishistoryisvitaltounderstandwhat’shappeninginXinjiangtoday,hesaystherepressionagainstUyghurswasn’tinevitable.“Wecouldhavehadadifferentturnofevents,differentleaderswithsomedifferentideas,”hesays. Xinjiang’spositioninnorth-westChinagivestheregionaddedeconomicimportanceinthecountry’splanstoboosttradewithitsneighbours.“XinjiangsitsinastrategicandpivotallocationfortheBeltandRoadInitiative,”saysAnnaHayes,aseniorlecturerinpoliticsandinternationalrelationsatJamesCookUniversityinAustralia.It’sChina’sgatewaytotheMiddleEast,centralAsiaandEurope,shesays.“There’sarealhopethatXinjiangwillbemassivelytransformedintoahubofmanufacturingandnaturalresourceextraction,”Hayesexplains,withthesoutherncityofKashgarastheregion’seconomiccentreofgravity.Butunderlyingthisstrategy,shewarns,isasettler-colonialmindsetthatseestheindigenousUyghurpopulationasthe“gruntlabourforce”inthiseconomictransformation. Inoursecondstoryinthisepisode,wetalktoCynthiaIsley,postdoctoralresearchfellowinenvironmentalscienceatMacquarieUniversityinAustraliaaboutherrecentstudyofhousedustfromaroundtheworld.Isleyandhercolleaguessiftedthroughmorethan3,000samplesfrom35countriestounderstandwhattoxictracemetalslurkinsideourhomes–andhowtomakeyourhomesafer.(Listenfrom35m40s) Readmore: Housedustfrom35countriesrevealsourglobaltoxiccontaminantexposureandhealthrisk Andfinally,MattWilliams,breakingnewseditoratTheConversationbasedinNewYork,recommendshispicksofrecentanalysisonthebuildupofRussiantroopsontheUkrainianborder.(From46m15s) ThisepisodeofTheConversationWeeklywasproducedbyMendMariwanyandGemmaWare,withsounddesignbyEloiseStevens.OurthememusicisbyNeetaSarl.YoucanfindusonTwitter@TC_Audio,onInstagramattheconversationdotcomorviaemail.YoucanalsosignuptoTheConversation’sfreedailyemailhere.Atranscriptofthisepisodeisavailablehere. NewsclipsinthisepisodearefromSkyNews,WION,BBCNews,7NewsAustralia,ITVNewsandCNA. YoucanlistentoTheConversationWeeklyviaanyoftheappslistedabove,downloaditdirectlyviaourRSSfeed,orfindouthowelsetolistenhere. China Podcast Audio Dust BeltandRoadInitiative Uyghurs Uighurs TheConversationWeekly 2022BeijingOlympics Events Moreevents Jobs Director,AcademicOperations IndigenousHealthLeadershipCoordinator ExecutiveDirector ScientificWritingTrainingManager ResearchAssistant Morejobs EditorialPolicies Communitystandards Republishingguidelines Analytics Ourfeeds Getnewsletter Whoweare Ourcharter Ourteam Partnersandfunders Resourceformedia Contactus ​ ​ ​