internment camps make Uighur life more colorful says Xinjiang governor

12-20-18    Pakistan on Thursday defended its close ally China against a growing outcry over Muslims who are being detained by Chinese authorities, saying the issue was being “sensationalised” by foreign media.

Numerous extrajudicial detention centres have been set up in China’s vast, troubled Xinjiang region, holding as many as one million ethnic Uygurs and other Muslim minorities, according to estimates cited by a UN panel.  https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2178987/muslim-pakistan-says-outcry-over-chinas-xinjiang-detention

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12-21-18  Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla insisted that the government would not interfere in the internal affairs of others....With the exception of a few protests in Bangladesh and India and critical statements by Malaysian leaders, Muslims across the globe have largely refrained from pressuring their governments to speak out about developments in Xinjiang.  If anything, China retains its status of Asia’s top tourism destination for Muslim travelers. https://intpolicydigest.org/2018/12/21/crackdown-in-xinjiang-china-and-the-islamic-world-s-achille-heel/

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12-15-18   Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has targeted to attract 3.5 million Chinese tourists to visit various tourist destinations in the country next year.  https://en.antaranews.com/news/121323/indonesia-aims-to-attract-35-million-chinese-tourists-next-year

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-UIGHUR TRADERS AT A MARKET IN KERIYA, XINJIANG, 2018  © LIVCOOL / SHUTTERSTOCK

10-17-18    The brutal setting of the classroom cannot be conducive to learning and appears more like an elaborate form of torture.  The students are forced to sit perfectly still in an upright position with their hands either crossed or on their knees for hours on end.  The intense pressure of sitting upright for hours on end without movement has given most detainees one of a variety of physical ailments such as hemorrhoids and muscle disorders.  All classrooms are watched by employees of the camps on CCTV cameras, and these hidden monitors quickly berate students in the Chinese language from loudspeakers in the classroom if they are observed moving, appearing to be falling asleep or fidgeting....

The intensity of this experience suggests an environment far worse than most prisons in the world.  The detainees are given almost no opportunity to communicate with each other, and with the exception of morning exercise sessions, they are forced to be completely still for the majority of the day. ...

This controlled atmosphere of surveillance and limited communication must create a feeling of complete isolation.  Accompanied by a barrage of propaganda focused on building a “Chinese” identity for the detainees and breaking down their Uighur identity, this isolation must inflict untold psychological trauma.  For this reason, and given the indefinite term of inmates’ detention, it is not surprising that my informant’s acquaintance told A that there were frequent suicide attempts in the camp.  https://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/xinjiang-uighur-muslims-internment-camps-china-human-rights-news-54321/

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1-18-2018   The described surveillance system alerts the country's authorities if a person, listed as a terror suspect, strays for more than 300 meters (1,000 feet) from "safe areas," described by sources as the target's home and workplace.    https://sputniknews.com/military/201801181060856202-china-facial-recognition-system/

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10-16-2018    In interview published by the state-run news agency Xinhua the Xinjiang governor,

Shohrat Zakir, said:  the training institutions “care about the mental health of students” and provide counselling services.  He said the cafeterias in the camps prepare “nutritious diets” and that all dormitories were equipped with radios, televisions, and air conditioning.  Facilities for basketball, volleyball, table tennis and stages for performances have been built, he added.  Activities such as writing, singing and dance contests are also organised for students, he said.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/16/internment-camps-make-uighurs-life-more-colourful-says-xinjiang-governor

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10-25-2018  

 -Senator Cory Bernardi addressing the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on November 29, 2017. (Michael Masters/Getty Images)    “Australia must never surrender our principles for trade or appeasing a Chinese Communist Party that tramples freedoms,” Bernardi told the Epoch Times.  
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-Tan Hongjin; about to leave for China with goodies

12-22-18    A LinkedIn profile says that Tan has worked for the Texas-based energy multinational Phillips 66 since May 2017.  He previously spent more than 11 years at the California Institute of Technology as a visiting scientist and research assistant.  His expertise is described in the profile as “materials and systems development for renewable energy storage”.

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, which has not been tested in court, Tan had in his possession a flash drive that contained deleted and undeleted confidential files relating to the US company’s intellectual property.  He had no reason to access the files, according to the company.

The agent said Tan handed the flash drive over to the US company, and the firm found that the deleted files would have allowed his new employers to recreate the product in question.  The files had been deleted from the flash drive the day before Tan resigned, the affidavit said.     https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2179192/chinese-battery-expert-hongjin-tan-charged-stealing