Sent i gĂ„r publicerade New York Times vad som sannolikt Ă€r den viktigaste lĂ€ckan av dokument angĂ„ende det mest fasansfulla som utspelar sig i Kina just nu. Ăver 400 sidor officiella dokument förklarar dels bakgrunden till de politiska fĂ„nglĂ€ger som upprĂ€ttats för över en miljon muslimer i regionen Xinjiang, och avslöjar dels tydligt president Xi Jinpings personliga roll i etableringen av detta lĂ€gersystem.
Dokumenten visar vidare myndigheternas oro över vilka konsekvenser den hÀnsynslösa kampanjen mot uigurer och andra muslimska minoriteter i Xinjiang riskerar fÄ. Förutom internationell kritik, vill man Àven stoppa reaktioner frÄn den inhemska opinionen och frÀmst frÄn familjemedlemmar till de individer som plötsligt försvinner in i lÀgren.
Dokumenten har dÀrför distribuerats till lokala tjÀnstemÀn, som beordras kalla till sig exempelvis studenter som ÄtervÀnder till Xinjiang frÄn andra delar av Kina eller utlandet. DÀr finns instruktioner om hur tjÀnstemÀnnen bör svara pÄ specifika frÄga, samt varna personer att hÄlla tyst om vad som skett deras familj och vÀnner:
The guide recommended increasingly firm replies telling the students that their relatives had been âinfectedâ by the âvirusâ of Islamic radicalism and must be quarantined and cured. Even grandparents and family members who seemed too old to carry out violence could not be spared, officials were directed to say.
âIf they donât undergo study and training, theyâll never thoroughly and fully understand the dangers of religious extremism,â one answer said, citing the civil war in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State. âNo matter what age, anyone who has been infected by religious extremism must undergo study.â
Students should be grateful that the authorities had taken their relatives away, the document said.
Rapporten Ă€r omfattande och New York Times artikel i samband med publiceringen av dokumenten Ă€r lĂ„ng. ĂndĂ„ Ă€r artikeln givetvis obligatorisk lĂ€sning för alla med intresse av politik och mĂ€nskliga rĂ€ttigheter i Kina.
LÄt mig nedan ÀndÄ sammanfatta nÄgra av de viktigaste punkterna i artikeln och dokumenten:
1) Av de över 400 lÀckta sidorna innehÄller nÀrmare 200 stycken interna tal av president Xi Jinping. InnehÄllet visar att han personligen spelar en lika pÄdrivande som avgörande roll för den enorma mÀngd muslimer som tagits till politiska fÄnglÀger.
2014 meddelade Xi början pĂ„ en ”all out struggle” mot terrorism i Xinjiang. Han beklagar sig över att tidigare metoder som anvĂ€nts för att fĂ„ bukt med motsĂ€ttningarna i Xinjiang varit ”för primitiva”, och att man nu ska visa ”absolut ingen nĂ„d”.
Det finns i de lĂ€ckta dokumenten finns mĂ„nga liknande citat frĂ„n flera av Xis tal om Xinjiang. DĂ€r finns Ă€ven citat frĂ„n Chen Quanguo, som Xi 2016 utsĂ„g till partichef över Xinjiang 2016, och som bland annat gav ordern ”round up everyone” till lokala tjĂ€nstemĂ€n.
2) Rapporten visar pÄ motstÄnd mot den vÄldsamma kampanjen inom partiets egna led. Till att börja med sÄ har dokumenten lÀckts av en tjÀnsteman med förhoppningen att Xi Jinping och andra politiker som bÀr ansvaret för övergreppen inte ska kunna slippa undan.
Ăver 12 000 tjĂ€nstemĂ€nnen har hamnat under utredning för att inte följa ”kampen mot separatism” enligt instruktionerna. Tusentals av dem har ocksĂ„ straffats för att ha skyddat uiguriska kollegor eller för att inte arrestera lika mĂ„nga uigurer som kvoterna uppifrĂ„n uppmanade.
Dokumenten innefattar konkreta exempel pÄ tjÀnstemÀn som straffats, sannolikt i avskrÀckande syfte.
3) Ytterligare 150 av de lÀckta sidorna innehÄller direktiv och rapporter angÄende övervakning och kontroll av folkgruppen uigurer i Xinjiang.
Bland annat finns dÀr uppgifter om ett poÀngsystem vilket anvÀnds för att bestÀmma vilka som ska sitta i lÀgren. Det liknar i allt vÀsentligt systemet med social kreditvÀrdighet, som hÄller pÄ att rullas i Kina och testas i Xinjiang. Studenter och andra personer varnas för att deras beteende kan drabba de anhörigas rankingpoÀng.
Dokumenten utgör vidare den största kÀllan av detaljerade bevis hittills för ett förtryck som kinesiska myndigheter försöker ömsom förneka ömsom förhÀrliga, men som New York Times med rÀtta beskriver som den största kampanjen för internering av mÀnniskor i Kina sedan Mao Zedongs dagar:
Even as the government presented its efforts in Xinjiang to the public as benevolent and unexceptional, it discussed and organized a ruthless and extraordinary campaign in these internal communications. Senior party leaders are recorded ordering drastic and urgent action against extremist violence, including the mass detentions, and discussing the consequences with cool detachment.
Children saw their parents taken away, students wondered who would pay their tuition and crops could not be planted or harvested for lack of manpower, the reports noted. Yet officials were directed to tell people who complained to be grateful for the Communist Partyâs help and stay quiet.
The leaked papers offer a striking picture of how the hidden machinery of the Chinese state carried out the countryâs most far-reaching internment campaign since the Mao era.
Inte överraskande har dokumenten skapat starka reaktioner, Àven frÄn utlÀndska myndigheter. Om inte de hemska detaljerna i denna lÀcka fÄr omvÀrlden att reagera, ja dÄ kan Kinas politiska ledare verkligen komma undan med precis vad som helst.
Se nÄgra kommentarer via Twitter nedan:
More than 400 pages of internal Chinese documents detail the origins and growth of the indoctrination program in Xinjiang, where a million or more predominately Muslim minorities have been held in a vast network of detention centers https://t.co/4Hwnq478nB
— Austin Ramzy (@austinramzy) November 16, 2019
Simply incredible reporting by @austinramzy and @ChuBailiang on a massive leak of documents from Xinjiang that show the governmentâs ruthlessness, not only against Uighurs but also against some Han officials who disagreed w/ the harshness of the crackdown. https://t.co/uAD7gQ0a5k
— Mike Forsythe ć æćŸ· (@PekingMike) November 16, 2019
Breaking my Twitter silence to highlight this very significant leak. Offers a *lot* of new insight into how and why Xinjiangâs Muslim re-engineering program got underway. Brave, vital work by the person who exposed these documents. And kudos to NYT on the fantastic presentation https://t.co/DxLojCpIev
— Josh Chin (@joshchin) November 16, 2019
"The documents confirm the coercive nature of the crackdown in the words and orders of the very officials who conceived and orchestrated it." They include speeches by Xi Jinping urging "absolutely no mercy." âŠ@austinramzyâ© and âŠ@ChuBailiangâ©. https://t.co/BBMdWuD65Z
— Steven Lee Myers (@stevenleemyers) November 16, 2019
Breaking: over 400 leaked internal document pages on Xinjiang's internment campaign.
A county chief quietly ordered the release of >7,000 camp inmates to contain the campaign's fallout â an act of defiance for which he would be detained, stripped of power and prosecuted. https://t.co/HCI5vUSQMW— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) November 16, 2019
CCP rejects international criticism of its policies in Xinjiang, but the explosive leaked "Xinjiang papers" "confirm the coercive nature of the crackdown in the words and orders of the very officials who conceived and orchestrated it." Must read @nytimes https://t.co/CKFzezCyLw
— James Leibold (@jleibold) November 16, 2019
While these leaked docs are consistent with what we already know about Xinjiang, they provided important details & insights, such as how the crackdown originated from Xi Jinping, how Xinjiang officials have pushed back (& then punished).https://t.co/DTi58b3Ej1
— Maya Wang çæŸèČ (@wang_maya) November 16, 2019
THE XINJIANG PAPERS âAbsolutely No Mercyâ: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims. More than 400 pgs of internal Chinese documents provide an unprecedentd inside look at the crackdown on ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. https://t.co/3Lw7LNWZEn
— Theresa Fallon (@TheresaAFallon) November 16, 2019
I read this last night and could not sleep. The leaker "expressed hope that their disclosure would prevent party leaders, including Mr. Xi, from escaping culpability for the mass detentions."https://t.co/B5h78YCDD3
— Emily Feng (@EmilyZFeng) November 17, 2019
The assault on the Uighurs can be directly linked to Xi himself, according to docs: âXi Jinping, the party chief, laid the groundwork for the crackdown in a series of speeches delivered in private to officials during and after a visit to Xinjiangâ https://t.co/be5r7ZILvX
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 16, 2019
So many important reveals in this, but what struck me most is the resistance from officials, presumably a lot of them Han Chinese. 'Thousands of officials in Xinjiang were punished for resisting or failing to carry out the crackdown with sufficient zeal.' https://t.co/xLesmGupRT
— Lily Kuo (@lilkuo) November 16, 2019
Australian Foreign Minister @MarisePayne has responded to the massive Xinjiang document dump to NYT, branding the revelations "disturbing". Comments echoed by @SenatorWong. @RichardDiNatale said the details were "horrifying". Ping @austinramzy @ChuBailiang https://t.co/V7ESc4DtN6
— Fergus Hunter (@fergushunter) November 17, 2019
If the US decides to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions over the Xinjiang camps these documents may make it hard to argue that the sanctions should not be applied to Xi Jinping and the entire Politburo, if not every central committee member as well. https://t.co/cPk6rZcNJY
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) November 16, 2019
The most disturbing part is how the whole concept of the camp is explained to children of detainees, many of whom are put up in state-run orphanage or boarding schools. This is a direct proof that the #CCP is aiming to wipe out a whole generation of #Uyghurs by imposing …
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) November 16, 2019