China's White Paper on Xinjiang ahead of UNHRC session has few takers

NEW DELHI: China had attempted to present a rosy picture of restive Xinjiang region ahead of Geneva UNHRC meet through a recently published White Paper but its "propaganda" has not made impact to change international opinion.

China released a whitepaper on vocational education and training centres in Xinjiang timed ahead of UNHRC session. The paper, viewed by ET, tries to portray Xinjiang as a battlefield against terrorism and justifies the camps as necessity.

However, the vocational and training camps run by Beijing in Xinjiang is nothing but detention centres for locals, ET has learnt. A million of Uyghurs have allegedly been detained to prevent "radicalisation" among the locals in Xinjiang, alleged persons familiar with the dynamics of the region.


Xinjiang's GDP has only risen in tertiary sector and not in core sectors contrary to Beijing's claims. There are also reports of forced labour and special camps for Uyghur children.

Chinese state-run media regularly publishes articles of how development is reaching its zenith in Xinjiang. These articles would claim that how a large number of tourists are coming to Xinjiang to celebrate holidays and how the region's GDP is on rise. While it is a fact that the GDP of Xinjiang has risen substantially in recent times, it has largely been in tertiary sector and very little has improved in other sectors.

In Xinjiang while Han-majority areas of Hami and Urumqi are well off, Uyghur dominated areas of Kashgar, Hotan and Kizilsu annual disposable income are low.