Xinjiang is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Internationally, the region is best known for the human rights crimes committed by the Communist Party against the Uyghurs living there. Table.Briefings has all the latest news. China: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Officially, the Communist Party refers to the area as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Uyghur independence movement calls the region East Turkestan. This refers to an area that is around five times the size of Germany. This makes Xinjiang the largest of China's 33 administrative units in terms of area. Around 26 million people live here. This puts the region in 21st place out of 33.Xinjiang has always been home to various Muslim ethnic groups. The Uyghurs are the largest of these. Since Xinjiang was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949, there have been repeated conflicts between Han Chinese and Uyghurs. The Communist Party is accused of wanting to replace the native culture with its own. In order to achieve this, massive human rights violations are taking place in Xinjian, as reported by the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch. The Research Service of the German Bundestag even speaks of genocide, the Canadian government of genocide. What does Xinjiang mean? Xinjiang is one of five autonomous regions in China. The other four are Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Tibet. Xinjiang was of enormous importance to the People's Republic of China from an early stage. This is because the Tienshan ("Heavenly Mountains") region was already part of the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). At that time, the region was still called Xiyu, which means "western territories". The current name Xinjiang dates back to 1884 and means "new frontier." The high proportion of Muslim inhabitants dates back to the Middle Ages. At that time, more and more Muslims settled in the region. The area was heavily contested. Although the area was liberated from the Mongols under the last Chinese imperial dynasty, the inhabitants of the area were henceforth regarded as subjects of the Chinese. When the Qing dynasty collapsed, Xinjiang was briefly independent. Xinjiang: history of China's largest region In 1933, Sheng Shicai established a military dictatorship in Xinjiang. In response, the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan seceded in the south of the country. Sheng Shicai quelled this unrest with the help of the Soviet military. He allied himself with the Guomindang and ruled Xinjiang with a firm hand. The "Three Regions Revolution" ended his rule. Muslims again proclaimed the Republic of East Turkestan, but it was not recognized by any state. With the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party also incorporated Xinjiang, which was then under the control of the government in Beijing. The Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang was founded in 1955. The region in the north-west was affected by both the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) and the subsequent economic miracle in the same way as the other areas of the People's Republic. Xinjiang: China's largest region Xinjiang is the largest region in China in terms of area and takes up one sixth of the People's Republic. At almost 1.7 million square kilometers, the area is five times the size of Germany. The borderline of 5,600 kilometers makes up a quarter of China's borderline. Due to its location in the northwest of the country, Xinjiang borders a total of seven countries:RussiaPakistanAfghanistanKazakhstanMongoliaTajikistanKyrgyzstanA large part of the area is taken up by the Tarim Basin, home to the Uyghurs. It also includes the Taklamakan Desert. The Turfan Depression is also important for Xinjiang. It lies up to 155 meters below sea level, making it very warm there. Thanks to the Turpan irrigation system, an underground well system, the region is very fertile. Xinjiang: Agricultural importance Due to the fertile Turpan depression, agriculture is of enormous importance in Xinjiang. Not only for the region itself, but for the entire People's Republic of China. Grapes, melons, pears, tomatoes, cereals and sugar beet are grown here. Livestock farming, on the other hand, is less common. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), also known as "Bingtuan", is responsible for the administrative organization of agriculture. A paramilitary organization that was founded in 1954 on the orders of Mao Zedong. Its task was to develop the border areas economically. The Communist Party deployed 175,000 military personnel for this purpose. Although the XPCC was dissolved in 1975 during the Cultural Revolution, it was re-established in 1981. As the Mujahidin quickly gained power after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the XPCC was once again tasked with stabilizing the border region. What is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps? The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) is regarded as an extension of the government in Beijing. The Bingtuan coordinates the colonization of the area in northwest China. By 2001 alone, the corps had built over 2,000 settlements, over 90% of which were occupied by Han Chinese, according to Swiss Refugee Aid. The XPCC also maintains its own prisons, in which politically-oppositional Uyghurs are also imprisoned. The XPCC is extremely important for the Chinese Communist Party in order to exert direct influence on the Xinjiang region without having to deal with regional governments, according to Swiss Refugee Aid, summarizing the role of the Bingtuan. The paramilitary organization has been settling Han Chinese for five decades in order to strengthen their economic and political influence in the Uyghur homeland. Why is Xinjiang important for China? Xinjiang is important to China because of its enormous coal, oil and gas reserves. One fifth of the production of these raw materials in China comes from Xinjiang. Another important point is cotton. 85% of China's cotton comes from this region. That is more than a fifth of total world production. Around 70% of this quantity is still picked by hand, and Adrian Zenz has evaluated government documents and state media reports for his study, stating that forced laborers have to do this job. The Chinese government denies the accusation. Who is producing in Xinjiang? In its report "Uyghurs for Sale", the Australian think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) lists a total of 82 internationally renowned companies doing business in Xinjiang. They could benefit at least indirectly from the forced labor of the Uyghurs. Many German companies are among them, which is explosive. The Bundestag's Scientific Service considers the treatment of the Uyghurs to be genocide and writes of an "obligation to break off business relations" for German companies in Xinjiang. According to the ASPI, this would affect Adidas, BMW, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Puma, Siemens and Volkswagen, among others. However, large corporations from other countries also maintain business relationships in Xinjiang. Amazon, Apple, General Motors, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung and Sony, among others, are also accused of profiting from the oppression of the Uyghurs. How many Uyghurs are there? The study "Identity and Mobilization in Transnational Societies: A Case Study of Uyghur Diasporic Nationalism" estimates that there are around 15 million Uyghurs worldwide. Around ten million of them live in Xinjiang, most of them in the Tarim Basin, an area in southern Xinjiang. That is 0.75% of China's total population. Between 1978 and 2020, the population of Uyghurs in China almost doubled because the minority was exempt from the now abolished one-child and two-child policy.the proportion of Han Chinese in Xinjiang is traditionally high. Back in the 19th century, they made up around 30% of the population, while the proportion of Uyghurs was 60%. Today, they only make up 46% of Xinjiang's population. Rebiya Kadeer, a Uyghur human rights activist, accuses the Communist Party of Sinicization. The native culture of the Uyghurs is being deliberately pushed into the background. China's genocide of the Uyghurs However, the reports of a targeted campaign against the Uyghurs go far beyond a cultural takeover. German China researcher Adrian Zenz, for example, published a study. In it, he shows that the birth rate in Xinjiang fell by an average of 24% between 2015 and 2018. Zenz attributes this to forced sterilizations and abortions, and the United Nations (UN) estimates that around one million people in Xinjiang are being held in internment camps. The Australian Aspi Institute has identified 380 such camps in the region. The Communist Party does not deny the existence of the camps, but calls them "training centers" in which "learning courses" are offered. The so-called "Xuexu Ban". The government justifies the crackdown with the fight against Islamist terror. Evidence of forced labor in Xinjiang According to research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the inmates of these camps are also used as forced laborers. According to their research, a total of at least 80,000 Uyghurs were taken directly from the camps to factories between 2017 and 2019, and the think tank was able to trace forced labor back to Highbroad Advanced Material. Among other things, the company manufactures lighting modules and LCD components, which it would supply to the display manufacturer BOE Technology Group. The company in turn supplies its products to BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, among others, according to the "Uyghurs for Sale" study. The car manufacturers themselves are named as customers by Highbroad Advanced Material. Jaguar Land Rover, at least, denies any cooperation. News about Xinjiang Xinjiang is an extremely important area for the People's Republic of China, both for exports and for its own supply of raw materials and food. However, the Communist Party is internationally criticized for its treatment of the Uyghurs. This makes business relations more difficult. An important point. Especially with regard to the New Silk Road. The Table.Media editorial team provides all the relevant news and developments relating to Xinjiang.
