People’s Daily on forced homestays in Xinjiang
State media is reporting on China’s nightmarish program of forced homestays in Uyghur homes in Xinjiang. This is from the Global Times:
Until September 2018, some 1.1 million civil servants have paired up with more than 1.69 million ethnic minority citizens, especially village residents, People’s Daily reported on Wednesday [in Chinese].
The report said that various administrative departments, enterprises from the central government and military departments, including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and Xinjiang Armed Police Corps, have made over 49 million visits to local residents. The number of activities themed “ethnics unite as a family,” held by these departments, reached more than 11 million…
…Besides promoting the unity of different ethnics in Xinjiang, Zhu noted that the program is beneficial to both the masses and civil servants in Xinjiang, as it helps officials get close to the grassroots level of Xinjiang society, bringing advanced technology and views to rural districts, which can solve their life difficulties and develop the productivity.
The program began from October 16 in 2016, encouraging civil servants to interact actively with the masses in Xinjiang through various methods like pairing and regarding as relatives.
See also: China: re-engineering the Uyghur, by Louisa Lim, and Xinjiang’s re-education and securitization campaign: evidence from domestic security budgets, by Adrian Zenz.
