Not a nice time to be a cadre in Xinjiang
On December 14, the Associated Press reported that the Xinjiang regional government was “deleting data, destroying documents, tightening controls on information and has held high-level meetings in response to leaks of classified papers on its mass detention” of Muslim minorities.
But no matter what gets moved offline or shredded, as long as people have access to information, there is the risk they will share it. Which perhaps explains a “discipline inspection” campaign noted on the People’s Daily home page yesterday (in Chinese), headlined “Xinjiang: Discipline inspection and supervision for high-quality development (must read).”
The article discusses recent and upcoming reviews of officials’ behavior and performance “not only at the autonomous region level, but also by prefectures and counties, with patrols and cross-checks to be conducted between counties and cities.” The key aim of the campaign appears to be making sure that Party members are in political and ideological lockstep with Party leadership. Key quote:
We highlight political supervision. When we investigate cases, we must first reflect on political standards and see if there are violations of political discipline and political rules.
