According to Business Insider, over 2 million Uyghurs have been forced into internment camps in Xinjiang, an independently controlled area of northwest China. There, they face countless forms of physical and mental abuse. The majority of these camps, which Vox reports to now outnumber 380, were constructed between 2017 and 2018, though this problem continues to run rampant today.
Uyghurs are a Turkish ethnic group and account for over 11 million of Xinjiang’s population of 21.82 million people, although they remain a minority in China, according to Britannica. Mostly village dwellers, their most prominent cities are Urumqi, in Xinjiang as well as Kashgar, close to the border of China and Russia.
Veteran Diplomat: U.S. Confronts China to Protect Supremacy, Not Security
Veteran US diplomat Chas Freeman says that despite talk of a New Cold War between the US and China, the US in reality is reacting aggressively to a rising Chinese power whose economic gains threaten US global supremacy. “We’ve become accustomed over the past 75 years to be the overlord in East Asia,” Freeman says.
By Aaron MATÉ
Chas Freeman, who served in top State Department positions and as Richard Nixon’s chief interpreter on his historic 1972 visit to China, discusses the state of US-China relations and flashpoints of conflict such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang.