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For more than two decades, China has developed close economic and security ties with many Latin American countries, including Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. But Beijing’s increasing sway in the region continues to raise concerns in Washington, prompting greater U.S. engagement.
China's Police State: The Human Rights Crisis in Xinjiang
Monday, November 5, 2018
A police officer talks to men in a street in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, March 24, 2017.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter
China has turned Xinjiang into a surveillance state. It’s estimated that over a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been put in “re-education camps” where detainees are made to drink alcohol and eat pork, sing Chinese anthems, and denounce their religion. Outside the camps, thousands of video cameras line the streets, and even purchasing a kitchen knife means turning over personal information so that it can be encoded in a QR code. China has defended these practices, saying that they are necessary to combat the rising tide of religious extremism, while former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley described the situation as “straight out of George Orwell.” Nury Turkel, chairman of the board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project, joins us to discuss the increasingly dire situation in Xinjiang and what the West can do.