China published new Xinjiang white paper in an attempt to push back against forced labor criticisms

China’s State Council released a white paper on employment and labor rights in Xinjiang, highlighting how the Chinese government has been “transforming” the autonomous region through “proactive employment programs” across the region. Additionally, the Chinese government also claimed that it “prevents and punishes any incidents of forced labor,” despite mounting evidence from international scholars and journalists that suggest the opposite.

Over the last few months, China faces mounting pressure and criticism from western countries and international organizations over its policies in Xinjiang, where over one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are believed to have been interned in thousands of re-education camps across the region. Labor rights groups have also been calling on apparel brands across the world to severe ties with factories in Xinjiang, which they believe have been manufacturing products through government-sponsored forced labor programs.

In an attempt to counter mounting criticisms, China’s state council released a white paper on Thursday, claiming that as many as 1.28 million workers have received “vocational training” every year on average from 2014 to 2019. It also claimed that the government has been facilitating employment as “the most fundamental project for ensuring and improving people’s wellbeing.”

The state council begins the white paper by claiming that the four prefectures in southern Xinjiang have a poor eco-environment and weak economic foundation. Additionally, the white paper attributed “the extreme poverty” of the region to “terrorists, separatists and religious extremists have long preached that ‘the afterlife is fated’ and that ‘religious teachings are superior to state laws,’” which it said incites the public to “resist learning the standard spoken and written Chinese language, reject modern science, and refuse to improve their vocational skills.”

“As a result, some local people have outdated ideas; they suffer from poor education and employability, low employment rates and incomes, and have fallen into long-term poverty,” the white paper wrote.

However, the most noticeable part of the white paper is when it claims that an annual average of 1.28 million individuals have been receiving training sessions between 2014 and 2019. In southern Xinjiang, the annual average of people receiving training sessions during 2014 to 2019 was 451,000.

“The trainees mastered at least one skill with employment potential, and the vast majority of them obtained vocational qualifications, skill level certificates, or specialized skill certificates, allowing them to go on to find stable employment,” the white paper claimed.

Some experts point out that the white paper is yet another example of Beijing trying to justify its repression of the Uyghurs by publishing a white paper. “Since 2015, the State Council Information Office has released seven white papers about Uyghurs,” said Elise Anderson, Senior Program Officer for Research and Advocacy at the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Other experts pointed out that the international community should be cautious before drawing too many links between the “vocational training” discussed in the white paper and the concentration re-education centers that confined countless numbers of Uyghurs.

“The Chinese document is very careful in its terminology referring to 职能培训 and 就业培训,” said Dr. Timothy Grose, associate professor of China Studies at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. “These types of programs have existed in Xinjiang for quite some time. In fact, the Shaoguan incident in 2009 involved Uyghur laborers who were part of a government program.”

Grose pointed out that recently, certain places in Xinjiang have imposed a surplus labor policy in which households with one individual capable of working can stay home. “For surplus labors, those under the age of 30 are sent outside of Xinjiang to work and ‘eliminate habits,’” Grose said. “Those between the age of 30 and 45 are relocated within Xinjiang whereas those over the age of 45 will work nearby and care for family during off hours.”

Grose emphasized that while there might be some former detainees of the re-education camps funneling into these programs, the programs seem to have exist independently of the re-education camps.

According to the white paper, following the principle of “providing training according to market demand and before dispatching workers,” 117,000 people have achieved employment with higher income in other parts of China since 2014.

“Xinjiang has organized employment-oriented training on standard spoken and written Chinese, relevant legal knowledge, general knowhow of urban life, and labor skills,” the white paper wrote.

China “prevents and punishes any incidents of forced labor”

Apart from claiming to have provided millions of people in Xinjiang training sessions since 2014, the white paper also emphasizes how the Xinjiang government designs its employment policies by referencing workers’ preferences. “This ensures that the people can make their own choices about work and enjoy a happy life,” wrote the white paper.

Additionally, the Chinese government also promises through the white paper that it resolutely prevents and punishes “any incidents of forced labor.” It claims that China has many laws that stipulate “forcing a person to work by means of violence, threat, or illegal limitation of personal freedom; or affronting, physically punishing, beating, illegally searching or detaining an employee” as actions that are strictly forbidden and will lead to administrative punishments.

However, Dr. Elise Anderson from UHRP thinks that the claims made by the white paper show China is scrambling to “whitewash its actions and portray its forced-labor programs in a positive light,” which might be caused by increased scrutiny and pressure on the labor issue in recent months.

Previously, Dr. James Leibold from La Trobe University in Australia, described the forced labor programs in Xinjiang as an extension of the re-education system, since local government in Xinjiang tried to indoctrinate the Uyghurs and force them to learn Mandarin while they were in the camps. They will then be sent to different parts of China and conduct forced labor at factories.

Interesting timing to release the white paper

Experts all agree that one of the goals for China to release the white paper at this point is to refute all the criticisms that the international community has made against its policies in Xinjiang.

At the end of the white paper, the Chinese government accused certain international forces for applying double standards in Xinjiang as they criticize breaches of human rights while “ignoring the tremendous efforts Xinjiang has made to protect human rights.”

“They have fabricated facts to support their false claims of ‘forced labor’ in Xinjiang, and smeared the local government’s work on employment and job security,” the white paper wrote. “Their acts amount to a denial of the fact that the local people in Xinjiang enjoy the right to work, aspire to move out of poverty and backwardness and are working towards that goal. Such groundless allegation would be strongly opposed by everyone who values justice and progress.”

Grose from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology acknowledges that the white paper is Beijing’s attempt to push back against accusations of forced labor, but he thinks there might be more to the timing that they choose to publish the white paper.

“Activists, journalists, and scholars have reported on coerced and forced labor for over a year,” Grose said. “Yet the white paper was not published until after the Department of Homeland Security issued five Withhold and Release Orders (WRO) on products produced in Xinjiang or likely produced by Uyghur laborers. This decision may suggest the CCP’s top brass is anxious about the possible economic impact of these WROs, especially if other countries adopt similar measures.”

Grose thinks that even though one-liners from western politicians will do little to sway the Chinese government, if the pressure has real implications on China’s economy, the international community might see Beijing respond proactively and hopefully even ease its persecution of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

This article is first published in Mandarin on DW’s Chinese website.