Die wichtigsten Fakten zu den China Cables

What is the secret document about? How does China react and what does the Uighur situation have to do with Germany? Answers to the most important questions.
What is the China Cables about?
Confidential documents from the Chinese Communist Party document their secret stipulations for the mass internment of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim minority. The detainees should renounce their religion and submit to the ideology of the Communist Party. Experts estimate that more than a million Uighurs are currently interned in northwest China.

The documents that have been leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) are of great importance because, in the Communist Party's words, they unequivocally attest to the fact that people are being locked up and are not allowed to leave the camps. The Chinese government's central line of defense had previously said that the camps were "vocational training centers" and that the stay was voluntary. In fact, the China Cables show that the inmates are usually detained for at least one year. The documents also suggest that China is using its embassies and consulates to monitor Uighurs abroad.

Along with government documents released by the New York Times a few days ago, the China Cables paint the image of a camp and surveillance state that the Chinese government has established in the Xinjiang region.
Who are the Uighurs?
The Uighurs are located in northwest China, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. They belong to the so-called Turkic peoples. Most Uighurs are Muslims - they form a minority in the People's Republic. The government in Beijing has been trying to assimilate the ethnic group for several years. Muslim customs were banned, mosques and cemeteries destroyed. In addition, more and more Han Chinese - they represent the largest ethnic group in China - are being relocated to Xinjiang. As a result, less than half of Xinjiang's inhabitants are Uighurs today. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, it was well over 70 percent.
Where do the China Cables documents come from?
The papers were leaked to the ICIJ by exile Uighurs. However, the original source is apparently a person in Xinjiang, whose identity the ICIJ claims to be unknown. The ICIJ paid no money for the information. The journalists' association has shared and analyzed the documents with 17 media worldwide, such as the Guardian, the New York Times and the BBC. In Germany, the Norddeutsche Rundfunk and the Westdeutsche Rundfunk were involved in addition to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

How was the authenticity of the information checked?
Several of the documents were signed by the then deputy chief of the Xinjiang Communist Party - a man named Zhu Hailun. According to experts, the language style of the documents is also typical of internal statements by the Communist Party. According to SZ information, the documents are also available to at least one western secret service that has found them to be authentic. China expert Adrian Zenz, who received the documents independently of the ICIJ, also believes them to be genuine after a thorough investigation. The Chinese embassy in Berlin replied shortly to a detailed request for the documents and referred to earlier statements that the camps were measures to "combat terrorism and de-radicalization as well as for vocational education and training".
What exactly are the documents?
The China Cables are three different types of documents: detailed instructions from the Communist Party on the operation of internment camps, four internal notices on a surveillance database, and a Chinese court ruling against a Uighur in 2018.

The nine-page guide to camp maintenance was written in 2018 by the Communist Party's "Political and Legal Affairs Commission" in Xinjiang. More than two dozen rules are listed under the heading "Opinion on the further strengthening and standardization of education and training centers for professional skills". Among other things, it says literally: "Outbreaks must never occur." It also explains that all rooms and corridors must be strictly cordoned off - the document thereby refutes the Chinese authorities' previous claim that the camp inmates were there voluntarily and could leave at any time. The document is marked "confidential" and is subject to the second highest level of confidentiality in China.

In four other documents from 2017 classified as secret, the author explains how the "integration platform for joint operations" should be used. It is a surveillance database that contains information from various sources: interrogations, surveillance software, but also information from the surveillance cameras that can be seen on almost every street corner in Xinjiang. "The aim is to make the citizens of Xinjiang transparent citizens," according to a study by the Mercator Foundation in March 2019. The "integration platform for joint operations" determines who is suspicious and who is not. According to the China Cables, the authorities arrested a total of 15,638 Xinjiang Uighurs in a single week in June 2017 and put them in camps.

The documents also show that China also monitors Uighurs in exile, and Chinese consulates and embassies collect information about them. According to the document, should suspected exile Uighurs enter China, they should be interned in camps.

Another document is a 2018 Qakilik regional court ruling against a Uighur. He was arrested in the summer of 2017 and finally sentenced to ten years in prison, among other things because he is said to have asked his colleagues not to watch porn and not to swear because this is incompatible with the Muslim belief.

How did the Chinese government react to the revelations?
China has so far insisted that the camps are vocational training facilities. The goals are to fight poverty and to contain extremist ideas. The government in Beijing left unanswered detailed questions about the China Cables. The British Guardian told the embassy in London that the documents were "pure forgery".

Does the Chinese population know about the camps?
When Chinese state television reports about Xinjiang, men and women are often seen dancing, wearing traditional clothes and laughing a lot. Otherwise, the state only informs its citizens: The security situation is under control, the strong police presence is paying off. Many Chinese from other parts of the country are still afraid to go to the region. In Urumqi or Kashgar it is just as dangerous as in Kabul or Baghdad, you hear again and again. The population learns nothing of the camps. It is not reported in the newspapers, and most comments on the Internet are usually hastily deleted.

What is the international community doing about the Xinjiang Detention Center?