Chinese Labour Camps … but the Australian Left are Silent By James Reed

     Everybody know that I love China, in a funny like of way, but I am not a big fan of concentration camps at all, even of less concentrated camps. I don’t even like concentrated soup, or even concentrating too hard myself:
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-17/china-muslim-minority-camps-work-revealed-leaked-documents/11712152
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-25/china-cables-beijings-xinjiang-secrets-revealed/11719016

“A leaked 400-page document released by the New York Times reveal new details about how the Chinese have organised the mass detention of more than 1 million people from its Muslim minorities, including the Uyghurs and Kazakhs.

Key points:
•    The leaked papers reveal President Xi Jingping laid the foundation of the crackdown in 2014
•    Chinese authorities reportedly prepared for the "turmoil" created by tearing families apart
•    The New York Times has called it the most significant leak from inside China

The exclusive report, described by the Times as the "one of the most significant leaks of government papers from inside China", exposes the key role played by top Chinese officials as well as President Xi Jinping in the establishment of the indoctrination camps. According to the New York Times, the whistleblower was an anonymous member of the Chinese political establishment, who wanted to ensure top Communist Party leaders could not escape culpability for the crackdown. The United Nations has said there are credible reports at least 1 million Uyghurs are detained in Xinjiang's "re-education" camps. China maintains its treatment of Uyghurs — a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority — is necessary to counter terrorism and extremism. The leaked papers reportedly reveal President Xi laid the foundation of the crackdown in 2014 in private speeches to officials, after a deadly knife attack at a train station by Uyghur militants in which more than 130 people were injured and at least 33 were killed. However, it does not show Mr Xi directly ordering the creation of the detention camps. In his speeches, Mr Xi called for an all-out "struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism" using the "organs of dictatorship" and showing "absolutely no mercy". The documents shows a sharp difference between Mr Xi and his predecessor Hu Jintao's beliefs on the appropriate way to control terrorism in the sensitive region, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. While Mr Hu responded to the deadly 2009 riots in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi with a clampdown, he also pushed for economic reforms. However, Mr Xi said despite economic growth, "ethnic separatism" and "terrorist violence" was still on the rise. "The psychological impact of extremist religious thought on people must never be underestimated," Mr Xi told officials on his trip to Xinjiang in 2014.

     I must admit, that although I said above that the Australian Left have been largely silent on China’s camps, while endless raving on about how all the refugees should be let into Australia etc., the ABC has been exceptional in its coverage. By “Left” I have in mind the academics and their little socialist cubs who come and bash you. Good, we have our terminology all sorted out, nicely.