BEIJING (Reuters) - China's counter-terror and de-radicalisation efforts in its far western region of Xinjiang should be applauded for creating a new method of tackling the problem, a senior diplomat told foreign envoys last week. China is stepping up its diplomatic outreach over controversial camps in the heavily Muslim region, inviting more foreign diplomats to visit as it seeks to head off criticism from Muslim-majority nations and at the United Nations. The government says the camps are re-education and training facilities, and have been highly successful in stopping attacks previously blamed on Islamist militants and separatists, but rights groups say they are internment camps. Chinese officials briefed diplomats from more than 80 countries and international organisations in Beijing on Friday about Xinjiang, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, confirming a Reuters report. Xinjiang Deputy Governor Erkin Tuniyaz and Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui explained Xinjiang's … [Read more...] about China tells foreign envoys its efforts in Xinjiang should be applauded
Xinjiang
Report: US company to stop sales of genetic tech in Xinjiang
Updated 12:28 am CST, Thursday, February 21, 2019 FILE - This April 26, 2007, file photo, shows the exterior of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass. The Wall Street Journal reports Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will no longer sell or service genetic sequencers in China's Xinjiang region following criticism that they were used for surveillance that enabled human rights abuses. less FILE - This April 26, 2007, file photo, shows the exterior of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass. The Wall Street Journal reports Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will no longer sell or service ... more Photo: Stephan Savoia, AP Photo: Stephan Savoia, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 FILE - This April 26, 2007, file photo, shows the exterior of Thermo Fisher … [Read more...] about Report: US company to stop sales of genetic tech in Xinjiang
Thermo Fisher to Stop Sales of Genetic Sequencers to China’s Xinjiang Region
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/wsj/static/business.jpg)
By Natasha Khan WSJ Wed., Feb. 20, 2019 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. said Wednesday it will no longer be selling or servicing genetic sequencers in China’s Xinjiang region, following mounting criticism that its products were used for state surveillance of citizens there that enabled human rights abuses. The Waltham, Mass.-based company said the decision to stop supporting customers of its human identification technology in the area—where police have rolled out one of the most extensive state surveillance programs ever built—was “consistent with Thermo Fisher’s values, ethics code and policies” and followed “fact-specific assessments.” “We recognize the importance of considering how our products and services are used—or may be used—by our customers,” the company said in a statement. It didn’t specify whether it would continue to sell these sequencers elsewhere in China. The devices were … [Read more...] about Thermo Fisher to Stop Sales of Genetic Sequencers to China’s Xinjiang Region
China data leak exposes mass surveillance in Xinjiang
BEIJING - A Chinese technology firm has compiled a range of personal information on 2.6 million people in Xinjiang -- from their ethnicity to locations -- according to a data leak highlighting the wide extent of surveillance in the restive region. Xinjiang is home to most of China's Uighur ethnic minority lives and has been under heavy police surveillance in recent years after violent inter-ethnic tensions. Nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic language-speaking minorities in Xinjiang are reportedly held in re-education camps, according to a UN panel of experts. The leak was discovered last week by security researcher Victor Gevers, who found that Chinese tech company SenseNets had stored the records of individuals in an open database "fully accessible to anyone". The records included information such as their Chinese ID number, birthday, address, ethnicity, and employer. The exposed data also linked individuals to GPS coordinates -- labeled with descriptions such as "mosque" -- … [Read more...] about China data leak exposes mass surveillance in Xinjiang
Erik Prince company to build training centre in China’s Xinjiang
(Corrects value of investment to 40 million yuan from 4 million yuan in paragraph 6 of this Jan. 31 story.) BEIJING (Reuters) - Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group (FSG), co-founded by former U.S. military services contractor Erik Prince, has signed a deal to build a training base in China's far western region of Xinjiang, the company said in a statement. Xinjiang is an important part of China's sprawling Belt and Road infrastructure network but the region has faced attacks blamed on members of the Muslim ethnic Uighur minority, to which the government has responded with a security clampdown that has drawn condemnation from rights groups and Western governments. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment at offices in Beijing and Hong Kong. FSG, a security, logistics and insurance provider, signed a deal with the Kashgar Caohu industrial park in southern Xinjiang to build a training centre, FSG said in a Chinese-language statement on its website. It did not … [Read more...] about Erik Prince company to build training centre in China’s Xinjiang