“I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction.” Adolf Eichmann on his role in the Holocaust

When you are a child in grade school or teenager in high school you learn about World War II and its effects on the modern world. You’re taught how Germany came to power, France was decimated, the British struggle to defend against a more powerful enemy; how Japan expanded their empire across Asia, and more than 6,000,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust. With hindsight’s arrogance we think that we have more access to information and that globalization has led to an era of accountability and action. Yet as this chapter of history is being written, we find ourselves on a similar path to destruction. In my first post I outlined what was happening to the Uyghurs and I promise to expand on that as more information pours out. In this article, I shift my attention away from the specifics of the camps and more to the masterminds that control the systematic machine of oppression and torture.

Recently, the New York Times was able to acquire more than 400 internal Chinese government documents that detail what has been going on and the guidance passed by all levels of leadership to include China’s leader Xi Xinping and Xinjiang’s Security Chief, Chen Quanguo.

For the busy:

Chen Guanguo

According to leaks obtained by the New York Times; documents showed that internment camps in Xinjiang expanded rapidly in 2016, when Chen Quanguo was appointed the Communist Party chief of the region. This is corroborated with numerous other articles and analysis suggesting that Chen Quanguo was moved from this post in Tibet to bring his “security talents” to the Xinjiang region. Chen has been called a mastermind of security and has used every tactic to quell any “uprising” or separatist movements. Chen has also been known to favor the more brutal tactics to destroy the will of the people.

The purpose of this blog post is to learn about who is behind the establishment of these camps and how this appears to be a standard in Chinese domestic security. Before I go into what he’s doing in Xinjiang to the Uyghurs, I wanted to learn more about how Chen started his career and how he became the mastermind of systematic oppression.

Chen Guanguo’s Reign over Tibet

Chen Quanguo is a Chinese politician, and the current Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and a member of the 19th Politiburo of the CCP. Chen, after serving in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), started his political career and eventually became the Governor of Hebei, which has a population of over 74 million people. In 2011, Chen became the party secretary (top official) of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) where he put in place economic reform and instituted intense policing surveillance. (This information was provided by ChinaVitae which was founded by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and includes citations from China’s official media outlets Xinhua News and the People’s Daily Online.)

Surveillance and Torture

Once Chen had grasped the reigns of the TAR in August 2011, Chen began constructing an efficient “grid-style social management system” which is a practice that segments urban communities into geometric zones so that security staff can systemically observe all activities with the aid of advanced technology. This involved the creation of over 700 “convenient police stations” and an increase in security personnel from 866 advertised positions to 12,313 police related positions in 2016. (Source)

Chen continued to expand surveillance by placing security personnel in monasteries and relied upon advanced technology in the form of QR codes that were placed on the outside of houses and scanned by police to gather information about the families inside. This combined with mass data analytics helped Chen keep an eye on every citizen within the TAR and Xinjiang.

With mass surveillance came the detention of high-profile Tibetan monks and their followers. The prisoners were charged with extreme sentences for minor “crimes.” In 2012, a senior Tibetan monk was sentenced to 7 years in prison for sharing a picture of a nun who had committed self-immolation to bring awareness to the abuses in the TAR. Sentences like these have become the norm in the TAR and eventually gave way to “advanced interrogation” techniques that most of us call torture. Torture against Tibetans had been going on for a while and extended into Chen’s time in the TAR. Many cases had been reported and verified which led to the International Campaign for Tibet special report on the tortures in the TAR in 2015.

Goshul Lobsang Torture

One example is a Tibetan monk named Goshul Lobsang, who died in March 2014 following his release from custody. Goshul Lobsang apparently received injections that caused immense pain and it’s not known what these injections could have been but they may have been administered by medical personnel. Police also used sharp-pointed objects such as toothpicks to repeatedly pierce and penetrate into the tops of Goshul Lobsang’s fingernails and cuticles. Stabbing, applied with force and consistency, resulted in severe bleeding, swelling and pain. Consequently, Goshul Lobsang unable to temporarily use his hands, according to a report by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Goshul Lobsang – November 2013

International Campaign for Tibet – Special Report

Oppress and Success

Due to his resounding success in Tibet, Chen was again called upon to quell domestic unrest in the Xinjiang province this time against the Uyghur minority. The CCP sees Xinjiang as more of a security threat due to their increase in attacks and Islamic extremism. Xinjiang is also a core region and crucial to the success of Xi Xinping’s One Belt, One Road initiative. The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative is sure to be a thorn in the side of most western nations but it serves as an economic boon to most developing countries and many countries depend on their ties with China’s consumers to grow. China also sees OBOR as a way for the Chinese people to rise as the world’s greatest economic powerhouse. Xi Xinping and the rest of China’s leaders in the Politoburo will go to great lengths to ensure that many external partners help make this happen. They will do even more to ensure that no one in China threatens their ambitions. Xi Xinping and his regime will not allow a population of defiant Uyghurs to cast doubt on the security of the Xinjiang region. To force compliance, Xi pulled Chen from Tibet and asked him to bring his security talents to the Uyghur’s doorstep.

Up to the task, Chen immediately made an impact upon his arrival according the leaks obtained from the New York Times:

The documents also showed that internment camps in Xinjiang were expanded rapidly in 2016, when Chen Quanguo was appointed the Communist Party chief of the region. China has given no official figures on the number of people detained. New York Times Leaked Documents from CCP

Chen began detaining the Uyghurs in mass and purged any officials that disagreed with his tactics:

The crackdown encountered doubts and resistance from local officials who feared it would exacerbate ethnic tensions and stifle economic growth. Mr. Chen responded by purging officials suspected of standing in his way, including one county leader who was jailed after quietly releasing thousands of inmates from the camps. New York Times Leaked Documents from CCP

Chen’s security measures have shown resounding success in keeping Islamic extremism at bay. I will not be one to argue the results of his actions. Terrorist attacks decreased substantially after Chen took over as the Secretary of Xinjiang in 2016. According to the Global Terrorism Database, only 3 of the 11 terrorist attacks in China were attributed to the Uyghurs after 2016. Below are the most recent statistics from the Global Terrorism Database, years prior to Chen’s arrival (2016) are shown for comparison:

If you round up a tenth of the population, roughly 1,000,000 Uyghurs (according to the UN), you’re bound to have some success in quelling an uprising, attacks, or displays of separatism. These concentration camps provide positive results to the Polituboro and that’s what China responds with when questioned about their tactics. China would rather you not mention the many human rights violations, rape, torture, work camps, and organ harvesting that is also taking place.

Chen’s Tactics in Xinjiang

In May 2014, China began the “Strike Hard Against Violent Terrorism Campaign.” Subsequently, Chen was then given the Xinjiang Secretary position. Chen used the Strike Hard campaign to justify his rapid expansion of concentration camps in the Xinjiang province. He also used it to establish the same “social grid management” system. This time he is able to do so with the help of artificial intelligence.

Xinjiang authorities conduct compulsory mass collection of biometric data, such as voice samples and DNA; they use artificial intelligence and big data to identify, profile, and track everyone in Xinjiang. The authorities envisioned these systems as a series of “filters,” picking out people with certain behavior or characteristics that they believe indicate a threat to the Communist Party’s rule in Xinjiang. These systems have also enabled authorities to implement fine-grained control, subjecting people to differentiated restrictions depending on their perceived levels of “trustworthiness.”

According to the New York Times, the Chinese A.I. companies behind the software include Yitu, Megvii, SenseTime, and CloudWalk which are each valued at more than $1 billion. Another company, Hikvision, that sells cameras and software to process images, offered a minority recognition function, but began phasing it out in 2018 according to Hikvision.

Chen has always been a fan of cutting edge technology and the efficiency it brings to mass surveillance while keeping with tradition in torturing the indigenous people of the region he reigns over. One tactic is the “Tiger Chair,” which is a metal chair that restricts the movement of those detained. Here, detainees, can be beaten and tortured without guard’s fearing retribution. Other tactics includes being hung from the ceiling by chains and forced sleep deprivation:

Graphic by the South China Morning Post

First hand accounts of these tortures are beginning to be discovered as some victims are feeling empowered by journalists and the West’s support for justice for the Uyghurs. Still, accounts that include the torture mentioned above, are reported mostly through anonymous tips or individuals that do not want to have their names published for fear of retribution. The information is trickling out and the West is starting to open it’s eyes.

Below is a video from Twitter user @IntyPython known for Anti-China Communist Party rhetoric. I can’t verify the authenticity of the video but the tactic of using the “Tiger Chair” has been well documented and China’s surveillance of WeChat is well known (see video for context):

China spies on social media conversations. Then they bring dissidents in for a real-life chat. I’d say we’re AT LEAST five years away from that over here, so no worries. pic.twitter.com/HjXzqsgr8S — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) December 1, 2019

Reactions to Chen Quanguo

As I’m drafting this article, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 against companies that have facilitated the construction of these camps and the tech companies that are involved in mass surveillance such as Hikvision and SenseTime. It sets a precedence and calls for sanctions against Chinese leadership that are responsible for the abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnicities in the Xinjiang region of China. This is the first time that the U.S. has threatened sanctions on the Chinese Politburo which Chen Quanguo is a member of. This elite group of the CCP runs the Chinese government and any sanction on one of their members would be a symbolic financial attack on China. Chen Quanguo has been named in the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 and is a prime candidate for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. This act allows the U.S. government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.

Reaction Opinion

China’s reaction to the recent Hong Kong Policy Act has been symbolic more than anything as they responded to the legislation by prohibiting U.S. naval ships from making port calls in Hong Kong. China does not want to see their economic growth stifled and their One Belt One Road initiative limited but China may acquiesce to some more favorable trade policies for the United States to delay sanctions on current Politburo members. Regardless, China will not allow the U.S. to dictate their domestic policies and has been establishing itself as a world economic and military power. China may flex that power to indicate that it will not be “bullied” by the West and show the world that they are a world super power. Nevertheless, the West must be a voice of justice in an area where minorities and the less powerful have none. Even it means sacrificing “peaceful” relations, the West cannot consciously support China’s economy by sitting idly by. Sanctions against Chen Quanguo may be the first sanctions ever levied against the Chinese Politburo, but if we look deeper into the CCP, it may not be the last.