Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 8, 2019. /VCG Photo Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 8, 2019. /VCG Photo

Editor's note: The following article is from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs." The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. An article recently published by the independent news website The Greyzone has revealed how highly speculative studies have been used by anti-China figures in the West to claim that millions of Uygurs have been detained. The article provides more evidence that some Western governments and voices in mainstream media are keen to capitalize on whatever information they can grab hold of that helps them to demonize China. In the article, "China detaining millions of Uygurs? Serious problems with claims by U.S.-backed NGO and far-right researcher 'led by God' against Beijing," the writer and lawyer Ajit Singh, who is based in Canada, and award-winning American journalist Max Blumenthal, note that although the claim that millions of Uygurs have been detained in Xinjiang has been repeated with increasing frequency and treated as unassailable in the West, it is, in fact, based on two dubious studies.

A screenshot of thegrayzone.com website A screenshot of thegrayzone.com website

One study, according to the article, was produced by the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), which is backed by the U.S. government. It formed its estimate of the number of detainees by interviewing a total of eight people. CHRD receives significant financial support from Washington's National Endowment for Democracy, which is an offshoot of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Another study, which relied on flimsy reports and speculation, was authored by Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow in China studies at the far-right Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The foundation was established by the American government in 1983 and also has close ties to the CIA. The Greyzone authors note that as Washington has ratcheted up pressure on China, Zenz has been lifted out of obscurity and transformed almost overnight into a go-to pundit on Xinjiang. In September 2018, Zenz wrote an article published in the Central Asian Survey journal, which concluded that "Xinjiang's total re-education internment figure may be estimated at just over one million." He admitted that "there is no certainty" to his estimate. But he concluded it is "reasonable to speculate." As time goes on, Zenz has inflated his speculative estimate of the number of detainees. Speaking at an event organized by the American government mission in Geneva in March, Zenz said, "Although it is speculative, it seems appropriate to estimate that up to 1.5 million ethnic minorities [have been detained by China in Xinjiang]." Zenz bumped up his estimate again during an interview in November when he claimed that China was detaining 1.8 million people.

Henimhan Tudi, who was rumored to be missing by the #Stillnoinfo campaign, told CGTN during an interview at her home in Xinjiang that she's never been to any so-called "re-education center". /CGTN Photo Henimhan Tudi, who was rumored to be missing by the #Stillnoinfo campaign, told CGTN during an interview at her home in Xinjiang that she's never been to any so-called "re-education center". /CGTN Photo