Quora: For people who live in China or have been to Xinjiang, have you witnessed any "crime against humanity" or "genocide" (as the West calls it) against ethnic minorities?
Steven Williams
Former English Teacher at Shane English Schools replied.
Englishman here. I’ve been to Xinjiang. Back in 2019, I hired a car with my then girlfriend and drove around the area around Urumqi (hours and hours of driving, but probably wouldn’t look too impressive on a map - Xinjiang is colossal). We went to many villages and some really beautiful places.
This part of China is very different from Shanghai which is where I’ve lived since 2015. It’s heavily policed. If you go into markets, hotels, shopping malls and places like this, you need to pass through a metal detector. There are surveillance cameras in a lot of places and all shops and restaurants have riot gear (really, I’m not joking).
If you drive through to different regions, you’ll need to pass through police checkpoints where the police check and log your ID and search your vehicle for anything offensive. They do this to everybody, regardless of gender, race or nationality. Also, worth noting - the police are multi-racial (Han, Uyghur, etc).
There has been a lot of problems with security in that region. Problems that result in innocent people who want to buy fruit in the market ending up dead or in hospital missing body parts. Are the government supposed to just sit back or are they supposed to protect the innocent?
To summarise, no, I didn’t witness any crimes against humanity. Security was heavy, but given the fact that the threat of terror activity is high, what would you expect? I’ve been in London when there has been heightened activity and seen armed police everywhere. It’s the same thing.
An attractive theory that physical and smart policing prevents crime.
ReplyDeleteTo a degree which it affects our personal well-being.
It's not like WW2 where Jews were hunted down into concentration camps & death labour.
ReplyDeleteIt's more like 1950s communist-crisis Malaya or 1960s South Vietnam, where some suspected villages were forced to move into "secured settlements" or internment camps. These were like Chinese kampongs in Malaysia and certain villages in Vietnam near areas of attacks or incidents, or were the home villages of captured/ killed insurgents.
Just that in Xinjiang, the Chinese are doing on bigger scale & more pro-active.
Beneath the glitz and glamour, racial tensions are simmering below the surface.
ReplyDeleteRace and religion that is one topic that must never ever be pushed to the forefront.
I hope that I will be able to be served pork menu in the hospital.
Prime Minister Lee has been quiet in a lot of things, but he is now speaking up for this topic for the whole country, not for a minority group. The president is promoting the Fuxxxxx Tudxxxx for their own group when she should be representing everyone.
All it needs is one spark to ignite a racial riot.
Whenever I go near one, I have to hold on to my breath, what I should and should not do to offend them or their God.
We are treading on thin ice cuz we are surrounded by them.
In some parts of Australia, the people resent them, cuz on Friday some swimming pools are closed to the public, cuz they need a swim.