BEIJING: Over the past few years, the democratic countries have witnessed intense public protests, urging top corporates to pull back their production bases from China’s Xinjiang over human rights abuses and allegations over the use of forced labourers to produce these products.
As an outcome of testimonies, satellite images, and revelations by no-profits, China’s gross abuses in the Xinjiang region have started to increasingly come to light. The CCP’s attempts to cleanse the minority Uighur population have faced harsh criticism from other states and human rights groups across the world.
The reports and evidence against China is mounting and it impossible for China to change the narrative and deflect blame. While the Chinese government’s role in the repression of the Uighur minority is not in question, the true culprit of the human rights abuses in the region still remains largely in the shadows.
The culprit that has been carrying out the CCP’s plan in Xinjiang is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp aka the Bingtuan.
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp (XPCC) is a para-military body that was first founded in 1954. The XPCC’s structure is similar to a military organization and it contains 14 divisions that are further divided into dozens of regiments.
The XPCC possesses internal control over the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and is tasked with the economic development and resource extraction, in fact, exploitation of the region.
The basis for foundation of the XPCC lies in an old Chinese political tradition in which local armies were given control of far-flung regions and tasked with the area’s developmental works and defense.
This allowed for self-reliance of the army that was deployed to that region and also helped assimilate the distant region to the core of the nation. This tradition can be seen today as well in the form of the XPCC. Upon its inception, the XPCC was comprised of soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and outlaws.
Over the years, China has established 13 such production and construction corps, such as: Mongolia Production and Construction Corps, Yunnan Production and Construction Corps, besides others.
As China’s economy has improved over the decades, similar production corps have been successfully assimilated into the core and XPCC is the only one of its kind that has been able to maintain its distinct identity.
The XPCC has developed farms and townships in the region from barren lands and has the power to handle its own administrative and judicial affairs in the region. The corps also establishes and runs large cities with a security outlook on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2007, the XPCC built and administered four cities in the region and the number had more than doubled to nine cities by 2016. In 2020, the XPCC controls and administers 12 cities in Xinjiang and the organization plans on developing 20 new cities in the region by 2030.
The population and membership of the XPCC has also grown in this time, from just 2.6 million in 2007, the XPCC in 2020 has a membership of 3.5 million.
While every member of the XPCC takes on the dual role of soldier and worker, 60% of the XPCC’s members are associated with regimental farms, the remaining members work in several different industries and enterprises set up by it, such as urban infrastructure, animal husbandry, oil drilling, mining or work in the public sector.
The XPCC that initially comprised of members from the PLA still continues to undertake military functions and has a full-fledged military department. The XPCC also has a quasi-armed police corps and in times of need, provides army reserves as well. XPCC’s first, third and fourteenth divisions operate close to the Indian border and during the Sino-Indian war of 1962, it even provided military support to regular troops.
While security is a key aspect of the XPCC’s functions, agriculture in these in the far-flung border areas is also given significant importance.
Since the XPCC is in full control of the region, it also carries out business related functions and interacts with foreign entities. Commercially, the group is known as the China Xinjiang group which operates in several areas and has operations in 160 nations.
The total import and export volume of the XPCC was $5.6 billion in 2007 with a GDP of 44.1 billion. XPCC’s total import and exports volume rose to about 13.7 billion in 2020 and its GDP skyrocketed to 303 billion in 13 years.
Cities and regions run by the XPCC have their own newspapers, as well as TV channels. They also run two universities – Xinjiang University and Shihezi University.
The region of Xinjiang has many ethnic groups such as Uighurs, Kazaks, and other Turkic communities. However, the XPCC is mainly a Han organization with 86% of members belonging to the Han ethnicity and has been responsible for tortures, forced labours, and ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in the region. Top cities like Hotan and Urumqi have now been occupied by Hans and Muslims have been displaced to the rural and backward areas.
There is substantial documentation of evidences that highligh the plight of Uighur Muslims in China by the CCP, with the XPCC being at the forefront of anti-Muslim campaign. Despite Chinese attempts to change the narrative, many nations have started to criticize China.
But in reality, the true culprit of the inhuman treatment of minorities in Xinjiang is the XPCC. While the XPCC still falls under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, it still functions as a semi autonomous body in relation to the internal security and stability of Xinjiang. And thus, the XPCC has been directly involved in the repression and treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in the beginning of December, 2020, that they will ban all cotton and cotton products originating from Xinjiang due to disturbing reports that the products were sourced using slave labor of ethnic minorities like Uighurs.
XPCC controlled farms and industries cultivated and processes nearly one third of China’s cotton in 2014. This is just one of the latest steps taken by Washington to increase pressure on the Chinese government due to the repeated human rights abuses against Uighurs.
On such abuses by China, DHS Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli has stated that “Made in China’ is not just a country of origin but a warning label”. In July, 2020, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the XPCC and two of its former and current officials in another bid to end human rights violation in the XPCC was cited by the US treasury for ‘their connection to human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang’.
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also stated that the XPCC is ‘directly involved’ in gross human rights violations, these violations include surveillance, detention and indoctrination of Muslim ethnic minorities in the region.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom head Nury Turkel has compared the XPCC to a parallel government in Xin lang and has stated that it is directly involved in the implementation of mass surveillance, arbitrary detention and the forced labour of Uighur Muslims.
Chen Quanguo, the current First Political Commissar of the XPCC, has been sanctioned by the US government for his involvement in serious human rights abuses in the region. Chen is also the Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Before his arrival in Xinjiang, Chen was stationed in Tibet where he gained notoriety for greatly intensifying security operations in Tibet Autonomous Region and thus, tightening the control over the Tibetan Buddhists. Through Chen, XPCC was largely instrumental in implementing CCP’s ambitions in Xinjiang.
The roles performed by XPCC in Xinjiang intersect with the roles of the CCP’s provincial and central government, besides the PLA. The XPCC is deemed by the Chinese government as a ‘Special Force’ and with the growth in its functions, roles, and assets, the support from the central government for it has also grown over the years. With a GDP of over $300 Billion in 2020, XPCC’s commercial wing is also something that should not be ignored.
XPCC’s role in the suppression and mass detention of ethnic Uighur minorities is as clear as day. XPCC and several of current and former officials have also been cited by international human rights defenders for being responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The body also possesses the ability to aid the People’s Liberation Army in future conflicts as all of its members are expected to fulfill multiple roles of soldier and worker. The XPCC and its ability to gain dictatorial control over region by suppressing Uighur minorities will be integral to the CCP in the future.
The world is now starting to stand up to China’s gross human rights abuses of Uighurs in Xinjiang and the global backlash against multinational giants is striking evidence. The boycott campaigns are compelling the companies to pull out their production bases from Xinjiang, breaking the back of XPCC. Experts believe that numerous such protests could soon hit the region, severely impacting its economy and making inflicting damages to the economic structure of the XPCC.
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