Beijing dismisses ‘hearsay’ on Muslim internment

BEIJING: China defended its internment of Muslims in the country’s northwest as a terror prevention measure on Tuesday, calling on the international community to reject “hearsay” and believe its official line.

Up to a million Uighurs and other Chinese Turkic-speaking minority groups have been placed in political re-education camps in the Xinjiang region, according to a group of experts cited by the United Nations.

After originally denying the existence of the centres, Beijing has repeatedly described the camps as vocational “training centres” that were built to help people drawn to extremism to stay away from terrorism and allow them to be reintegrated into society. But the programme has faced rising criticism outside the country — notably from the United States and human rights groups.

“We hope our journalist friends and our other foreign friends will take into consideration the information and briefings on the situation given by the Chinese authorities,” said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. “Rumours and hearsay should not be believed,” he said standing next to his German counterpart Heiko Maas at a press conference. “It’s quite clear that the government in Xinjiang knows best what is happening in Xinjiang — not other people and third party organisations.” Critics say China is seeking to assimilate Xinjiang’s minority population and suppress religious and cultural practises that conflict with Communist ideology and the dominant Han culture.