China warns its citizens in Turkey to ‘be more vigilant’

BEIJING: Beijing has warned its citizens in Turkey to "be more vigilant", as bilateral tensions rise after strong Turkish criticism of China’s treatment of its minority Uighur community.

Nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities are being held in extrajudicial detention in camps in Xinjiang, according to a UN panel of experts, where most of China’s more than 10 million Uighurs live.

Beijing has admitted to placing people in "vocational education centres" to prevent radical Islamism. Critics however allege Uighurs in the camps are being brainwashed in a massive campaign to enforce conformity with Chinese society and abandon Islam.

The northwestern Xinjiang region -- home to some 10 million Uighurs -- has long suffered from violent unrest, which China claims is orchestrated by an organised "terrorist" movement seeking the region’s independence.