China says it will continue ‘training’ Xinjiang people

BEIJING: China on Monday defended its vast network of re-education camps in Xinjiang and said it would continue "training" residents, following explosive government document leaks detailing surveillance and control of the region’s Uighur population.

Rights groups estimate more than a million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are held in the facilities, which reports describe as indoctrination camps that are run like prisons and aimed at eradicating Uighur culture and religion.

The government has launched a propaganda drive in recent days to justify its security crackdown after the leaks emerged and the US House of Representatives passed a bill calling for sanctions against officials involved in the controversial policy.

In a press conference, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the far-west region, rejected the estimates by rights groups and foreign experts that over a million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are kept at the camps.

But he did not provide a figure for the number of people housed in what the government describes as "vocational education centres".

"Students ... with the help of the government have realised stable employment (and) improved their quality of life," Zakir said. Currently, those in the centres have "all completed their courses," he said, adding that "there are people entering and exiting."