Xinjiang Re-Education Camps
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This topic has been discussed very often and very repetitively, which eventually makes a story off topic for HN, at least until significant new information emerges.
That is not to say that it isn't important; quite the contrary.
The international response to this has been bizarre, and several majority Muslim countries consider this an 'achievement':
"In July 2019, 22 countries including U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Japan and Australia signed a joint letter to the UN Human Rights Council urging China to close the camps in Xinjiang.[27][110] In reaction to this, 37 countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, DRC, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Palestine have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC praising China's "remarkable achievements in Xinjiang."[0]
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps#Re...
I find it pretty remarkable (and scary) that the international community is much more comfortable calling out the USA on human rights abuses than it is China (e.g. the world pretty uniformly opposed moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem).
It goes to show how much you can accomplish foreign policy wise by being completely intolerant of any criticism (assuming you are armed with a sufficiently large stick and a people unified enough to wield it consistently).
The Jerusalem UN vote reflects views about the disputed status of Jerusalem rather than anti-Americanism.
Many of those majority Muslim countries have been or are currently in civil wars between Muslims. None of them would be considered bastions of human rights in how they treat their own Muslim population. It's not bizarre at all that they value good relations with China over the rights of random Muslims.
Yeah I figured it must be about keeping happy relations with China, but it stills feels a little excessive to actively support the camps instead of just keeping their mouths shut and not signing the letter. Perhaps China pressured them into signing so that they could specifically act like Muslim countries supported them. It's disturbing
Another aspect of this campaign is the razing of mosques and Muslim holy sites in Xinjiang: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/07/revealed-new-e...
vice did a 30 minute piece on this craziness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7AYyUqrMuQ
Interestingly enough, no Muslim country is officially criticizing China, they're all on the officially supporting side.
The PRC has been working very hard to stymie any criticism of the camps, and it isn't afraid to bully countries to achieve its diplomatic aims:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/world/asia/china-xinjiang...
> “Many, many governments are looking the other way and self-censoring on the issue of Xinjiang,” said Daniel R. Russel, the Obama administration’s assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. “Beijing is notoriously prickly about its self-declared ‘core interests,’ and few countries are willing to put the economic benefits of good relations with China at risk — let alone find themselves on the receiving end of Chinese retaliation.”
> When countries do criticize China, they tend to do so in a group, seemingly as a way to diffuse and lessen possible retribution.
Don't miss the video of the blindfolded and handcuffed men (prisoners) being let on to a train car https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYoeJ5U7cQ
One thing I never hear people discuss, is the best way to combat terrorism.
So, let's agree that reeducation camps are terrible and inhumane, what is a good solution?
One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. See Hong Kong, the rebel alliance, or almost every national revolution in any country ever. China doesn't have a terrorist problem.
What about the people who dislike the freedom fighters but live in Xinjiang?
Even with all the possible 're-education' camps, USA is still the country with more incarcerated. Even though they have much less population.
So therefore it’s ok that China is taking random citizens and arbitrarily brainwashing them against their will?
Thank you 50 cent troll
> Thank you 50 cent troll
That would imply he's taking that position because he's being paid, which is most likely false. It's far more likely for a particular posting of propaganda, disinformation, or whataboutism to be made by a useful idiot [1] who's been duped than by an actual, self-conscious influence agent.
You're right
You can't do this on HN, regardless of how strongly you disagree with someone. Please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here.
Well I won't say that I'm sorry. Some issues are too important.
Sure: most divisive and inflammatory topics are far more important than the stories that get discussed on HN. That's actually a reason why we have to limit them. If we didn't, they would take over the site completely, because of their importance. Then HN would become just another political comment section.
The thing to remember is that HN is not trying to be all kinds of website, just one very specific kind: a place for intellectual curiosity. Curiosity is not compatible with flamewars and battles about high-stakes things. Indeed it is the first emotion to disappear when those get going.
If you want to help HN be a good HN, please use it in the spirit of curiosity. If you don't want to do that, please find a more suitable website—there are many out there.