Public Security Minister’s Speech Describes Xi Jinping’s Direction of Mass Detentions in Xinjiang

Scholar Adrian Zenz’s Newly Released ‘Xinjiang Police Files’ Affirm Scale of Campaign and Beijing’s Role in Shaping It

By Adrian Zenz on May 24, 2022

An internal Chinese government document provides new support for the extraordinary scale of internment during what was likely its peak in 2018 and 2019. The document, a transcript of an internal June 15, 2018 speech by Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi, reinforces the plausibility of previous detention estimates, adding to the evidence that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had interned between one and two million Uyghurs and other ethnic minority individuals by the late 2010s. The speech also points to Xi Jinping’s informed and active support for Xinjiang’s “re-education,” “strike hard,” and “de-extremification” campaigns, as well as for continued spending on additional detention facilities and staff to manage the influx of detainees.

Sources Cited in ‘Public Security Minister’s Speech Describes Xi Jinping’s Direction of Mass Detentions in Xinjiang,’ by Adrian Zenz

on May 24, 2022

Primary Sources from the Xinjiang Police Files, available through the University of Vienna Phaidra Open Access Repository

“May 28 Secretary Chen Quanguo Speech at the Autonomous Region Stability Maintenance Headquarters Video Conference”(“5月28日陈全国书记在自治区维稳指挥部视频调度会上的讲话,” “5 yue 28 ri Chen Quanguo shuji zai zizhiqu ganbu dahuishang de jianghua”), Tekes County PSB, May 28, 2017.

Xinjiang Police Files Photo 1

on May 23, 2022

A photo included in the Xinjiang Police Files. The photo’s metadata indicates it was taken on September 28, 2017 at a detention facility in Tekes county. The television screen (top-center) depicts Nu’erlan Abudumanjin, who, at the time the picture was taken, was Chairman of the Xinjiang Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Is Beijing Changing Tack on Big Tech?

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Rui Ma, Ruihan Huang & more on May 19, 2022

In recent weeks, news has emerged that China may be slowing its Big Tech regulations. On Tuesday, the CPPCC held a special meeting on the digital economy, with Vice Premier Liu He highlighting the need “to support the platform economy.” This followed similar statements in March, calling for regulators to adopt a “standardized, transparent, and predictable” model. And last month came a Politburo meeting in which leaders vowed support for the Internet economy. With China’s economy reeling amid large-scale COVID lockdowns, a rollback of tech regulations could provide a much-needed boost. But given the vagueness of the language, it’s unclear how such statements will translate on the policy front. We asked experts how they read these statements, whether they anticipated a loosening of regulations, and what that might look like.

Ruihan Huang

on May 17, 2022

Ruihan Huang is a Research Associate at MacroPolo, the think tank of the Paulson Institute. He analyzes Chinese elite politics, regulatory developments, and policymaking and their impact on markets, businesses, and U.S.-China relations. Prior to joining the Paulson Institute, he was a Research Assistant at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) where he focused on the relationship between the Chinese state and the private sector. He also worked at Caixin Media as a political risk analyst and as a research intern at Basilinna, where he learned how to apply his research to policy-driven solutions.

Huang holds a Master’s in Public Policy with a data science certificate from the University of Chicago’s Harris School, a Master of Science in global China studies from HKUST, and a Bachelor of Management in accounting from Shandong University. He was a student fellow at the Georgetown Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

Rui Ma

on May 16, 2022

Rui Ma has nearly two decades of experience in technology and finance, spanning seed stage to pre-IPO investing, spread evenly between the U.S. and China. She founded Tech Buzz China in 2018 to educate and consult investors, funds, and entrepreneurs on Chinese tech companies’ products, strategies, and trends. She also runs the TBC Syndicate, which invests in global early stage companies that leverage connections to or are inspired by China tech. She previously worked at 500 Startups as an investment partner, and she spent a decade in private equity and mergers and acquisitions roles at the Raine Group, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch in Silicon Valley and China. Rui holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and additional degrees from Tsinghua, INSEAD, UIUC, and Harvard University.