Last night, we happened upon a Public Broadcasting Service Frontline repeat, “China Undercover,” which addresses the Chinese government’s persecution and suppression of Muslim Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang (officially known as, the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”). All who wish to be aware have a generalized understanding that the Chinese government has run – and despite its claims to the contrary, might still be running — what it calls “Re-Education Camps” for its Uyghur population – facilities that human rights organizations consider concentration camps – but for any like us that have had little more than a generalized understanding of the situation, the PBS documentary brings home the terror that China is inflicting upon the Uyghurs and its overall Muslim population. China’s tactics against the Uyghurs are in some regards stunningly reminiscent of those used by the Nazi government upon Jews. The documentary also notes that Chinese authorities are applying current surveillance technology and Artificial Intelligence to identify and move against the Uyghur population, and that it seems overwhelmingly likely that the authorities either are or will be employing these tools throughout China to identify and eliminate any individuals that it considers a danger. These are tools of oppression that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong could only have dreamed of.
These pages have devoted a fair amount more attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin than they have to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Although this documentary refers to President Xi himself relatively sparingly, since nothing material goes on in China that Mr. Xi does not approve of, the piece makes unquestionably clear that Mr. Xi … is a bad guy.
I wanted to note this documentary today because at least on PBS Wisconsin, it will run again tonight at 10PM CT. If one doesn’t mind viewing it on a smaller screen, a link to the entire presentation appears below.
McCoy's Noise 