Today, we see crimes against humanity in the 21st century in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region within the borders of China. Human rights violations experienced by Uyghurs living in the aforementioned geography for centuries are not a new development, but they remain up-to-date. The state's approach to the Uyghur people has evolved into a new dimension with the camps, which are described as vocational training centers by the state and also known as political re-education camps and internment camps in the literature. These camps, which are part of the state's security policies, have inevitably been the subject of many research, especially in the context of human rights violations. This article explores how political re-education camps, unlike others, are represented in some Western media sources and in the Chinese media, using the method of critical discourse analysis. The analysis revealed that the camps have been a part of a panopticonlike society and places where the lives of Uyghurs are surveilled from every angle, and both violation of rights and political indoctrination have been experienced. However, these places have been portrayed by the Chinese media as places where minorities have been rendered safe, enabling stability, security and development.

The repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang harnesses all the tools of the globalized modern age: capitalism and progress which often mean the policing, exploitation, and dehumanization of the recipients of the so-called help. For this purpose, it is important to position Chinese state violence at the crossroads of the post-socialist neoliberal development and the surge in Islamophobia since the West’s “war on terror” was launched. Although the People’s Republic of China was born from the resistance to imperialism, it has reproduced the tenets of imperialism to create the infrastructure for political violence. Robert Bociaga examines China’s mass surveillance and incarceration of the Uyghurs accompanied by capital-driven development.

A look at the recent history of Chinese state policy towards Islam / religion in Xinjiang, in the context of the introduction of "political re-education centres" (internment camps) and mass extra-judicial disappearances of Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims since early 2017.

OPENING PARAGRAPHS: In an old Silk Road oasis town on China’s western border, these days a thirsty traveller can knock back a cold beer in a local mosque. The former place of worship is now a bar for tourists. And it is with the customers’ views in mind—and, perhaps, the aspirations of China’s leaders—that the place is called “The Dream of Kashgar.” For Kashgar’s Uighur residents, however, and for other Muslims across the Chinese region of Xinjiang, that dream is a nightmare. Last summer, when I traveled to Xinjiang, I witnessed the most abject sense of fear and trauma I have encountered in 27 years of researching identity and religion among its Uighur communities. Mosques were deserted and cloaked in razor wire, restaurants were stripped of their halal signage, and local people carefully avoided any expression of religious piety.

Despite numerous economic development campaigns, massive security operations, and intensive ideological education programs in the last 20 years, the Chinese government has failed to achieve the harmonious, multiethnic, and prosperous society that it desires for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang). Instead, interethnic relations between the Chinese Uyghur ethnic minority and the dominant Han have deteriorated since the early 1990s. Given the failure to achieve a harmonious and prosperous Xinjiang, it is important to question the suitability of the regional security policy being implemented by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In the Introduction to this special issue, I first provide an overview of the programme of 'de-extremification' and mass internment in Xinjiang since early 2017. I then situate this development against the ‘ideological turn’ in Chinese Communist Party policy under President Xi Jinping, highlighting the new emphasis on stability maintenance and ideational governance. Next, I explore experiences of (in)security in Uyghur communities in- and outside of Xinjiang in the era of internment to consider how far PRC counter-terrorism initiatives have now evolved into state terror. In doing so, I apply Ruth Blakeley's (2012) definition of state terror as a deliberate act of violence against civilians, or threat of violence where a climate of fear is already established by earlier acts of violence; as perpetrated by actors on behalf of or in conjunction with the state; as intended to induce extreme fear in target observers who identify with the victim; and as forcing the target audience to consider changing its behaviour. Finally, I discuss the six contributions to the special issue.

Xinjiang, home to the Uyghurs, has been the focus of intense government crackdown. China claims that the province is exposed to security threat especially from what it considers the “Three Evils” which are Terrorism, Extremism and Separatism. This article analyses the radicalisation that have happened in Xinjiang especially among the Uyghurs and its impact on the security and stability of the province. This study uses a qualitative approach. The primary sources are obtained from the Chinese official documents pertaining to the security condition in Xinjiang. Secondary sources are from books, journals, credible articles from the Internet, and local and international newspapers. This study will examine causes of radicalisation and how it has contributed to the rise of political violence. In addition, this paper also discusses the responses by the Chinese authorities which have resulted in the decline of human rights. This study concludes that if the human rights situation in Xinjiang ...