International Desk: Fresh revelations from a former Chinese police officer have reignited scrutiny of Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, with rights groups accusing the Chinese Communist Party of continuing a systematic campaign of repression through forced labour, mass imprisonment and state surveillance.
Speaking in Munich, the World Uyghur Congress cited testimony from former security official Zhang Yabo, who reportedly served nearly a decade inside China’s security apparatus in Xinjiang before fleeing to Europe. His disclosures, the organisation said, provide further evidence that Beijing’s crackdown has not ended but has merely shifted form.
According to Zhang’s account, Uyghurs were forced into labour programmes, including cotton production, under direct police oversight. He also alleged authorities imposed arrest and labour quotas on officials, fuelling what critics describe as an industrial-scale machinery of repression.
Rights advocates say while China has sought to deflect criticism by claiming to have closed mass internment camps, the reality is far more sinister. According to the allegations, Beijing has moved many detainees into formal prisons, making the crackdown less visible to the outside world while preserving the same coercive system.
The report claims more than 500,000 people were imprisoned in Xinjiang between 2017 and 2021, intensifying accusations that China has used incarceration, intimidation and forced labour as tools of political control over the Uyghur population.
Turgunjan Alawdun of the World Uyghur Congress said the disclosures expose what he called the Chinese regime’s continued persecution of Uyghurs under a new model of repression. He urged democratic nations not to remain silent and to hold Beijing accountable.
China has repeatedly denied accusations of abuses, insisting its policies in Xinjiang are aimed at countering extremism. But critics argue Beijing has used that justification to mask sweeping human rights violations and silence an entire ethnic and religious community.
The latest testimony is expected to intensify international calls for action, with pressure mounting on governments to confront China over what many campaigners describe as one of the gravest ongoing human rights crises in the world.
