China's Dark Secret
The Global Citizen
China has been the center of the latest world news for months now. Whether it's the ongoing protests for democracy in Hong Kong or the economics revolving around the United States and China trade war, there always seems to be something. This time, however, China is keeping a secret from the rest of the world.
China has been imprisoning over a million Turkic Muslims in state-mandated detention camps and executing millions more in the western region of Xinjiang. To put it plainly, this is a genocide against the Muslims in China. There have been many reports from diplomats and others working in China privately condemning the Chinese government, but there is a huge reluctance to go public because of their political and economic power. Individuals may want to speak out against China’s actions, but not wanting to risk a relationship with such a massive trading partner has prevented most from attempting to hold the Chinese government accountable. China has been successful in leveraging its diplomatic and economic might to disregard any sort of criticism that may be directed towards them. During instances of possible exposure, China has picked journalists from friendly countries who wouldn’t risk deviating from information the state has approved to be shared with the world.
In response to the criticism, China argues that the state-mandated detention camps are a way to fight Islamic extremism. Some cities have even called these camps with high walls and watchtowers boarding schools, claiming that the detainees are there by choice and in need of help in re-educating from the possibility of extremism. Many countries have banded together to openly confront the Chinese government for its actions against Chinese Muslims after reports of using Muslim detainees to harvest organs surfaced. According to the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), marginalized groups such as the Turkic Muslims have had organs harvested on a massive scale. It was predicted that China was performing over 1 billion organ harvests a year.
Naturally, China doesn’t want the world to know about this and will want to make sure it can continue. In order to do so, China will most likely leverage its power to avoid real consequences or loss of trading partners. After all, most of the world most likely needs China more than China needs them.
Wesley Rodriguez-Diep is a senior studying international relations.