China transfers Tibetan rural labourers into military-style training centres with an aim to turn them into factory workers as part of a controversial programme similar to one in Xinjiang – report
A paramilitary policeman stands guard in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China on November 17, 2015.
A notice posted to the website of Tibet's regional government website last month said over half a million people were trained as part of the project in the first seven months of 2020 – around 15 percent of the region's population. Of this total, almost 50,000 have been transferred into jobs within Tibet, and several thousand have been sent to other parts of China. Many end up in low paid work, including textile manufacturing, construct on and agriculture.
"What these people with ulterior motives are calling 'forced labour' simply does not exist. We hope the international community will distinguish right from wrong, respect facts, and not be fooled by lies," it said. A United Nations report has estimated that around one million people in Xinjiang, mostly ethnic Uighurs, were detained in camps and subjected to ideological education. China initially denied the existence of the camps, but has since said they are vocational and education centres, and that all the people have "graduated."Foreign journalists are not permitted to enter the region and other foreign citizens are only allowed there on government-approved tours.
A key element, described in multiple regional policy documents, involves sending officials into villages and townships to gather data on rural labourers and conduct education activities, aimed at building loyalty.Officials carried out over a thousand anti-separatism education sessions, according to the state media report, "allowing the people of all ethnic groups to feel the care and concern of the Party Central Committee," referring to China's ruling Communist Party.
Some of the policy documents and state media reports reviewed by Reuters make reference to unspecified punishments for officials who fail to meet their quotas. "These recent announcements dramatically and dangerously expand these programmes, including 'thought training' with the government's coordination, and represent a dangerous escalation," said Matteo Mecacci, president of a US-based advocacy group, the International Campaign for Tibet.
A review of satellite imagery and documents relating to over a dozen facilities in different districts in Tibet shows that some are built near to or within existing vocational centres.The policy documents describe a teaching programme that combines skills education, legal education and "gratitude education," designed to boost loyalty to the Party.
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