CONTEMPORARY  FAITH

It is for all this that Chinese authoritarianism spearheads the largest mass internment and genocide of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II. The concentration camps are the most extreme example of China's inhumane policies against the Uighurs, but the entire population is subject to repressive policies. China has used mass surveillance to turn Xinjiang into a high-tech police state. Uighurs inside and outside the camps are exploited for cheap labor, forced to make clothes and other products for sale both at home and abroad. The New York Times revealed in July 2020 that some Chinese-made face masks sold in the United States and other countries were produced in factories that relied on Uighur labor. Another recent investigation found evidence that Chinese authorities subjected Uighur women to mass sterilizations, forcing them to take contraceptives or abort and placing them in camps if they resist. Some have argued that this attempt to control the Uighur population meets the United Nations definition of genocide . However, the authoritarian Chinese government is lying by claiming that the camps are vocational and training centers, and that they are teaching people job skills. He has justified the oppression in Xinjiang as an attempt to suppress terrorism and extremism emanating from the Uighur separatist movement. There have been incidents of violent unrest for years, including some deadly terrorist attacks, and at least one Uighur extremist group in the region, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, has ties to al-Qaeda and the global jihadist movement. But most experts say that Beijing's repression and subjugation of millions of Uighurs is disproportionate to the comparatively minor terrorist threat in the region. As more and more reports of the atrocities taking place in Xinjiang are revealed, the international community is grappling with how to punish China for its abuses.