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The Real Story: Is China erasing Uighur culture?

Factual

Is China erasing Uighur culture?

12/02/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - The Real Story, Is China erasing Uighur culture?

What is going on in Xinjiang, and what is behind Beijing's actions?

This week, lawyers in London concluded that the genocide of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government is a ‘very credible’ allegation. The London based court also said that it is ‘plausible’ that the country’s president, Xi Jinping, is driving that policy. The allegation of genocide - levelled by Uighur activists, international human rights groups, as well as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken - stems from an industrial scale crackdown in China’s Xinjiang province which has seen more than a million Uighurs and other ethnic minority Muslims imprisoned in a vast network of camps, where people say they have been subjected to rape and torture. The Chinese government has vehemently rejected the claims. It says measures are necessary to put an end to violent attacks in the region and it describes the facilities as re-education centres. So, what do we know about what is really going on in Xinjiang? Is there any merit to China’s argument about the need to defeat violent extremism in the region? Why is the Communist party intent on assimilating Uighurs into Han Chinese cultural traditions? How much is Xi Jinping’s vision for China behind it, and to what extent is Uighur culture - with its unique history and traditions - at risk of being destroyed in Beijing’s plan? Ritula Shah and a panel of expert guests discuss whether China is erasing Uighur culture.

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