AdvertisingLeadership distributed a classified directive advising local officials to corner returning students as soon as they arrived and keep them quiet. — The crackdown encountered doubts and resistance from local officials who feared it would exacerbate ethnic tensions and stifle economic growth. Since 2017, authorities in Xinjiang have detained many hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslims in internment camps. The directive’s question-and-answer guide begins gently, with officials advised to tell students that they have “absolutely no need to worry” about relatives who have disappeared. Both the report and Wang’s confession were read aloud to officials across Xinjiang.

Source: Indian Express November 17, 2019 04:52 UTC