5 Takeaways From the Leaked Files on China’s Mass Detention of Muslims
Austin Ramzy, New York Times
The article starts by explaining how internal papers from the Chinese government were leaked to the public regarding the muslim detention centers. Apparently the papers reveal that Chinese government officials as far up as Xi Jinping himself were aware of the plans. The article claims that someone in China who had access to these documents leaked them in order to hold xi jinping and other officials responsible. The leaker has decided to remain anonymous according to the article.
The article says that these camps rose out of response to many violent attack in the China's western region Xinjiang conducted by Muslims. Something I thought was particularily interesting, is the justification for the camps was based on an observation of the terror attacks in Britain. Officials said that the terror attacks in Britain happened due to policies that put human rights above security. This suggests that in the thinking of the Chinese government, these camps are justified in the interest of national security.
Overall this is a very scary article. I was very fascinated by the security over human rights statement. It's really interesting because it seems, to me at least, that security and rights/freedom are like ice cubes and water. The more of one you put in, the less space you have for the other. Like in airport security, it's invasive for people to search your bag. But the benefit is it reduces the likeliness someone is going to bring in a dangerous weapon of some sort. When studying China and comparing it to the US, I find that they are often at exactly opposite ends. America is all about the worth of the individual while China is about the value of the whole community. It makes sense to me that China would care more about national security than the individual rights of the people. It seems both ideologies are dangerous however. As in China with too much security, you seriously hurt people and do immoral acts. With too little security like here in the US (comparably) you have mass shootings, terror attacks, a much more dangerous country to live. Having lived in both countries, I can say China is definitely safer for the most part. It's safer as long as you don't speak up, or do anything the Chinese government doesn't want you to do.
by Alex Eberhardt
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