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Beijing has denied accusations of human rights abuses against the Uygur Muslim population in Xinjiang. Photo: AP

China punishes citizens for sharing information on Xinjiang, top security body reveals

  • Newly disclosed cases show Beijing uses anti-espionage laws against Chinese nationals who leak documents to overseas organisations
  • Article says NGOs and foreign forces used information to ‘forge lies’ about forced labour and coerced people to ‘slander and discredit’ China’s image
Xinjiang
Beijing has used anti-espionage laws to punish Chinese nationals for providing overseas organisations with Xinjiang-related documents, some of which were used to fuel allegations of forced labour, according to cases made public on Friday.

Details of the cases were revealed in an article posted on the website of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Communist Party’s top security body responsible for overseeing all law enforcement agencies, national security and intelligence systems.

The six cases, meant to serve as warnings about offences that threaten national security, were made public a day before National Security Education Day on April 15.

UN human rights chief urges China to address Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong

It is rare for authorities to disclose details of espionage cases related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Beijing has repeatedly denied the credibility of reported leaked official documents from Xinjiang that have been widely quoted by Western media and governments.
Beijing has also denied accusations of human rights abuses against the Uygur Muslim population in the far western region.
The article mentioned one case involving a local civil servant in Xinjiang, identified as Han Xiao, who allegedly provided confidential documents and information to a foreign intelligence agent in exchange for pay.

Han was asked to collect classified documents from party and government organs, according to the article, which did not give further details on the nature of the documents. The civil servant also received training in espionage, it said.

The article said Han provided 19 documents, including five identified as intelligence reports, and received more than 120,000 yuan (US$17,458) in compensation. In early 2019, Han was sentenced to 11½ years in prison.

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Leaked state documents describe repressive operations at China’s detention camps in Xinjiang

Leaked state documents describe repressive operations at China’s detention camps in Xinjiang

In another case, a man surnamed Li, who ran a consulting company in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, allegedly cooperated with an overseas NGO on investigations related to Xinjiang.

The article said the company took on projects “in the pursuit of economic interests”, and Li was aware that the NGO was “actively collecting information on the so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang in order to forge lies about ‘forced labour’ and provide ‘endorsement’ for Western anti-China forces to manipulate Xinjiang-related issues and impose sanctions”.

Guangdong security authorities punished Li and ordered his company to rectify, the article said. It is unclear what type of punishment he received.

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The article also said some overseas organisations had lured Chinese citizens abroad and forced them to engage in activities to “slander and discredit the national image”, endangering national security and the safety of citizens.

In Hebei province, state security authorities said two members of an overseas immigration agency had lured clients abroad and coerced them to forge documents claiming they faced persecution in China. According to the article, they charged their clients fees for applications for political asylum and other services.

In May of last year, one of them was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison while the other was sentenced to 3½ years.

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