The Xinjiang police files are a treasure trove of speeches, images, documents and spreadsheets documenting the criminal mistreatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic citizens in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region by internal police networks, according to the president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 

The files shatter the image that Beijing wants the world to see of a people willingly taking vocational training, but they are nothing more than a concentration camp, Andrew Bremberg told State Newswire.

On Tuesday the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation released what it termed a “bombshell report” on human right abuses in the region. It’s based on internal documents obtained from Xinjiang police networks.

Ambassador Andrew Bremberg | Wikipedia

For the first time, the files provide researchers with thousands of images of detained Uyghurs, as well as photos of police guards wielding automatic weapons and handcuffing and shackling detainees during camp security drills, according to the organization.

“The files also contain unusually candid speeches reflecting the state of mind of leading officials,” a release states. “They show Xinjiang’s former Party Secretary Chen Quanguo’s impassioned demands to treat persons from ethnic groups like dangerous criminals, to prevent any camp escapes, and to readily open fire to stop escapees and to safeguard the camps, outlining the extremes to which the state has gone to enforce stability maintenance goals.”

Bremberg said this report should cause U.S. leaders to understand that these Chinese details of abuse cannot be accepted any longer.

“The Xinjiang police files have definitively proven what we had suspected all along,” he said. “Stronger more concrete actions must follow.”

Bremberg listed a number of recommendations.

“Call on the European Union and other allies to follow the U.S. in prohibiting the importation of goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang," he said. "Introduce a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council condemning China’s genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.”

Bremberg previously has served as the representative of the U.S. to the Office of the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, and as a policy adviser and counsel on nominations for the Office of Senate Majority Leader.

He said the police records are clear proof of human rights abuses. Included in the files are more than 2,800 photographs that include mugshots of detainees, images of police drills and interrogation methods. Also included are police spreadsheets of detainees, camp security directives, transcripts of internal speeches by senior CCP officials and even evidence linking key government officials to the abuses.

There is other incriminating evidence. 

May 2017 transcripts reveal a speech telling police to “handcuff them, blindfold them and use ankle shackles if needed” when referring to ethnic minorities in southern Xinjiang. A May 2017 speech refers to Xinjiang’s mass internment as “humane” while arguing that detainees “must not be let out” [of the camps] because “some may not necessarily have been [re-educated] well even after five years.”

A 2017 speech by a leading Xinjiang official tells police forces to “shoot dead” anyone who even attempts to escape by running a few steps.

A February 2018 speech highlights the need to ensure the “absolute security of internment facilities” while a June 2018 speech encourages police to “first kill, then report” when suppressing social unrest or incidents.

An impassioned 2018 speech refers to Uyghurs who believe in the independence of East Turkestan as “scumbags” and traitors.

“Collectively the documents conclusively demonstrate that what China has labeled as ‘vocational training centers’ are run like maximum-security prisons,” Bremberg told State Newswire. “The evidence derived from the images in the files, show in unprecedented detail the arbitrary nature with which Uyghurs and other minorities are labeled as ‘extremist’ for ordinary, non-violent behavior and cultural or religious expression. They are treated as dangerous criminals ,and targeted for detention, internment and imprisonment in large numbers.

“The documents also give unprecedented insight into the intent and thinking of the Chinese government officials implicated at the highest levels,” he said.

Bremberg called for immediate action. 

“The evidence is of sufficient strength to recommend new sanctions on General Secretary Xi Zinping himself as well as other leaders implicated in the immoral detention of Muslim minorities,” he said. “The release of all detainees documented in the files. That Beijing should provide proof of life to the families of those detained.”

Bremberg said the United States is on firm legal ground to move forward.

“The U.S. should vigorously enforce the provisions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that President Biden signed in December,” he said. “The U.S. should organize a moral condemnation campaign comparable to what exists against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.”

The 1930 Tariff Act, also known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, prohibits importing goods produced in part or completely by forced labor into the United States. The law signed by Biden bans all imports from Xinjiang unless U.S. Customs and Border Protection certifies by clear and convincing evidence that goods were not produced with forced labor.”

Former President Donald Trump also worked to block imports from the region, labeling China’s actions there as “genocide,” a term Biden also used. It’s a rare point of agreement between Democratic and Republican administrations.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation describes itself as “an educational, research, and human rights nonprofit devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of the more than 1.5 billion people still living under totalitarian regimes.”