After a witness at a recent Congressional hearing called the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) treatment of its Uyghur population "the most sophisticated genocide in the modern era," Federal Newswire reached out to Bill Drexel, associate fellow for the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), for more details on how the CCP leverages technology, in particular artificial intelligence (AI), as a tool of oppression.
Drexel, who has conducted clandestine research in Xinjiang, said AI has enabled the CCP to monitor the actions of Uyghurs, as well as other groups such as Tibetans, and to flag individuals who might then face "reeducation" even if they have not committed a crime.
"China has been at the forefront of leveraging emerging technologies for oppression, and Xinjiang has acted as Beijing’s primary theater for experimentation. In the province, the CCP has used AI to help comprehensively track and analyze Uyghurs’ movements, speech, associations and activities. The data generated is linked to each citizens’ biometric profile, which includes blood type, fingerprints, irises and DNA analysis," Drexel told Federal Newswire. "Having been to Xinjiang myself in 2018, I can confirm that the sense of being constantly subjected to digital surveillance has palpable effects and makes the whole of Xinjiang feel like a giant prison. Anyone who deviates from the government’s prescriptions of appropriate action faces severe consequences—even if they don’t commit a crime. The surveillance system can simply designate individuals as ‘pre-criminal’ as a basis for reeducation. "
"The tech-powered repression for China’s minorities stretch beyond Xinjiang, however. Chinese companies like Megvii and Huawei have used AI facial recognition technologies to create products that can send automated 'Uyghur alarms' to government authorities in places beyond Xinjiang. Many of the surveillance and censorship tools deployed in Xinjiang are also at work among China’s Tibetans for social control. A Chinese company implicated in surveillance tech in Xinjiang has also been found to be helping Iran use AI to monitor adherence to hijab laws, part of a broader trend of China exporting its techno-authoritarian tools abroad."
According to Politico, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the CCP held a hearing on March 23 titled "The Chinese Communist Party's Ongoing Uyghur Genocide." One witness at the hearing was Nury Turkel, a Uyghur American born in the Xinjiang region who now serves as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Turkel said during his testimony that the CCP's ongoing genocide against the minority Uyghurs involves technologically advanced tools, and although the U.S. has made efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for its actions, it has not succeeded.
"The Chinese government has mobilized 21st-century high-tech tools like biometric scanning – forced collection of DNA, iris scans, facial scans and voice prints," Turkel said. He called the CCP's persecution of Uyghurs "the most sophisticated genocide in the modern era, supported by technology and facilitated through forced labor programs. It is the largest incarceration of ethnoreligious groups since the Nazi era."
The CCP has "arbitrarily detained" as many as two million Uyghurs, as well as other Muslim ethnic minorities including Kazakhs and Uzbeks, since 2017, the Council on Foreign Relations estimated. The Xinjiang region is home to approximately 11 million Uyghurs.
A United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) report released in August found that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities who are sent to "Vocational Education and Training Centers" are frequently subjected to forced labor, sexual violence and other abuse. The Chinese government has issued official statements claiming that “Xinjiang-related issues are in essence about countering violent terrorism and separatism," but the UN report notes that the Chinese government's definition of "extremism" is broad and subjective, and therefore can be used to label personal choices related to religious freedom as "extremism."
Drexel's research at CNAS focuses on tech competition and AI risks in national defense. He previously worked as an internal displacement data officer at UN Migration, where his focus was on humanitarian innovation.
