ABSTRACT
Chinese rule in Xinjiang has always been repressive, as they seek to control a population they see as disloyal to secure their vital (in their eyes) security interests by maintaining control of the region. Since 2013, these efforts have morphed into something far more sinister: a policy that is genocidal in intent. China now seeks to empty the concept of being Uyghur of any cultural or religious meaning by fully assimilating the region. The result is a network of totalitarian surveillance, brutality, forced labor, imposed sterilization, and the removal of children from their families—all attempts to eliminate the Uyghurs as a distinct cultural group. It may not be mass murder (though it is often murderous) but it is the deliberate destruction of an identifiable ethnic group. In other words, it is a genocidal policy.
