You may have seen that there’s a new collection of documents allegedly hacked and taken directly from the police in Xinjiang, China. These documents were given to Adrian Zenz at the non-profit Victims of Communism. He shared them with a consortium of media outlets who helped verify their authenticity.

The documents include thousands of photos of detained people along with documents outlining police operations and political speeches about the re-education camps. All of the material has been published on a site called xinjiangpolicefiles.org but various news outlets are also writing stories about the material. BBC has a good summary which was linked in our headlines. The political speeches contained some revealing information about the camps’ origin and their intended duration.

In a speech, stamped as “classified” and delivered by Zhao Kezhi, China’s Minister for Public Security, on a visit to Xinjiang in June 2018, he suggests that at least two million people are infected with “extremist thought” in southern Xinjiang alone.

Peppered with references to President Xi Jinping, the speech heaps praise on the Chinese leader for his “important instructions” for the construction of new facilities and an increase in funding for prisons to cope with the influx in detainees necessary to reach that two million target…

The cache contains another secret speech, delivered in 2017 by Chen Quanguo – until recently Xinjiang’s hardline Communist Party secretary.

“For some, even five years re-education may not be enough,” he tells his audience of senior military and police cadres, a seeming admission that for as long as any Uyghur continues to feel a loyalty to identity or faith at least as strong as to the Party, there’s no end in sight.

China has claimed that the camps set up for Uighur minorities are for job training. But the hacked documents reveal that these are mandatory re-education camps and police have standing orders to shoot any “trainees” who try to escape during classes.

If trainees fail to comply, the armed police officers can fire warning shots. If the trainees refuse to obey orders and continue to escalate the situation, to escape, or try to snatch [the police’s] weapons, the police officers who carry guns shoot [them] dead.

Another documents details what to do if “trainees” try to escape during outdoor activity.

If trainees fail to comply, the armed police officers can fire warning shots. If trainees refuse to stop and continue to escape, the armed police officers shoot them dead.

So much for the claim that this is just helpful vocational training. In addition to the documents there are nearly 3,000 images of the detained people, some of which show more than just faces.

In many images including this one, you see detainees in the background, behind bars. pic.twitter.com/ViBZYEZ0G1

— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022

Many had their heads shaved. pic.twitter.com/3NR6JxpGO7

— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022

Here’s Zenz’s summary of the files:

The material is unprecedented on several levels:
1. High-level speeches, implicating top leadership and containing blunt language

2. Camp security instructions, far more detailed than China Cables, describe heavily armed strike units with battlefield assault rifles pic.twitter.com/tQUSXJU0pF

— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022

This next photo shows a child whose parents were both forced into the camps. Below that is a “trainee” who was arrested at age 14.

The youngest person confirmed to be in a re-education camp is Rahile Omer, age 14 when she was detained, nearly age 15 when her image was taken by the police. pic.twitter.com/Sr0W6Rf2aN

— Adrian Zenz (@adrianzenz) May 24, 2022

The files only cover the period up to 2018. After that the BBC notes word went out from the government that files were to have additional encryption. So this is really a picture of what was happening four years ago. The camps and prisons have grown since then. It should be obvious that the re-education taking place here isn’t vocational training and it isn’t even the repetition of communist propaganda. The education here is the proof that anyone can disappear at any time for any reason and have no way to escape. That’s what China is teaching people in Xinjiang.

China’s embassy in Washington released a statement about the documents which said in part, “Xinjiang related issues are in essence about countering violent terrorism, radicalisation and separatism, not about human rights or religion.” Yes, I’m sure that 15-year-old girl in the photo above was a serious terrorist threat to China.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet just started a week long visit to Xinjiang.

Wang Yi met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachele in Guangzhou. https://t.co/3rXkXGbWsz pic.twitter.com/zwsJawxQ8i

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) May 24, 2022

It was just another excuse to attack the US and the UK who, according to the foreign minister, don’t care about the truth of what’s happening in Xinjiang. The CCP has no shame at all.

The US and the UK do not care about the truth about Xinjiang at all. pic.twitter.com/gVguKithz1

— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) May 24, 2022