Updated June 18, 2019
Uyghurs in China
Uyghurs (also spelled “Uighurs”) are an ethnic group living
intensive security measures aimed at combatting “terrorism,
primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
separatism and religious extremism.” According to PRC
(XUAR) in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s)
official data, criminal arrests in Xinjiang increased by over
northwest. Uyghurs speak a Turkic language and practice a
300% in the past five years compared to the previous five.
moderate form of Sunni Islam. The XUAR, often referred
to simply as Xinjiang (pronounced “SHIN-jyahng”), is a
Two prominent Uyghurs serving life sentences for state
provincial-level administrative region which comprises
security crimes are Ilham Tohti (convicted in 2014), a
about one-sixth of China’s total land area and borders eight
Uyghur economics professor who had maintained a website
countries. The region is rich in minerals, and has China’s
related to Uyghur issues, and Gulmira Imin (convicted in
largest coal and natural gas reserves and a fifth of the
2010), who had managed a Uyghur language website and
country’s oil reserves. Beijing hopes to promote Xinjiang as
participated in the 2009 demonstrations.
a key link in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which
includes Chinese-backed infrastructure projects and energy
In tandem with a new national religious policy, also
development in neighboring Central and South Asia.
referred to as “Sinicization,” XUAR authorities have
instituted measures to assimilate Uyghurs into Han Chinese
society and reduce the influences of Uyghur, Islamic, and
Arabic cultures and languages. The XUAR government
enacted a law in 2017 that prohibits “expressions of
extremification,” and placed restrictions, often imposed
arbitrarily, upon face veils, beards and other grooming,
some traditional Uyghur customs including wedding and
funeral rituals, and halal food practices. Local authorities
reportedly also have banned some Islamic names for
children. Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang reportedly
have been demolished as part of what the government calls
a “mosque rectification” campaign; others have been
“Sinicized”—minarets have been taken down, onion domes
have been replaced by traditional Chinese roofs, and
Islamic motifs and Arabic writings have been removed.
Source: CRS using U.S. Department of State Boundaries; Esri;
Global Administrative Areas; DeLorme; NGA.
Some Uyghurs—estimates range from hundreds to
thousands—have fled religious restrictions and persecution
Some Uyghurs refer to Xinjiang as “East Turkestan,” a term
in China during the past decade. Many have migrated
regarded as subversive by PRC leaders. All or parts of
through Southeast Asia to Turkey, which has a large
Xinjiang have been under the political control or influence
Uyghur community. In response to pressure from Beijing,
of Chinese, Mongols, and Russians for long periods of the
Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand repatriated nearly 150
region’s documented history, along with periods of Turkic
Uyghurs to the PRC between 2009 and 2015.
or Uyghur rule. Uyghurs played a role in the establishment
of two short-lived East Turkestan Republics in the 1930s
By contrast, the Hui, another Muslim minority group in
and 1940s. The PRC asserted control over Xinjiang in 1949
China who number around 11 million, largely have
and established the XUAR in 1955.
practiced their faith with less government interference. The
Hui are more geographically dispersed and culturally
Uyghurs once were the predominant ethnic group in the
assimilated than the Uyghurs, are generally physically
XUAR; they now constitute roughly 45% of the region’s
indistinguishable from Hans, and do not speak a non-
population of 24 million, or around 10.5 million, as many
Chinese language.
Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, have
migrated there, particularly to the provincial capital,
Many experts attribute the proliferation and intensification
Urumqi. Many Uyghurs complain that Hans have benefitted
of security measures in the region to new national and
disproportionately from economic development in Xinjiang.
provincial counterterrorism laws and to the leadership of
Chen Quanguo, the former Party Secretary of Tibet, who
Human Rights Issues
was appointed Party Secretary of the XUAR in 2016.
Since an outbreak of demonstrations and ethnic unrest in
Recent security measures include the following:
2009 and clashes involving Uyghurs and Xinjiang security
personnel that spiked between 2013 and 2015, PRC leaders
Police Presence and Surveillance: Thousands of
have sought to “stabilize” the XUAR through more
“convenience” police stations, furnished with
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Uyghurs in China
antiriot and high-tech surveillance equipment,
International Cybersecurity Policy of the Senate Foreign
have been installed.
Relations Committee (SFRC) held a hearing on human
rights in China, and on June 5, 2019, the SFRC held a full
Biometric data collection: Authorities have
committee hearing on the 30th anniversary of the
systematically collected and cataloged DNA
Tiananmen crackdown. In both hearings, witnesses raised
samples, blood types, and fingerprints and
the issue of the mass internment of Uyghurs.
performed eye scans of Uyghurs for identification
purposes as part of its social stability campaign,
In January 2019, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act was
often under the guise of “health physicals.”
introduced in the Senate and House (S. 178 and H.R. 649).
The act would mandate four U.S. agency reports on the
Internet and Social Media Controls: Uyghurs in
Uyghur human rights situation and urge the Administration
some areas of the XUAR are required to install an
to establish a U.S. Special Coordinator for Xinjiang in the
application on their mobile phones that enables
Department of State. The act would in part call upon U.S.
authorities to monitor their online activities.
law enforcement agencies to protect members of the
Uyghur diaspora in the United States from PRC
Home stays: The government has sent an
harassment. It would urge the Secretary of State to consider
estimated one million officials and state workers
imposing sanctions pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Act
from outside the XUAR, mostly ethnic Han, to live
(subtitle F of P.L. 114-328) upon Chinese officials
temporarily in the homes of Uyghurs to assess
responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The
their hosts’ loyalty to the Communist Party.
Global Magnitsky Act authorizes the President to deny
entry into the United States and freeze assets held in the
Mass Internment
United States of foreign individuals responsible for “gross
According to various estimates, Xinjiang authorities have
violations of internationally recognized human rights.” The
detained over 1 million Turkic Muslims, mostly ethnic
UIGHUR Act of 2019 (H.R. 1025), introduced in February
Uyghurs, and Kazakhs, in “reeducation camps” without
2019, would in part call upon the Administration to engage
formal charges, trials or hearings, and with no timetable for
in international advocacy in support of Turkic Muslims in
release. Many detainees have little or no contact with their
China, promote Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur language
families and, in some cases, young children. Some PRC
programming, and restrict the export of U.S. technologies
officials describe the Xinjiang camps as “vocational
that facilitate the mass detention of Turkic Muslims in
education institutions” in which “trainees” learn job skills
China.
and study Chinese language while undergoing “de-
extremization.” Other PRC authorities state that detainees
Terrorism
are “infected with religious extremism and violent terrorist
The PRC government has attributed numerous deadly
ideology.” According to some reports, many detainees had
incidents in the XUAR to the East Turkestan Islamic
engaged in activities that authorities may now deem
Movement (ETIM). Chinese officials portray ETIM as a
“extremist,” including participating in religious services
Uyghur terrorist group with ties to Al Qaeda, the Taliban,
outside of officially sanctioned places of worship; home-
and the Islamic State that advocates the creation of an
schooling one’s children; spending time abroad or having
independent Islamic state that would include Xinjiang. The
relatives living abroad; and expressing strong religious
U.S. government designated ETIM as a terrorist
sentiments.
organization under Executive Order 13224 in 2002 (to
block terrorist financing) and placed ETIM on the Terrorist
Many detainees reportedly are compelled to express or
Exclusion List in 2004 (to prevent the entry of terrorists
chant their love of the Communist Party and President Xi
into the United States). ETIM is not on the Department of
Jinping, sing patriotic songs, renounce or reject many of
State’s narrower “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO)
their religious beliefs and customs, including their
list. The U.S. government “identified sufficient evidence”
avoidance of pork, alcohol, and smoking, and undergo
to consider three violent incidents in China purportedly
ideological indoctrination and self-criticisms. According to
involving Uyghurs as terrorist attacks in 2014, although the
former detainees, treatment and conditions in the camps
lack of information in most cases has made it difficult to
include beatings, food deprivation, and crowded and
verify PRC accounts of alleged terrorist activity. According
unsanitary conditions. Some reeducation centers reportedly
to some experts, ETIM, whose members reportedly spent
contain factories where detainees are forced to work, in
time in Afghanistan and Pakistan from the late-1990s to the
some cases producing goods for export.
mid-2000s, was a small, loosely organized and poorly
financed group that lacked weapons and had little if any
U.S. Responses
contact with global jihadist groups.
Members of the Trump Administration have condemned
PRC forced-assimilation policies and the mass arbitrary
Roughly 100 Uyghurs from China entered Islamic State
detention of Uyghurs, including Vice President Mike Pence
territory during 2013-2014, according to the New America
in an October 2018 speech on China policy and Secretary of
Foundation. Over one dozen Uyghurs purportedly were
State Michael Pompeo in November 2018 at the U.S.-China
involved in terrorist activities in Thailand and Indonesia
Diplomatic and Security Dialogue and in March 2019 upon
during 2015-2016. In 2016, a car bomb exploded outside
the release of the Department of State’s 2018 Country
the PRC embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which local
Reports on Human Rights Practices. On December 4, 2018,
authorities attributed to Uyghur militants based in Syria.
the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and
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Uyghurs in China
IF10281
Thomas Lum,
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10281 · VERSION 16 · UPDATED