[canada2020]

Yes, this is bad. I think we can all agree on that.

But does anyone have sources on _how_ China got into this situation? They wouldn't be detaining Uighurs at this scale for no reason. So what's the history behind this?

I left a separate comment here of someone else who commented on the article with a potential background reason (terrorism?). Although I'm not sure if can rely on just that one comment, and would love to hear what HN thought.

A part of a civil discussion requires that we understand and seek out the argument from all parties. As a society, we need to evolve from one-sided arguments.

[yorwba]

Much has been written in the Chinese academic literature about the need for new policing strategies in Xinjiang. Here's a reading list with English summaries: https://xinjiang.sppga.ubc.ca/policy-documents/chinese-acade... Of course the original articles are all in Chinese.

[canada2020]

Thanks! This is great. It appears that China's argument for Xinjiang are:

1. Anti-terrorism / Religious Extremist Activities 2. Poverty alleviation

We have certainly seen similar situations play out in the past (e.g. US & Middle East), with different approaches. China's approach is to eliminate "ethnic separatism" through these "re-education camps". Not ideal, for sure. But what would be a better solution?

If we had terrorism in the US -- in fact, an entire state of people subscribed to that mindset -- what's the best way to deal with that?

(This is, ofc, assuming China's terrorism claims are real)

[hajile]

The Chinese government itself admits that these people aren't formally charged with any crime and that criminals go to different prisons. As they aren't actually terrorists, this entire line of logic doesn't apply.

The Black population in the US is disproportionately impoverished. Should we round them up into re-education camps?

It's policy based entirely in ethno-nationalism (racism).

The US had a Civil War over separation and slavery, but we didn't establish re-education camps for all the people who were on the losing side. You didn't see Germans forced into re-education camps after WW1 or WW2 (at least on the non-USSR side).

I don't know of ANY instances of this kind of re-education thinking in first-world countries. Even third-world countries don't usually consider this moral. It's basically limited to second-world (communist) despotic countries. In recent times, I've heard people talk about re-education camps in the US, but (big surprise), they're always alt-left (communists, antifa, whatever).