Xinjiang Data Project

China-focused Australian research project and website

Barton (Canberra), Australia

Official language

EnglishFundingUnited States Department of StateWebsitexjdp.aspi.org.au

The Xinjiang Data Project is a China-focused Australian research project created and managed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).^[1]^[2] The project states that it has identified grave human rights violations in Xinjiang, including the mass detention of minorities, and compulsory sterilizations.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The researchers found that one out of every three mosques have been demolished in Xinjiang since 2017.^[6]

Launch and funding

The ASPI launched the Xinjiang Data Project in September 2020 as a part of its International Cyber Policy Centre.^[3] According to the project's website, initial funding for the project came from the United States Department of State.^[1]^[2]

Publication of information from Xinjiang

According to the project, satellite data has allowed it to locate "380 suspected detention facilities" in Xinjiang,^[7] and to estimate that 35 % of mosques in the region have been demolished, including a pilgrimage town, Ordam Mazar.^[3] The project says that it has also used interviews from former inmates to collect information.^[5] The project has promoted research by Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, who says that the Chinese government has embarked on a program of mass sterilization in Xinjiang.^[8]^[4]

According to the researchers, development in the region is being used as a "facade for cultural erasure and desecration of religious sites."^[6]

The Chinese government has responded that the camps are vocational training and re-education programs meant to alleviate poverty and counter terrorism.^[5]

Citations

^ ^a ^b Xinjiang Data Project, "About".
^ ^a ^b Robin 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Munro 2020.
^ ^a ^b Zenz 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Graham-Harrison 2020.
^ ^a ^b Hellstern et al. 2022, p. 3.
^ Al Jazeera 2020.
^ The Washington Post 2020.

References cited

"China running 380 detention centres in Xinjiang: Researchers". Al Jazeera English. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
Munro, Kelsey (25 September 2020). "Xinjiang Data Project website launch". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
"Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviews the report of China". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
Graham-Harrison, Emma (23 September 2020). "China has built 380 internment camps in Xinjiang, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
"The Xinjiang Data Project". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
Robin, Myriam (15 February 2020). "The think tank behind Australia's changing view of China". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
"China appears to add a sickening new dimension to its treatment of Uighurs". The Washington Post. 3 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
Zenz, Adrian (21 July 2020). "Sterilizations and Mandatory Birth Control in Xinjiang". The Zinjiang Data Project. Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
Hellstern, Remy; Park, Daniel C.; Lemieux, Victoria; Salimjan, Guldana (18 July 2022). "Leveraging Blockchain-Based Archival Solutions for Sensitive Documentation: a Xinjiang Case Study". Digital Society. 1 (1): 4. doi:10.1007/s44206-022-00007-1. ISSN 2731-4669. PMC 9289082. PMID 36147998.