Mass training camps in Xinjiang eliminated religious extremism: China

China on Friday defended its much-criticised vocational education camps in the restive Xinjiang where thousands Uighur Muslims have been kept, saying that the training centres have "effectively eliminated" religious extremism in the restive province.

China in the last few months faced severe criticism from western countries over reports that it is holding one million people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, in internment camps in Xinjiang bordering India, Afghanistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and several Central Asian States in a bid to control violent attacks by separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) organisation.

China blames the ETIM, stated to be an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, for numerous violent attacks in the restive Xinjiang region and various other parts of the country including Beijing. Resource-rich Xinjiang province is home to over 10 million Turkik-speaking Uighur Muslims.

In a second official white paper titled Vocational Education and Training in Xinjiang, China said no terrorist incidents have occurred in Xinjiang for nearly three years since the education and training started, and the overall situation in society continues to be stable.

Religious extremism has been effectively eliminated. Through education, the vast majority of trainees can recognise the nature and harm of terrorism and religious extremism, and free themselves from the control these phenomena exert over their minds, the white paper issued by the State Council, China's central Cabinet said.

Citizens now consciously resist religious extremism, and the trend in society is now to pursue knowledge of modern science and technology and a cultured way of life, it said.

Education and training centres in Xinjiang never interfered in the trainees' freedom of religious belief nor make any attempts to have the trainees change their religious beliefs, it claimed.

As trainees have fallen under the influence and control of religious extremism to a greater or lesser extent, the centres integrate de-radicalisation into the whole process of education and training, it said.

It said hundreds of police officials have been killed in the past in violent attacks carried out by separatists.

Xinjiang is a key battlefield in the fight against terrorism and extremism in China. For some time, Xinjiang has been plagued by terrorism and religious extremism, which pose a serious threat to the lives of the people in the region, it said