Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Xinjiang (northwest), the official press reported on Friday, a first since 2014 in this region long scarred by attacks and the target of repression carried out in the name of anti-terrorism.
Western studies accuse Beijing of having interned more than a million Uyghurs and members of other local Muslim ethnic groups in “re-education camps”, even of imposing “forced labor” or “forced sterilizations”.
China presents the “camps” as “vocational training centers” intended to combat religious extremism and train residents in a trade in order to ensure social stability.
Beijing says it does not impose any sterilization, but only applies the national birth control policy, which was little practiced before in Xinjiang.
According to the New China agency, Xi Jinping hailed the region’s socio-economic progress during a secret visit to Urumqi, the regional capital, which began on Tuesday.
This is his first visit since 2014, a stay which had been marked by an attack on the last day of his visit and which announced the start of a vast anti-terrorist campaign.
The year 2014 was particularly bloody, with another attack against civilians in Urumqi and a third in Kunming station, in southwestern China, which each killed several dozen people and shocked the country.
The authorities accuse Uyghur separatists and Islamists.
In Shihezi, in the north of the region, Xi Jinping on Wednesday praised the work of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Company (“Bingtuan”), sanctioned by the United States for alleged human rights abuses.
This powerful semi-military economic organization, responsible for agricultural development and border security, among other things, has made “great strides” in reform and development, Xi said.
State media published images showing him talking to students and local officials, watching a folkloric performance or receiving applause from residents.
His visit comes before the Communist Party congress in the fall, during which he should, barring cataclysm, be kept at the head of the organization.
During a rare visit to China in May, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Beijing to avoid “arbitrary” measures in Xinjiang, while denouncing “violent acts of ‘extremism’ in the region.