China defends its Xinjiang policy during the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s universal periodic review.<\/b>
\n\u201cCalling a deer a horse,\u201d or \u201c zhi lu wei ma,\u201d is famous Chinese idiom originating from the Qin Dynasty (221\u2013206 BC).
According to the story, Zhao Gao, the prime minister of the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty, once rode a deer on an outing with the emperor.
The emperor asked: \u201cPrime Minister, why are you riding a deer?\u201d
Zhao replied: \u201cYour Majesty, this is a horse.\u201d
The emperor said: \u201cYou are mistaken! That is clearly a deer!\u201d
Zhao said: \u201cIf Your Majesty does not believe me, then let\u2019s ask other officials for their opinion.\u201d
When asked, some officials remained silent; others said it was a deer. Some, hoping to ingratiate themselves with Zhao, said it was a horse.
The emperor thus got confused and believed what Zhao said. Then Zhao executed all the officials who said it was a deer, making\u00a0the rest terrified of him.
Since then, \u201ccalling a deer a horse\u201d\u00a0has been used as an idiom to describe someone deliberately reversing black and white, misrepresenting the truth, and distorting the facts for ulterior motives.
History now seems to repeat itself.
On November 6, China\u2019s human rights record was examined for the third time by the United Nations Human Rights Council\u2019s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). During the UPR, China strongly defended its human rights record, particularly its policies against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang \u2014 including the widely-criticized establishment of so-called \u201cvocational education and training centers.\u201d
Earlier this year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cited estimates that up to one million Uyghurs may be held involuntarily in extralegal detention in Xinjiang. But China repeatedly denied any mass imprisonment of Uyghurs.
According to Reuters, China has sent a 66-member delegation to the UN Human Rights Council this time. Le Yucheng, Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs as well as head of the Chinese delegation, again rejected all accusations of mistreatment of Muslim minorities and denied any mass detention. Le claimed that China\u2019s establishment of \u201cvocational education and training centers\u201d in Xinjiang was\u00a0a \u201cpreventive measure to combat terrorism.\u201d
Reuters quoted another Chinese delegate as saying that Chinese authorities were \u201cproviding free-of-charge vocational training with a diploma after exams\u201d to those who had been \u201ccoerced or lured\u201d by extremist groups.
\u201cThe extreme terrorism in Xinjiang was quite serious, seriously undermining stability and tranquility in the locality and aroused strong indignation from the people,\u201d said Yasheng Sidike, the Uyghur mayor of the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi. He added that for the last 22 months there had been \u201cno incident of violent terrorism\u201d in Urumqi.
According to China\u2019s state news agency Xinhua, Le also maintained that the Xinjiang vocational education and training program is \u201cestablished to help those influenced by extremism return to normal life through education. As a preventive measure, it is another major contribution that China has made in international counterterrorism.\u201d
Le told Xinhua that China\u2019s perspective on human rights, such as \u201cno security, no human rights\u201d and \u201cdevelopment is a primary human right,\u201d has been \u201cwidely understood, recognized, and supported\u201d during the UPR.
However, whatever the argument, the Chinese government is obviously ignoring the fundamental question here: are Muslim minorities in Xinjiang voluntarily taking part in these \u201cfree-of-charge vocational trainings\u201d?
If these minorities are restricted\u00a0to these \u201ctraining centers\u201d against their will without proper legal grounds, no matter what name the Chinese government uses to refer to these facilities, they do indeed function as detention camps. And detention without trial \u2014 not to mention indefinite detention of non-criminal citizens \u2014 is against human rights. This is common sense.
The only way for the Chinese government to prove its credibility on its Xinjiang policy now is to demonstrate either that those Muslim minorities are not being held involuntarily in those \u201ctraining centers\u201d or that those at the centers\u00a0did commit certain crimes and can be legally detained.
Otherwise, China\u2019s referring to those Xinjiang facilities as \u201cvocational education and training centers\u201d rather than detention camps is only the new era\u2019s version of \u201ccalling a deer a horse.\u201d<\/p>\n