Now, newly revealed, confidential documents show that the official, Zhu Hailun, played a key role in planning and executing a campaign that has swept up a million or more Uighurs into detention camps. Published in , the documents were signed by Zhu, as then-head of the powerful Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party in the Xinjiang region. Long before the crackdown and despite his intimate familiarity with local culture, Zhu was more hated than loved among the Uighurs he ruled.
He was born in in rural Jiangsu Province on the coast. He never left. By the s, he was so fluent in Uighur that he corrected his own translators during meetings. The businessman first heard of Zhu from a Uighur friend who dealt with the official while doing business. But after years of observing Zhu oversee crackdowns and arrests, the businessman came to a different conclusion. Ayup, the linguist, met Zhu in , when he came to inspect his township. He was notorious for ordering 3 a.
We knew we needed to stay in our place. Beijing almost always flew in officials from other provinces for the job, in part as training for higher posts. But central officials on a fact-finding mission in Urumqi concluded that Zhu, seen as tougher than his predecessor, needed to take charge. Police swept through Uighur neighborhoods, brandishing rifles and rounding up hundreds for trial. Tens of thousands of surveillance cameras were installed. But instead of healing ethnic divisions, the crackdown hardened them.
Just hours after his departure, bombs tore through an Urumqi train station, killing three and injuring In , Beijing appointed a new leader for Xinjiang β Chen Quanguo. Zhu was his right-hand man. He crisscrossed the region to inspect internment centers, police stations, checkpoints and other components of an emerging surveillance and detention apparatus. Zhu stepped down last year after turning 60, the traditional retirement age for cadres in the Chinese Communist Party.
Chen remains in his post. Click to enlarge. Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. North Korea conducts another 'crucial test' at long-range rocket site North Korea announced Saturday that it has conducted "another crucial test" at its Sohae long-range rocket site, claiming that the move will bolster its "reliable strategic nuclear deterrent.
