Chinese Communist Party authorities convened a political-legal work conference in Urumchi, East Turkistan, what Beijing calls “Xinjiang (New Territory),” on February 9. A published state-media report said the meeting ordered officials to advance “law-based” and “normalized” implementation of what it labels “counterterrorism and stability maintenance,” alongside intensified “de-extremification,” border fortification, and expanded “prevention-and-control” systems.
The state report said Chen Xiaojiang, identified as the occupied territory’s Party secretary, delivered the main speech. It said Erkin Tuniyaz, identified as deputy Party secretary and head of the colonial administration, presided. It also said Wang Gang, identified as the top political-legal chief, issued “specific deployments” directing political-legal work.
According to the report, senior officials attended from across the occupation’s enforcement and administration structure, including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), the Xinjiang Military District and Armed Police command in the territory, and the courts and procuratorates, alongside Party and government bodies and prefecture-level political-legal leadership, including senior officials from intelligence and policing agencies.
“External struggle” and ideological enforcement ordered
The most revealing passage in the published directives frames coercive governance as “political security” work and orders intensified operations that extend beyond conventional criminal enforcement, including “external struggle” activity related to the occupied country and an ideological “anti-separatism struggle.”
“Focus on preventing and defusing political security risks; actively conduct ‘external struggle’ related to Xinjiang; intensify the ‘anti-separatism struggle’ in the ideological sphere; and firmly defend the ‘lifeline’ of national security.”
Chen Xioajiang, CCP Party Secretary in Occupied East Turkistan
In the same section, the report calls for a continued “high-pressure” crackdown posture against the state-designated “three forces,” and directs accelerated construction of an “overall public security prevention-and-control system,” strengthened border fortification, and intensified “de-extremification.”
Euphemisms used to present coercive policy as governance
The conference account repeatedly uses the labels “counterterrorism,” “stability maintenance,” “anti-extremism,” and “de-extremification” to describe measures that the Chinese state seeks to institutionalize as routine state practice. International monitoring has long noted that Beijing frames policies that amount to genocide and crimes against humanity through counterterrorism and anti-extremism narratives.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE), based in Washington, D.C., said the labels “counterterrorism,” “stability maintenance,” and “de-extremification” function as official euphemisms for its genocidal policies in East Turkistan. The ETGE linked the conference’s “normalized” posture to Beijing’s “People’s War on Terror,” also known as the “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism,” which began in May 2014 and is entering its 12th year, and said these slogans serve as official euphemisms for an ongoing campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity.
“The normalization of so-called ‘counterterrorism’ and ‘de-extremification’ provides the administrative framework for mass surveillance, detention, forced labor, coercive population control, and other policies constituting genocide and crimes against humanity.”
Salih Hudayar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security of the East Turkistan Government in Exile
International findings and ETGE call for action
The ETGE said the directives arrive despite established findings and repeated international concern. On January 19, 2021, then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a determination that the PRC was committing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic and religious groups in East Turkistan. This U.S. determination was followed by similar determinations by a dozen Western national parliaments across Europe.
At the United Nations, a joint declaration delivered by 51 member states in October 2023 condemned China’s crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic communities, and called on Beijing to end systematic abuses.
In a statement, the ETGE urged coordinated action by governments and relevant UN mechanisms, including targeted sanctions across what it described as the occupation chain of command, measures to counter transnational repression, and stronger accountability for genocide through national jurisdictions and international mechanisms, as well as support for decolonization and independence.
“Governments that claim to oppose genocide and defend human rights must address the root cause of our nation’s suffering: the Beijing regime’s colonial occupation of East Turkistan.”
Dr. Mamtimin Ala, President of the East Turkistan Government in Exile
