“Eradicating Ideological Viruses”: China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims
September 01, 2018According to a 2018 Kashgar Prefecture government policy plan, authorities in Kashgar describe different types of political indoctrination programs at different levels of deprivation of liberty and movement with a policy term called “the Four Batches (四个一批).” People who “pose [political] danger” are placed in four “batches” or levels:
“detention according to the law (依法收押),” which refers to formal detention and imprisonment;
“political education (教育培训)”;
“custodial control (强制管控)”; and
“in-situ control (原地盯控).”
According to an interviewee familiar with the government’s policies in southern Xinjiang, the government considers political education camps established at county level as “proper” or “formal” political education camps.
For those compulsory political indoctrination programs run by the lower-level governments including at the township and village levels – some allow people to go home afterwards (some Turkic Muslims call these programs “open” political education camps), and some do not – authorities refer them the latter as “custodial control.”
Finally, “in-situ control” refers to restricting people to the area in which their hukous are registered.