Adrian Zenz is a Senior Fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation students at the European School of Culture and Theology His research focus is on China’s ethnic policy Zenz is the author of Tibetanness under Threat and co-editor of Mapping Amdo: Dynamics of Change He has played a leading role in the analysis of leaked Chinese government documents including the “China Cables” and the “Karakax List.” Dr Zenz is an advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and a frequent contributor to the international media State-mandated labor can potentially have drastic consequences globally We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using on our Privacy Policy page or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences “What’s God got to do with it?” At the end of our journey in the footsteps of the Basel Mission the answer to this question – the title of one of our preparatory seminars – was clear: Quite a lot Photo Gallery Ghana Excursion (Part 1 and 2) On the fourth day, one part of our group hiked to Mount Chrischona in Riehen, another prominent site of pietistic missionary training in the 19th century. We briefly looked into the history of Cornelius Badu, born in 1847 in Elmina (Ghana), who spent some time in missionary training at Mount Chrischona, but throughout his life according to historian Paul Grant struggled to play the role of the “grateful African convert”. Our programme also included two half-days in the Basel Mission archive, with our Ghanaian guests working on their own research themes while Basel-based students assisted them with their German language skills. The small archival staff, Andrea Rhyn and Patrick Moser, did their utmost to cater to the needs of our guests, realizing that for many, this visit to the “mother archive” was long-anticipated and of great importance. Echoing similar activities during the Ghana excursion in January, we also had the chance to speak to descendants of Basel missionaries. In an eye-opening conversation, three members from the children’s/grandchildren’s generation shared their very personal encounters with the heritage of the Basel Mission, having been raised in the tradition of pietist discipline, experienced separation from their parents and/or suffered under their isolation from local children in both Basel and Ghana.  The output of the excursion is currently being curated into short blog posts for display on a website (baselfo.ch, under construction), which will host individual and collaborative works produced by students.  Finally, this exchange has shown how rewarding it can be to draw practical lessons from postcolonial criticism – especially at a time when “postcolonial” has become a discursive trigger in some circles. However, we also came to understand that an unquestioned right to question and critique whatever one pleases, including an individual’s religious beliefs and heritage (even if by implication), can be just as narrow-minded as the religious zeal of the first Basel missionaries. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. This Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X was originally plain white After a metamorphosis by German company SchwabenFolia from Korntal-Münchingen the vehicle now has a Steel Grey finish and is equipped with more modifications according to the power and the exterior The new modification program for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X was inspired by a stealth fighter and comes with a remapped ECU and a bespoke exhausts system The car now develops 390 hp and 520 Nm of torque which is an increase of 95hp and 160Nm of torque The standard 19-inch alloys wheels have been painted orange which is a huge contrast to the steel grey body foil and the matte black roof of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Furthermore it comes with additional accents red and white decals and a Hello Kitty tattoo and website in this browser for the next time I comment We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard about SchwabenFolia and Dähler, its co-partner in the creation of the Wiesmann Roadster MF5 V10 Black Bat SchwabenFolia is a car wrapping company based in Korntal-Münchingen and is responsible for the Roadster MF5’s dark looks The company dressed the outer body panels as well as bits from the interior plus the door sills trunk and engine room in a matte black skin SchwabenFolia even wrapped the 20-inch BBS alloy wheels in the same shade A foiled “imprint” of the Nürburgring’s northern loop on the driver’s side and the chrome emblems round out the makeover. the limited production roadster mode is powered by the previous BMW M5’s 5.0-liter V10 engine with 507HP This is where Swiss company Dähler steps in adding a new sportier exhaust system and modified electronics to boost output to 600-horses The tuner says that the Black Bat can go from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in just 3.5 seconds to 200km/j (124mph) in less than 10 seconds and top out at 321km/h (200mph) Dähler added Brembo 6-piston fixed calipers with 308x32mm discs up front and 4 piston fixed calipers with 380 x 28 discs at the back No pricing information has been released yet This article was published more than 6 years ago Local police patrol a village in Hotan prefecture The Chinese government has pushed back at foreign criticism of its conduct in Xinjiang.BEN DOOLEY/GETTY IMAGES The Chinese government has rejected a diplomatic demand from a group of Western countries to discuss issues related to the Xinjiang region and conditions for the largely-Muslim Uyghur population there suggests the number of people detained in Xinjiang facilities used for political re-education appears to be in the hundreds of thousands – perhaps as many as one million documents $138-million in Chinese procurement contracts for the construction renovation and expansion of re-education facilities in Xinjiang as authorities oversee construction of hundreds of such centres at township a researcher at the European School of Culture and Theology in Korntal “Many bids mandate the installation of comprehensive security features that turn existing facilities into prison-like compounds: surrounding walls police stations or facilities for armed police forces,” Mr Zenz wrote in an article published Tuesday by the Jamestown Foundation a Washington-based non-partisan research and analysis firm Such facilities are used to deliver political indoctrination Chinese-language instruction and tutoring in other skills Some are called “vocational training centres” but “frequently function as well-secured internment camps,” Mr he found that many regions recruited staff for such “training centres” in the same advertisement as police jobs job ads demand Han Chinese applicants with only middle-school degrees but excellent political loyalty Official documents have likened re-education to a kind of medical “treatment” for addiction to unhealthy ideologies China has accused Uyghur extremists of conducting terror attacks and Chinese authorities have sought to combat what they call threats of radicalization in Xinjiang including by expanding surveillance networks installing numerous new police posts and equipping local authorities with devices that can search smartphones for content deemed illegal Children playing outside the Id-kah mosque in the Xinjiang region of Kashgar Documents show contracts for the expansion and installation of security features to re-education facilities in the area that will be used to deliver political indoctrination to the population.BEN DOOLEY/GETTY IMAGES a Chinese diplomat in Kazakhstan denied the use of re-education centres But their existence has been documented by scholars and news organizations and has raised human rights-related concerns in the international community has pushed back at foreign criticism of its conduct in Xinjiang officials in Beijing rejected a démarche by a group of Western diplomats A diplomatic démarche is a formal presentation of views from one government to another Such meetings can be used to air complaints or grievances and the rejection of such overtures is more common Chinese officials also took the unusual step of returning a diplomatic letter that expressed “growing concern over recent claims of torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in cases concerning detained human-rights lawyers and other human-rights defenders.”) China’s rejection of quieter means of diplomacy has led the international community to raise concerns more publicly at a regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council Canada said “the lack of transparency and due process in the cases of thousands of Uyghurs detained in so-called ‘re-education camps’ … continues to call into question China’s commitment to the rule of law.” The European Union called “upon China to respect the rights of freedom of expression offline and online not least in Tibet and Xinjiang.” The United States raised concern “about harsh conditions akin to martial law that have been imposed in Xinjiang and some Tibetan areas.” A barber shaves a man outside of the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar The Chinese government regularly boasts about the economic development it has brought to Xinjiang.BEN DOOLEY/GETTY IMAGES China responded by saying it “has worked constantly” to improve conditions for its people and “has made remarkable progress which is recognized by all without prejudice.” It rejected “unfounded accusations against China which is a flagrant interference in Chinese sovereignty and internal affairs.” The Chinese government regularly boasts about the economic development it has brought to Xinjiang while local officials say they have provided the Uyghur community with a high standard of social services a top foreign-publicity director in Xinjiang wrote that the “happiest Muslims in the world live in Xinjiang.” suggests that at least 200,000 Uyghurs have been placed into re-education His numbers are based on Chinese government statements estimates of the numbers of re-education camps a survey of the square footage in construction bids The broad range in estimates comes from a lack of official data China has not provided numbers on how many people it has brought into re-education and foreign journalists are routinely subjected to detention and harassment while reporting there Zenz located 73 procurement bids related to re-education facilities which give “unprecedented detail” into a system that he calls “a mass social re-engineering project that’s trying to change a people Those sent to re-education can stay anywhere from several months to 15 months “This is very significant oppression,” he said “This should be given international attention.” Report an editorial error Report a technical issue Editorial code of conduct Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following Nathan VanderKlippe is an international correspondent for The Globe and Mail where his reporting took him across the region to cover political developments He won the World Press Freedom Canada award and a National Newspaper Award for his stories on the plight of the Uyghurs in China he served multiple terms on the board of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China VanderKlippe was a print and television correspondent in Western Canada based in Calgary His reporting has been recognized by Amnesty International The Society of American Business Editors and Writers and The International China Journalists Association Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. 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For more information on our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines and our Terms and Conditions This article was published more than 7 years ago A police officer gestures as worshippers arrive at Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar Security spending in China's far western Xinjiang region nearly doubled last year and now far exceeds what is spent on health care or social welfare in a place where authorities have responded harshly to threats of terrorism among the largely Muslim Uyghur population The Chinese government often vaunts the good it is doing in Xinjiang parts of which now resemble militarized zones with prevalent checkpoints and surveillance are the "happiest Muslims in the world." The Chinese government "has taken effective measures to develop the economy enhance the well-being of the public," boasts a 2017 white paper But budget figures brought to light by a foreign researcher show China's outsized concern lies in keeping a grip on the region through tight security measures Public-security spending leaped 92 per cent last year in Xinjiang amid a recruitment push for roughly 100,000 new security officers in the 12 months leading up to last summer according to figures compiled by Adrian Zenz a researcher who specializes in Tibet and Xinjiang at the European School of Culture and Theology in Korntal-Muenchingen The region is being transformed into "an experiment of what is possible how far can you push the securitization of society," Mr Xinjiang has built some 7,000 new "convenience" police stations many of them stationed at intervals of 500 metres Uyghurs have fought in Syria and Afghanistan and China says it is seeking to ensure stability in a region vulnerable to extremism Xinjiang spent fully seven times more on public security last year than Canada does on police The rise in Xinjiang spending comes amid a broader Chinese emphasis on policing its people under Xi Jinping who is expected to remain the country's long-term President after a planned abolishment of constitutional term limits in the coming days in a research paper that will be published soon by the Jamestown Foundation has found that China's 2017 spending on internal security exceeded its military spending by 18.6 per cent; the numbers were roughly even as recently as 2014 "We are seeing a government that is increasingly relying on domestic security manpower and technology in order to control society," he said The most dramatic change has taken place in Xinjiang where government reports show a dramatic contrast in priorities from other places The region's $11.85-billion in public-security spending last year is more than double its outlay on health care; 11 per cent higher than spending on social welfare; and 80 per cent of what was spent on education which has a similar official population but spent one-fifth what Xinjiang did on public security and nearly five times more on social welfare Shanghai spending on health care and education also exceeded its public-security outlay The Xinjiang figures do show a government investing heavily in schooling Xinjiang's education spending is more than double Beijing's and the region has benefited from new schools Xinjiang has installed thousands of new kindergartens But the region has also built political re-education centres where Uyghurs are held for months at a time without formal charges Money is also going to pay for tens of thousands of teachers hired from outside Xinjiang who are being brought in to deliver Chinese instruction to Uyghur students "There is some public good here in terms of better facilities and much better Mandarin-language education but it comes at a very high cost from the perspective of Uyghur parents," said Darren Byler an anthropologist at the University of Washington who is an expert on modern Uyghur issues "The schools are centred around achieving permanent stability and ethnic harmony strongly discouraging Islamic education of any kind and emphasizing Han cultural systems." have quit being teachers and are now working for stability-maintenance organizations mosques or communities in Xinjiang," said Tahir Hamut a Uyghur filmmaker and poet who recently moved to the United States He isn't surprised at the growth in Xinjiang security spending amid visible increases in surveillance equipment police and plainclothes officers "pretending to be ordinary people being placed in different communities The number of all of the above has increased many times," he said The "Chinese government always claims that members of ethnic minorities are living happy lives," he added "But the fact is that is that since reform and opening up in the 1980s the living condition of ethnic minorities in China \nSecurity cameras are seen on a street in Urumqi capital of China’s Xinjiang region on July 2 \nThe entrance to the Ethnic Unity Corridor in the desert city of Turpan.\n 2015 photo shows a security guard in a Uyghur neighborhood in Aksu \nAn ethnic Uyghur woman pushes her children on a tricycle in the old town of Kashgar \nAn ethnic Uyghur man walks in an alleyway near a local police station in the old town of Kashgar \nAn ethnic Uyghur shopkeeper works next to a Chinese flag at his shop on June 29 \nAn ethnic Uyghur family ride a scooter on June 28 \nAn ethnic Uyghur woman waits for customers at her fruit stand on June 27 \nUnder a poster showing Chinese leaders including the late Mao Zedong and the present President Xi Jinping an ethnic Uyghur man makes bread at a local bakery on July 1