KORLA, China (AP) – Possibly tens of thousands of people have been spirited without trial into China’s secretive detention camps for alleged crimes that range from having extremist thoughts to merely traveling or studying abroad.
The disappearances are part of an effort by authorities to use detentions and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang (SHIN’-jiang), home to 10 million Turkic-speaking Muslim minorities known as Uighurs (WEE’-goors).
Cutting-edge surveillance tracks where people go, what they read, who they talk to and what they say. And under an opaque system that treats practically all Uighurs as potential suspects, those who contact family abroad risk questioning or detention.
In this Nov. 3, 2017 photo, paramilitary policemen in an armored vehicle are on duty at the airport in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
The government says its “strike hard” campaign is necessary following a series of attacks, including a train station knifing that killed 33.
In this Nov. 2, 2017, photo, residents act as neighborhood watch for suspicious activities in a village near Korla in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017 photo, Chinese police officers question passerby along the roadside in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017 photo, armed civilian patrol the area outside the Hotan Bazaar where a screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017, photo, armed police officers gather along a roadside in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, residents walk past a statue showing Mao Zedong near billboards with the words for “Welcome 19th Congress,” “Patriotism” and “Democracy” near a square in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, children play in the old city district where Chinese national flags are prominently hung in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, a child rest near the entrance to the mosque where a banner in red reads “Love the party, Love the country” in the old city district of Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017, photo, residents line up for barbecued lamb with naan, a local delicacy at a popular restaurant in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, residents past through one of the many security check points in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, a Uighur child holds up a Chinese national flag near a vendor barbecuing skewered lamb meat in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 5, 2017 photo, residents watch a convoy of security personnel in a show of force through central Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017, photo, residents walk through a security checkpoint into the Hotan Bazaar where a screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 5, 2017 photo, a child reacts to a march past of security personnel in a show of force in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 5, 2017 photo, residents past by a security check point with cameras in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, a child reacts to a stranger as adults chat along the corridor of the old city district where Chinese national flags are prominently hung in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 5, 2017, photo, a residents watch a convoy of security personnel and armored vehicles in a show of force through central Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017 photo, a member of the local watch teases a child at an underpass shop in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, residents walk past a security checkpoint at the close of a open air market in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, vendors selling photography services for tourists work near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, a Uighur woman teaches a child Chinese language at a shop along an underpass in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, children play in the old city district in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 4, 2017, photo, a woman tends to a bed-ridden man as children play on the square near a giant statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Nov. 3, 2017, photo an egg vendor wearing a stab prevention vest waits for customers in Hotan in western China’s Xinjiang region. Authorities are using detentions in political indoctrination centers and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority Beijing fears could be influenced by extremism. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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