Report from the Nordic delegation to China’s Xinjiang Province, September 7-15, 2024

November 16, 2024

I. Introduction

The initiative for the “Nordic Delegation to China, September 7-15, 2024” was taken from the Norwegian side. Journalist and former editor Arild Vollan wanted to investigate claims in the media about an ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs in the autonomous region of Xinjiang in western China. Vollan selected an independent, cross-disciplinary and cross-political delegation group consisting of people who have worked with China and who wanted to get personal impressions of the conditions described in the previous section.

The delegation consisted of:

• Remi Strand, lawyer.

• Thore Vestby, a former member of parliament (H) and former mayor of Frogn.

• Arild Vollan (head of delegation), journalist and former editor.

• Jan Øberg, PhD sociology, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, in Lund, Sweden. (1)

The delegation itself developed the project’s mandate. Following an excursion to Xinjiang province, the delegation’s mandate was to clarify whether observations made during the trip substantiated claims in the media that there is an ongoing genocide in Xinjiang today.

Arild Vollan prepared the excursion program in dialogue with Thore Vestby, who has previously visited the province. The logistics were set up in dialogue with the Chinese Embassy in Oslo.

The delegation participants covered their own travel costs back and forth to China/Xinjiang and accommodation expenses ahead of the excursion in Xinjiang. The regional Chinese authorities arranged transportation, accommodation, and translators in Xinjiang.

In Xinjiang, the delegation members could talk to anyone they wanted. Elements of the program were conducted without participants from local or regional governments. Information was gathered through meeting people and observing cultural expressions both inside and outside local institutions, through talking to representatives from various cultural minorities, and through open sources on the internet.

In essence, the delegation has seen what it was offered to see. The report, therefore, describes a here-and-now impression within the framework that was set. The information gathered is summarized in this report.

II. Norm basis

Genocide (2) is often defined as either:

“Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”.

The above definition guided the delegation in gathering information. The definition has also guided the delegation’s assessment of the allegations of an ongoing genocide in Xinjiang.

III. Travel route, observations, etc.

The delegation gathered in Beijing on September 6, 2024. Internal planning meetings were held before the delegation flew to Kashgar (3) on the morning of September 7. The delegation went to a hotel and then on an excursion around town.

Fifty-six ethnic minorities are registered in China. Forty of these minority groups live in the Xinjiang province.

The first impression was that the architecture in Kashgar reflects a mix of different cultures living together in the area. Street signs, for example, had both Chinese and Arabic text.

The buildings included both mosques for the Muslims and buildings with a more secular design. The delegation visited the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar and was shown around by an imam.

The imam talked about the mosque’s operation, with full houses on Fridays and during holidays. Different ethnic minorities used the mosque at various times throughout the year, but the same minority groups celebrated the major holidays together in the mosque. One couple got married in the mosque area when we were there. In response to a direct question, the imam replied that the Chinese authorities do not interfere in the running of the mosque.

The delegation observed how different ethnic minority groups exposed themselves within their cultural traditions around the Old City and the market in Kashgar. Among other things, the delegation saw extensive dissemination of Uighur culture in Kashgar.

In Kashgar, the delegation also visited the mausoleum of Yusup Khass Hajip, a Turkish philosopher who died in 1080. (4) The mausoleum was built in classical Uighur architecture.

Since 1963, the Chinese authorities have used public funds to maintain the cultural monument. Information was also provided on how the Chinese authorities had allocated money over the years for the maintenance of cultural monuments related to other local minorities in Kashgar.

On the morning of September 8, 2024, the delegation drove to the cotton fields outside Kashgar city centre. The delegation was briefed on the extensive cotton production and the restrictions/sanctions imposed by the US on such products from Kashgar.

The reason for the US restrictions is that there is an ongoing genocide against the Uighurs in the province. These are restrictions with automatic secondary restrictions implemented by Europe. As a result, a local cotton factory has had to reduce from 20,000 employees to 5,000 employees. The US and Europe have imposed similar sanctions on tomatoes from Kashgar. In both cases, the official basis for imposing these restrictions is that people from the Uighur minority are used as slaves in the production.

The delegation saw no evidence to support such a factual basis for restrictions. The cotton plantations visited by the delegation were modern, highly mechanized, and controlled by computers and smartphones. The fields had integrated irrigation systems. Production in the fields was monitored by satellites and controlled from advanced technical control rooms in nearby farm buildings.

The delegation also visited Jiangguoguo AgroTech Co. Ltd., a production company for nuts for human consumption. It was an extensive facility with several hundred employees. The owner stated that all employees owned shares in the company and that no distinction was made between ethnic groups of employees. Different ethnic groups worked well together.

Other facilities visited in and near Kashgar are the Ethnic Musical Instruments Village in Shufu County, a hospital practising traditional Chinese medicine with outstanding results and the Oasis Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center.

On September 9, 2024, the delegation flew to Yining (5), a part of the province closer to Kazakhstan. In this area live minorities such as Kazakhs, Tartars, Mongols, and a Russian minority group that has lived in Yining for many generations. The delegation’s interpreter was Kazakh.

The delegation first visited the Yining Xanxi Mosque and then walked around a few streets to sense the atmosphere:

Then, it visited the Kazanchi Folk Culture Block, an “ethnopark,” where the cultures of different ethnic minorities were exposed in various ways, e.g., through singing, dancing, handicrafts, and the sale of cultural and other products.

The delegation had ample opportunities to experience how all the different minorities, including the Uighurs, develop, practise and also convey their distinctive cultural identities in Yining.

On September 10, 2024, the delegation departed for the Xibe Ancient Town in Chapchal County and was introduced to the cultural history of the Xibe minority (6). This is a Mongolian people who, in the 17th century, were sent to the border areas to guard the kingdom against invaders.

Originally, about 5,000 Xibe came to Yining. Today, there are nearly 200,000 Xibe in China, of which about 32,000 live in the Ili Prefecture. The delegation visited a museum that conveyed the history of this minority in China. In addition to explaining the background of the minority’s establishment in Ili, the museum also conveyed the group’s ethnic customs. (Ili’s full name is Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, and Yining is the capital of Ili. There are around 20,000 Xibe in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County itself.)

The museum and its exhibitions clearly testified to the work and resources that had been invested. Funding came from the municipality, the region, and state authorities.

On September 10, 2024, the delegation also visited a village built and financed through the general national program to lift people in China out of poverty, which has so far provided services to 830 million inhabitants. (7) The village the delegation visited had been built as a service for nomads, who previously lived on the steppes. In the middle of the village, a school with a sports field had been built.

The houses were decorated with illustrations of the former nomadic culture, where the inhabitants lived in tents. The delegation spoke to a minority woman who was very pleased with the offer to move from the “yurt” (8) on the steppes to the village. “Before, we only had a little money when we sold some of our animals, but now both my husband and I have regular jobs that pay a salary. My husband drives a long-distance truck, and I work in a factory,” she told us. “Now we earn money and have a better life.”

She went on to say that the children were offered schooling, which was better than when they lived in a yurt, far from organized education. “Now our children can get a regular education and have the same chance to go to university as others in China.” The woman also said that in the summers, they were still able to go out on the steppes and live as before in the old yurt, which was standing about 100 km from the village. The family had also been given land measured according to the size of the family, which they could cultivate themselves.

This family rented out the land of 20 “mu” and earned around 1500 yuan for each “mu” (666.7 square meters) per year, resulting in a total income of 30,000 yuan per year. The family had furnished parts of the house so that, against a small fee, she could receive tourists, to whom she served tea and cakes while telling them about her culture.

After the visit mentioned above, the delegation went to the economic development zone between China and Kazakhstan in Khorgos. (9) The delegation was given an overview of the stimulus functions in the zone. Measures that have contributed to a lot of business development in the area.

On the afternoon of September 10, 2024, the delegation drove to Lake “Sayram” in the Bortala prefecture, a grassland plateau. (10) The area’s scenery was impressive, as was the infrastructure development with two-lane highways and large bridge structures over the valleys.

Our host on the journey from Lake Sayram was Muhe Fuli Aishan Han, a Uyghur who was the head of the local Standing Committee. Muhe Fuli Aishan told us that he was the eldest of eight siblings, all of whom had received good educations and subsequently good positions around China.

Most of the siblings had received a university education. He went on to talk about his children, who had also received good educations and worked in good positions. Later that evening, Mr Muhe Fuli Aishan talked about how Uyghurs in the region are not persecuted on general cultural grounds, nor are other of the region’s thirty-four ethnic minorities.

However, criminal offenders within these minority groups are punished, like all other offenders in China. He went on to say that when the Soviet Union collapsed (11), radicalism developed among some members of various ethnic minority groups, including some Uyghurs. These radical groups wanted autonomy and wanted to tear the Xinjiang region away from China. This was particularly inspired by Kazakhstan, which broke away from the Soviet Union. The central authorities of China cracked down on and stopped these secession attempts as criminal activity. “Our region has been part of China for millennia and, therefore, cannot secede in this way,” said Muhe Fuli Aishan.

On September 11, 2024, the delegation went to the Xinjiang Northern Salamander Ecological Park, a park and research facility for endangered Xinjiang salamanders and a cultural park that conveys various minority cultures to visitors.

In Bogdahl Village, the delegation visited workshops in Tovshuur where people produced special musical instruments for use at ethnic music performances. The parks gave the impression of being artificially constructed villages, while the design conveyed different ethnic minority cultures. In one of these villages, there were about two thousand inhabitants who worked in the town during the day.

On the same day, the delegation visited the Xinjiang Saihu Fishery Technology Development Co., Ltd., which processes fish from Lake Sayram. It was reported that a Finnish business was engaged in developing farmed fish in the sea. The fish processed there was called “White Salomon.” Parts of the fish are reportedly exported to Finland for further processing.

After visiting the fisheries technology company, the delegation travelled to Bole Airport and flew to Urumqi or Ürümqi (12), the capital of Xinjiang.

On 12 September 2024, the delegation went to the Xinjiang International Convention and Exhibition Center and was guided around the large Exhibition on Counter-Terrorism and De-radicalization situated there.

It was reported that in the last twenty years up to 2017, there have been more than a thousand terrorist attacks in various places in Xinjiang. The terrorists have been from various minority groups, but it is not the minorities as a group that have driven the terrorist activities. The guide and the various exhibitions also conveyed how several terrorist initiatives had the aim of seceding parts of the province’s territory from China. Such offences have been cracked down on by Chinese law enforcement agencies.

The counter-terror exhibitions also documented that, in addition to exercising police authority, the Chinese authorities have engaged in a broad attitude-building process to build social common denominators between radicalized individuals from ethnic minorities and the central authorities. The reactions are based on law and seek to strike the right balance between the consideration that, on the one hand, China is an independent and indivisible state and, on the other, all ethnic minorities shall be allowed to practice their minority culture.

The delegation was informed that Chinese law authorized this type of sanction from three months duration and upwards. Persons subject to the sanctions are reassessed after three months and may be subject to a new three-month sanction if deemed necessary. The three-month periods may be extended in accordance with the terms of the legislation if deemed necessary. These measures are taken against persons from all minority groups, not just Uyghurs. According to the information provided, the reactions are carried out in mixed groups of different ethnic minorities and are also intended to help stimulate multicultural interaction between people from various minorities. At the centre, for example, it is communicated in the exhibition that people from such groups have performed multicultural performances of music, dance, etc.

The delegation asked how many people have undergone such retraining. None of the people the delegation met had such statistics at hand.

Next, the delegation visited the super-modern Urumqi Cultural Center Planning Hall, which exhibits the city’s past and future as well as the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). From there, they visited Xinjiang’s Ancient Ecological Park (Akhal Teke Horses and more) and the GAC Xinjiang Car Plant.

At the end of this day, the delegation visited the centre of Goldwind, a manufacturer of wind turbines that are used all over the world. (13)

On September 13, 2024, the delegation went to the food manufacturer Xinjiang Xiaochu Food Co., Ltd., which was particularly large in producing vinegar, soy and tomato paste. The company was affected by restrictions on the sale of tomatoes to the US and Europe due to the alleged ongoing oppression of Uyghurs in the region.

The company had adapted to the situation and found other markets for its products. The company’s representatives denied that Uyghurs were being oppressed in the area and pointed out that the restrictions against this factory were imposed on the wrong grounds. The restrictions on the export of tomatoes to the USA and Europe were perceived as an expression of American protectionism, which also affects consumers in Europe.

After the visit to Xiaochu Food, the delegation went to a large cotton producer called Changji National Agricultural High-Tech Development. This plantation also produces cotton and is subject to trade restrictions from the US and Europe. Cotton was harvested on this plantation with American machines, which the Chinese had developed further to operate unmanned.

The vehicles are controlled from a control unit in a nearby farm building. The cotton fields are automatically planted, watered, fertilized and harvested, and the growing conditions are monitored by the Beidou satellite system and sensors in the field. No humans were involved, apart from two people who walked behind the tractors and checked that there were no deviations in the planting. The delegation did not observe any oppression of Uyghurs in the cotton fields visited.

Finally, the delegation visited the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum (14). The museum is impressively large, with no entrance fees and accessible to all. It exhibits different ethnic minority cultures, including, of course, that of the Uyghurs.

After the museum visit, the delegation went on its own to the Grand Bazaar in downtown Urumqi. There, they observed various forms of citizens’ free ethnic dance. Two members of the delegation participated in dancing at the invitation of the local dancers.

One member of the delegation also visited Xinjiang’s Museum for Contemporary Art; a separate article has been published by CGTN about this. (15)

The last day of the program in Urumqi was 14 September 2024. In the morning, the delegation met with the Governor, Erkin Tuniyaz, the Vice Governor and Party leaders of the Xinjiang Province.

After a detailed exchange of socio-political views, various ideas for dialogue-building and citizen diplomacy were discussed. The delegation suggested that a multi-ethnic football team from Xinjiang could visit the Norway Cup in Oslo in 2025. This was well received by the Chinese.

On the evening of September 14, 2024, the delegation went to the Xinjiang Grand Theater some thirty kilometres outside Urumqi. It enjoyed a spectacular multi-ethnic performance that exposed several of the province’s forty minority cultures, including the Uighur culture. Nothing that the delegation observed indicated that such minority cultures were being suppressed in Xinjiang.

On September 15, 2024, the members of the delegation left Urumqi and travelled to various locations in China.

IV. Assessments

During its intensive, multi-facetted program, the delegation has observed that the places it visited in the province of Xinjiang have undergone substantial, extensive socio-economic development, which has significantly improved the living conditions of its inhabitants. This has also benefited various ethnic and cultural minorities.

The delegation met representatives of such minorities who, for example, used their new houses as an arena for communicating their original culture. At the same time, such representatives have stated that conditions are being created to enable them to carry on farming, for example, almost as before.

The members of the delegation have met happy people in the streets, from different ethnic and cultural minorities. The delegation’s impression from all the places visited is that people from different ethnic and cultural minorities live peacefully together in diversity.

The delegation saw nothing to substantiate the claims that a genocide against Uyghurs or other ethnic minorities is taking place in Xinjiang. Consistent observations made by the delegation make it likely that the Chinese authorities are taking several measures to preserve and strengthen the ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

This also applies to the Uyghur ethnic minority. The Xinjiang province is becoming a multicultural hub. The observation makes it more unlikely that China is carrying out genocide.

The delegation saw no evidence that the Chinese authorities were killing members of any ethnic group in Xinjiang or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of such groups, see Chapter III above.

Nor did the delegation see any evidence that the Chinese authorities deliberately subject minority groups in Xinjiang to living conditions intended to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Since 1979/81, China has implemented a birth planning policy throughout China, which is often referred to as the one-child policy. (16)

It is clear from the delegation’s observations above that exceptions have been made to these birth restrictions for ethnic minorities. There have also been restrictions for ethnic minorities, but so that ethnic minorities could have more than one child per family, and for some ethnic groups, it was stated that there were no restrictions at all.

Consequently, on this trip, and based on what the delegation has seen and heard, the delegation has also found nothing to suggest that the Chinese authorities have committed genocide of Uyghurs because of the introduction of birth restrictions or on other grounds.

Remi Strand
Lawyer
Vardø, Norway

Arild Vollan
Journalist
Oslo, Norway

Thore Vestby
Former MP
Drøbak, Norway

Jan Øberg
Research director
Lund, Sweden

Notes

1. In 2021, TFF published The Xinjiang Genocide Determination as Agenda. Also in 2021, TFF published Behind the Smokescreen: An Analysis of the West’s Destructive China Cold War Agenda and Why It Must Stop. Both can be downloaded as PDFs on the links.

2. The Genocide Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948. Please see Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes.

3. About Kashgar on Wikipedia.

4. Tomb of Yusup Khass Hajip – Wendy Wei Tours. About this poet, statesman, vizier, theologian and philosopher on Wikipedia.

5. About Yining on Wikipedia.

6. About Xibe on Wikipedia.

7. China and Vietnam: Challenges for the world champions of poverty alleviation – Center for Development and Environment, Center for Utvikling Og Miljø, Oslo University, 2018 (in Norwegian only).

8. About Yurt on Wikipedia.

9. Read about Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in China here and Khorgos here.

10. More about Lake Sayram here.

11. Read about the dissolution of the Soviet Union here.

12. About Urumqi here.

13. Wikipedia’s entry on Goldwind here and the company’s homepage here.

14. About this museum on Wikipedia here.

15. See Jan Oberg’s original article here and CGTN’s shortened version here.

16. The Chinese birth planning policy on Wikipedia here.

Photos

All photos © Jan Oberg 2024 – Except for the map on top and those of the delegation’s meeting with the province’s leaders.

Recommended reading and watching

After the delegation visited Xinjiang, members have produced various articles, analyses, and videos. You will find them on The Transnational’s “Xinjiang” top menu, where more will be published in the future. Please also visit TFF’s “Xinjiang – A Public Education Library in the Making.”