BEIJING – China categorically denied on Monday the existence of forced labor camps or the oppression of religious practices in the Uighur region of Xinjiang, saying these were “accusations without any foundation” that “outrage” the people of the area.

At a press conference in Beijing on the situation in the autonomous region, the first to be held in the capital city for international media in years, Xinjiang government leaders strongly criticized recent reports by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

Using satellite photos, ASPI said it had identified up to 380 “detention centers” in the region and claimed that the network of these facilities was larger than estimated and was growing, as was the use of forced labor.

“There is no forced labor in the region, it is ridiculous,” Xinjiang government spokesman Elijan Anayat said at the press conference at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, to which only a small group of international media, including EFE, were given access.

Both Anayat and the deputy director general of the Information Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Xinjiang, Xu Guixiang, also rejected the label of “re-education camps.”

“There are no such camps, but rather vocational training centers in line with international anti-terrorism regulations,” Xu said, insisting that these establishments are no different from the de-radicalization centers tested in France or those that already exist in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The regional authorities refused to specify how many of these centers there are in Xinjiang, as well as the number of people they house in total.

“It’s a lie that people are detained in these centers, they can leave and when they graduate, they find an occupation on the outside,” he said, adding that accusations to the contrary “lack any evidence to support it.”

For his part, Obulhassan Turusunniyaz, one of the religious leaders of the Jamah Mosque in Hotan Prefecture, said that “no body oppresses or discriminates against citizens because of their religious activities, but rather protects them.”

Asked by EFE about the numerous surveillance cameras that, according to different testimonies, watch over the entrance of the mosques in the region, Turusunniyaz denied that they serve to identify and surveil the people who come to pray but is designed “for their safety, to prevent terrorism and violent struggle.”

“We have never demolished a mosque,” said Xu, who called the ASPI “a puppet of the US government, financed by arms dealers to discredit China, which hides under the facade of academic research.”

Regional leaders also denied reports of an alleged forced sterilization program among Xinjiang’s Uyghur population to increase the presence of Han people in the area.

“These are totally false accusations, degenerate slander,” Anayat said, adding that between 2010 and 2020 the Uyghur population growth has far exceeded that of the Han in the region.

He also said that a Han couple can have one child in the cities and two in the rural areas, while ethnic minorities can have two and three, respectively.

Xu also attacked Adrian Zenz, the German anthropologist who wrote a report on the alleged forced sterilization program in Xinjiang, which is the basis for reports in Western media on the issue.

“His reports lack the slightest credibility, he has never been to Xinjiang and is an active anti-Chinese member of the far-right Victims of Communism Foundation of the United States,” Xu said.

According to participants at the press conference, including several young people who studied at the controversial vocational training centers, the 380 camps that ASPI identifies as detention centers are actually administrative offices or schools.

“Any building with a wall is qualified as an education center by the Australian institute,” Xu said.