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Are the Uighurs ‘slave labourers’?
A new report has cast doubt on the claims of the Nato-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute that the Chinese government is orchestrating a forced Uighur labour programme, writes JENNY CLEGG
A mosque in Khotan, an oasis city in Xinjiang, China [Colegota / Creative Commons]

THE issue of Uighur forced labour is held up as a particularly pernicious abuse of human rights in China.

Prominent here has been the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi) 2020 report, Uyghurs For Sale, claiming that the Chinese government is orchestrating a forced Uighur labour programme.

Aspi counts the US Department of State, Nato, and a number of arms dealers among its largest donors — why an organisation oriented towards strategy and defence should take up the issue of forced labour is anybody’s guess.

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