EVENTS

China has witnessed the emergence of a new political culture and social control mechanisms since Xi Jinping has taken charge of the party-state. The political leadership has not only redefined China's 'core interests' and brought every aspect of statecraft within the rubric of national security, but, in the process, also increased the intrusive role of the state and further restricted social aspirations and any possibility of dissent within communities. The introduction of advanced surveillance technologies and social monitoring techniques as well as the innovations brought about in their wake have occasioned certain quintessential changes in the securitization framework across the country. Given the history of Uyghur separatism and the intermittent outbursts of violence in the XAR, that Region has, of late, become a site of experimentation in a range of novel methods of coercion, officially claimed to be part of the de-extremization process there. In the larger context of China's global outreach and Xinjiang's immense and increasing geo-strategic and geo-economic importance, the stability and growth of the region is thus directly linked with how the regime manages to shape the voices of the ethnic communities within the region as well as, more broadly to contain the deeply rooted majoritarian prejudices against ethnic minorities in general and against Islam in particular. The panelists will reflect on and discuss a recently published ICS Monograph titled Countering Security Challenges in Xinjiang – Rise of the Surveillance State? The study explores the situation in Xinjiang against the broader canvas of China's political environment under President Xi Jinping.