Uyghur Muslim activist calls for action to stop China spying on ethnic minorities

CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE

"Her cell phone is being monitored all the time. Everything we say is being listened to," Jawdat said.

The United States said last week it was deeply troubled by reports the Chinese government had harassed or detained relatives of Uighur activists who made their stories public.

Jawdat said there was also evidence China was using Uighurs for forced labour in factories in Xinjiang which produces most of China's cotton.

"There's a huge possibility that things we use in our daily lives come from those camps, especially clothes," he added. The United States recently blocked imports from one Xinjiang-based clothing company, citing concerns over forced labour.

Jawdat said China wanted to erase the culture of its 10 million Uighur population as part of a wider effort to assimilate its 55 minorities into its majority Han culture.

China insists Xinjiang is its internal affair, and the issue there is not a religious or ethnic one, but about preventing terror and separatism.

Jawdat said the Uighurs were a particular target because Xinjiang lies at the start of President Xi Jinping's massive One Road, One Belt project which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond.

Human rights groups say cutting-edge mass surveillance is central to China's campaign of repression, with officials routinely scanning Uighurs' ID cards, searching their phones, and taking photos and fingerprints.

Checkpoints and cameras are everywhere, said Jawdat, who had heard reports of facial recognition cameras set up in major cities to pick up the faces of Uighurs and other minorities.

Last month the United States blacklisted some of China's top tech companies, including leaders in facial recognition technology, that it said were implicated in the crackdown. It also announced visa restrictions on some Chinese officials.

"In the beginning I was speaking out about my mum, but I'm now speaking out for my daughter's future," said Jawdat.

"If we fail to stop this right now this will get expanded to other parts of the world."