Xinjiang authorities begin winter campaign to ensure security before Chinese New Year

Chinese authorities in Xinjiang said they have launched a “Winter Operation” to beef up security in the restive western region in the run-up to the Lunar New Year.

Though the campaign is part of a nationwide security operation introduced by China’s Ministry of Public Security in November 2024, Xinjiang is its primary focus, experts on the region say.

Regional public security authorities said the campaign zeroes in on managing “areas with complex security situations” by intensifying crackdowns on “violent terrorist activities” and the early detection and elimination of potential security risks to ensure stability during the holiday period which runs Jan. 28-Feb. 4.

The Xinjiang Public Security Bureau has instructed its counterparts at city and township levels to arrange specific measures for launching the Winter Operation with a focus on “absolutely ensuring social security during the 2024 winter season and 2025 Spring Festival period,” according to a Xinjiang media report.

“Although this winter campaign is said to be nationwide, it’s being implemented differently in various places,” said Hu Ping, editor of the pro-democracy journal Beijing Spring, based in New York, and a Chinese affairs analyst. “Xinjiang has become its focal point.”

“Clearly, this campaign targets Uyghurs and similar local ethnic groups,” he said. “While everyone is busy with the festival, the authorities aim to strengthen their control over local ethnicities and enhance the effect of intimidation on these groups through this campaign.”

The operation is being carried out by public security branches in major cities and towns, including Qumul, Ghulja, Yarkand, Altay, Cherchen and Makit.

During a mobilization meeting on Jan. 4 held by the Ewirghol (Yizhouqu) district Public Security Bureau in Qumul, authorities announced that the Winter Operation would focus on “centralized cleanup and rectification” in “areas with complex security situations.”

Further repression

For the Chinese, the security operations before the weeklong Chinese New Year celebrations is a measure to safeguard against potential disturbances, prevent any unrest from gaining traction, and demonstrate the commitment to maintaining control in a sensitive region.

The nearly 12 million Uyghurs who live in Xinjiang see it as a measure of increased surveillance and control, and a signal of possible further repression during a time of national significance.

In 2024, authorities in Xinjiang forced Uyghurs to participate in Lunar New Year celebrations by learning Chinese dances and playing Chinese songs, as part of the vast region was still recovering from a 7.1-magnitude earthquake.

Experts on the region note the Winter Operation’s focus on “areas with complex security situations” is targeting communities with concentrations of Uyghurs and increasing pressure on them under the shadow of internment camps in which an estimated 1.8 million Turkic Muslims were held beginning in 2017.

“What’s different from other parts of China is that it doesn’t target a specific population within a province or region, so if you say terrorism and if you say separatism, you are referring to the Uyghur people,” said Henryk Szadziewski, senior researcher at the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project.

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When RFA contacted the Ewirghol district Public Security Bureau in Qumul to ask about the targets and scope of the Winter Operation there, a police officer directed a reporter to the external propaganda department.

The Winter Operation meeting held by Xinjiang’s regional Public Security Department in 2024 called for “adhering to and developing the Fengqiao Experience in the new era” — a reference to the process of mobilizing the masses in order to “strengthen the dictatorship over class enemies” during the Mao Zedong era.

Authorities at the meeting also emphasized “promoting the implementation of local management responsibility and multiple solution mechanisms, and the timely and effective resolution of issues among the people.”

‘Extensive securitization’

A report by Arran Hope, editor of the China Brief and deputy director of the China Program at The Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said the winter campaign aims to “mobilize more manpower and large-scale technological force to strengthen the Communist Party state apparatus’s ‘preventive repression’ and ability to resolve issues in their early stages.”

But Sean Roberts, a professor who specializes in international development at George Washington University, said there is no more room or possibility to further strengthen security in Xinjiang.

“It’s difficult to make this situation much worse in the Uyghur region … There’s already extensive securitization of the region,” he told RFA.

For years the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples living in Xinjiang have been subjected to heavy repression by China in the form of intrusive surveillance, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, as well as assaults on their Muslim faith and culture.

In the past, Chinese authorities often intimidated Uyghurs before the Chinese New Year by sending armed security forces to patrol Uyghur neighborhoods, increase checks on residents, surveil their homes, and execute Uyghur political prisoners.

“Through this campaign, the government is trying to create problems even where none exist,” Hu Ping said.” It seems they’re looking for excuses to deal with [Uyghurs]. Therefore, this is an extremely dangerous signal that the outside world should pay attention to.”

The nationwide Winter Operation reportedly stems from a directive from Chinese President Xi Jinping following a deadly incident in early November when a man drove his SUV into a crowd of people at a sports center in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province, killing 35 and injuring 43 others.

In the directive, Xi Jinping demanded that all regions and relevant departments draw lessons and conclusions from the incident and prevent and control risks in their early stages.

Xi also called for authorities to “resolve contradictions and conflicts promptly, absolutely prevent extreme incidents, and ensure the safety of people’s lives and social stability.”

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Paul Eckert.