Profile picture
, 15 tweets, 16 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
"Uighurs make up close to 90 percent of the population in the south, compared to just under half in #Xinjiang over all, and Mr. Xi set a long-term goal of attracting more Han Chinese settlers."

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
"[#Xi] & other party leaders ordered a quasi-#military organization, the #Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps [#XPCC], to accelerate efforts to settle the area with more #HanChinese, the docs show."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Here's my history of XPCC: andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…
I offer a history of #Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps [#XPCC] in the #Encyclopedia of Modern #China:
amazon.com/gp/product/068…

Here are the key excerpts from “People’s Liberation Army: #Military Enterprises & Industry Since 1949” (pp. 112-115): andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…
The #Xinjiang Production Construction Corps (#XPCC) was founded by former PLA corps commander, commissar, and first party secretary Wang Zhen under #Mao’s orders on October 9, 1954.

andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…
Part of a larger process of emulating China’s Han-era “agricultural garrisons” & Qing-era “military colonies” in establishing “construction corps” to settle, render ag self-sufficient, & develop econ remote regions while defending borders & preparing to resist potential invaders.
XPCC’s initial force of 175,000 mil personnel, commanded by Tao Zhiyue, was drawn from 1st Field Army’s 2nd & 6th Corps, former Guomindang soldiers, & former mil forces of the interwar East Turkestan Republic (Ili National Army), & was subsequently augmented with young civilians.
By 1956, the #XPCC’s 300,000 troops were under the control of the new State Farms & Land Reclamation Ministry.

In the 1962 Sino-#Indian War, the XPCC supported frontline forces & furnished reserves.

andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…
Following the 1962 Yining riots, in which thousands of Kazakhs and Uygurs fled to the Soviet Union, #XPCC’s force rose to 1.48 million.

SEE: andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…

ENCYCLOPEDIA:

worldcat.org/title/encyclop…

goodreads.com/book/show/7537…

archive.org/details/encycl…

amazon.com/Encyclopedia-M…
Following #Xinjiang leader Wang Enmao’s dismissal in 1968 on charges for having used the #XPCC as his own regional army, the corps assumed a greater economic role & was stripped of its mil designation & absorbed by Xinjiang’s provincial government in 1975. andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…
#Deng Xiaoping restored the #XPCC’s #military role in 1981 amid fears of economic stagnation, Soviet aggression, Islamic fundamentalism, and ethnic separatism.

andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…

worldcat.org/title/encyclop…

goodreads.com/book/show/7537…

archive.org/details/encycl…
The XPCC was moved to the joint jurisdiction of PRC central govt & #Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; the Ürümqi Military Region assumed the military aspects of its duties in 1982 (after 1985, this became the Xinjiang [provincial] Military District of the Lanzhou Military Region)
As a #paramilitary organization, #XPCC employs reservists & ~100,000 militia & cooperates closely with People’s Armed Police forces (e.g., in border defense) in addition to playing a #policing function & running #PRISONS & LABOR #CAMPS.

andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…

#China
#Xinjiang
To facilitate foreign #commercial relations, #XPCC units have been restructured along corporate lines, adopted a variety of civilian names (e.g., #Xinjiang State Farm Organization), & reduced the use of #military grades & terminology.

andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…

#China
@joshrogin
@joshrogin Now tasked with both economic development & the prevention of separatism, the #XPCC remains #Xinjiang’s largest single employer & landowner, with 175 farms, 4,390 large & small enterprises, & 1/3 each of the province’s Han & arable land under its jurisdiction.

@BethanyAllenEbr
@joshrogin @BethanyAllenEbr In sum, the #Xinjiang Production Construction Corps (#XPCC) is #China’s last “#Maoist” organization, combining paramilitary & diverse civil economic roles.

HISTORY: andrewerickson.com/2009/08/people…

WHY IT MATTERS SO MUCH NOW:
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

@austinramzy @ChuBailiang @nytimes
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Andrew Erickson 艾立信

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Related hashtags

#Xinjiang #Xi #military #XPCC #HanChinese #Encyclopedia #China #Mao #Indian #Deng #paramilitary #policing #PRISONS #CAMPS #commercial #Maoist

More from @AndrewSErickson see all

Profile picture
Andrew Erickson 艾立信
@AndrewSErickson
Honored to publish @WarOnTheRocks!

Make #China Great Again: #Xi’s Truly #GrandStrategy

bit.ly/XiGrandStrategy

PRC strategy has broadly-defined arc that US should address w/ strategy of “#CompetitiveCoexistence” to safeguard interests sustainably amid increasing assertiveness.
@WarOnTheRocks With the grandest & most strategic vision of any great power, Xi & his Party have staked their persistence in power on the proposition that they alone can make China great again, in part by achieving hierarchically prioritized national security interests.

warontherocks.com/2019/10/make-c…
@WarOnTheRocks Realizing this “#ChinaDream,” as #Xi defines it, by 2049 or even earlier requires subordinating #HongKong to Beijing’s unchallenged control, incorporating #Taiwan formally into the PRC, and realizing a variety of disputed #NearSeas sovereignty claims.

warontherocks.com/2019/10/make-c…
Read 12 tweets
Profile picture
Andrew Erickson 艾立信
@AndrewSErickson
"Under a secretive deal signed last month with a provincial government in the [#SolomonIslands], a Beijing-based company with close ties to the CCP has secured exclusive development rights for the entire island [of #Tulagi] & its surroundings."

nytimes.com/2019/10/16/wor…
"The island of #Tulagi served as a South Pacific headquarters for Britain then Japan, and during #WorldWarII, its natural deepwater harbor made it a military gem. Now, #China is moving in with plans to effectively take control."

nytimes.com/2019/10/16/wor…
"Even compared to previous #Chinese development deals in nearby countries — including a wharf in #Vanuatu, whose terms were not publicly released for years — the #Tulagi agreement is remarkable for both its scope and lack of public input."

nytimes.com/2019/10/16/wor…
Read 7 tweets
Profile picture
Andrew Erickson 艾立信
@AndrewSErickson
ADM #HarryHarris:
#PLARF "controls the 'largest & most diverse #missile force in the world, with an inventory of more than 2,000 ballistic & cruise missiles.'

...if #China were a signatory [to #INF #Treaty], 95% of its #missiles would be in violation"

andrewerickson.com/2019/08/u-s-en…
My take: #Russia wouldn’t fully honor #INF. #China wouldn’t join INF. Unilateral constraint was a losing proposition: China developed the world’s foremost force of #missiles precisely within the ranges that INF would prohibit. So this increasingly antiquated treaty had no future.
1 post-INF option for US—reach agreements w allies/partners to allow rapid introduction of missiles in various contingencies to support their defense. Even if peacetime politics precluded permanent deployment, more concerning scenarios could tip balance in favor of local support.
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Carl Zha
@CarlZha
Father of “East Turkestan”: Russian Sinologist Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin. He 1st invented the term “East Turkestan” to replace “Chinese Turkestan” in foreign language usage in 1829.

coincided w Russian conquest of Central Asia which led to establishment of Russian Turkestan
Since then, “East Turkestan” have been used interchangeably with “Chinese Turkistan” for #Xinjiang as a geographic term to mark it from ”West Turkestan” or “Russian Turkestan”

This 1909 map use “Chinese Turkistan”👇🏼
This 1897 map of Russian conquest use “East Turkestan” to denoted Tarim Basin area, #Uyghur homeland in South #Xinjiang under Chinese Empire.

It also marked in orange, part of Ghulja, Xinjiang occupied by Russia in 1871 and cede by China in Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881),
Read 21 tweets
Profile picture
Tirsoh
@TirsohCartoons
Long term, life is far more fragile than we are led to believe. When you look around at the history we know and are taught, we get a sense that the same old stray just goes on forever, but with new toys and more tech. This is based on a very short sighted and incomplete view of
things. Every major society other than one over the long term eventually dies or crumbles. That one is our eternal society we are children of. The society we come from broke off from a now extinct race (other than us) from a now dead world. The cartoon series is fiction, but
is at the same time the very first and most accurate retelling of what really happened in our history. While we here in this life will have ET and plenty of fun stuff to see and learn with, actual long-term policy has to be made based on actual facts not the comfortable fictions
Read 27 tweets
Profile picture
IndoPacific_SCS_Info
@IndoPac_Info
Secret Deal for #Chinese Naval Outpost in #Cambodia Raises #US Fears of Beijing’s Ambitions - Use of Ream naval base would help China’s military project power across a broad swath of Southeast Asia wsj.com/articles/secre…
China has signed a secret agreement allowing its armed forces to use a Cambodian navy base near here, as Beijing works to boost its ability to project military power around the globe, according to U.S. and allied officials familiar with the matter.
The pact—signed this spring but not disclosed by either side—gives China exclusive rights to part of a Cambodian naval installation on the Gulf of Thailand, not far from a large airport now being constructed by a Chinese company.
Read 93 tweets
Profile picture
IndoPacific_SCS_Info
@IndoPac_Info
First #Chinese bank goes belly up in 30 years - "A Big Wake Up Call": Chinese Bond Market Roiled By First Ever Bank Failure - Ouch... that trade war is hurting 👎🇨🇳👎 zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-2…
Late last Friday, we reported that several hours after the market close, China's financial regulator and central bank made a shocking announcement: for the first time in nearly 30 year, China would take control of a bank due to the serious credit risks it poses.
“Baoshang’s case is a big wake-up call,” said Becky Liu, head of China macro strategy at Standard Chartered. "Participants in the interbank market, who didn’t differentiate credit when lending to banks on the belief that they will never go bankrupt, have now become more cautious.
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
Amarnath Amarasingam
@AmarAmarasingam
1. I’m so shook about what is happening in Sri Lanka, I’m not sure what to do. I’ve just been sitting here staring at Twitter like a helpless goof.

I thought I would provide just a snapshot of the country for people unfamiliar:
2. Let’s start here: Sri Lanka is massively ethno-religiously complex and a lot of reporting is likely to get it wrong.

Of the 20-22 million people in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese
comprise the majority ethnic group, with 74%. They are predominately Buddhist and speak Sinhala.
3. The Tamil community in
Sri Lanka is made up of Sri Lankan Tamils (12.6 percent) and Indian Tamils (5.6 percent), most
of whom are Hindu, but with a significant number of Christians (mostly Catholic). They speak Tamil.
Read 9 tweets
Profile picture
NeoTokyo Tempo
@NeoTokyo__Tempo
Do not support legal streaming sites like crunchyroll or netflix. American money will kill anime. Mark my words.
Once anime studios become reliant on American money, they won't be able to live without it; and thus crunchyroll and netflix will have control over them without having to do anything.
Once they have control over them what do you think they'll do? Jew the shit out of it of course. Anime will go the way of rock music, movies, comics, and video games.
Read 23 tweets

Trending hashtags

#UnitedStates #MarianneWilliamson #CharlesDarwin #NaMoAgain #Communism #Cochabamba #MamataLosingControl #Kashmir #9May #Soy #BoycottDow #storm #history #MarxistMonday #Smartphone #scientist #UKArmy #BasharAlAssad #Trump #mercenaries #PowerToThePeople #Ukraine #Taiwan #Haridwar #Jammu
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!