Widening the net: China’s anti-terror laws and human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Abstract

Although a significant amount of attention has been paid to the implementation of antiterror laws and their impact on human rights in theWest, relatively little has been paid to this issue in the Chinese context. China has not been entirely immune from the antiterror legislative wildfire generated by 9/11. I argue that the international dynamic of privileging security concerns over protecting human rights is prevalent in China and is acutely felt in the specific regional context of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. China’s anti-terror laws contribute not only to further human rights violations in Xinjiang but also hold the potential to criminalize dissent throughout the PRC via the application of an ambiguous and expansive definition of terrorism.