The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), also known as Bingtuan, trading with the external name China Xinjian Group, is a state-owned enterprise and paramilitary organization in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The XPCC was established in 1954 under the orders of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, and developed sparsely populated areas in its early decades, taking the model of the traditional tuntian system of setting military units in frontier areas. The XPCC was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and was outright abolished in 1975, before being re-established in 1981, partly due to the Soviet–Afghan War. It re-established its economic dominance over Xinjiang afterwards, also being responsible for maintenance against the "three evils" (separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism). In its history, the XPCC has built farms, towns, and cities, provided land and employment to disbanded military units, and re-settled Han migrants from other parts of China in what has been called a campaign of assimilation and Sinicization of the local Uyghur population.
The XPCC is under both the Central People's Government and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional People's Government, headed by the Chinese Communist Party committee secretary of Xinjiang. XPCC's own CCP committee secretary typically concurrently serves as its political commissar and acts as its highest day-to-day authority, and is considered to be the second most-powerful person in Xinjiang after the Party Secretary. The XPCC operates cities, where it provides prisons, healthcare, policing, judiciary, and education, and has stakes in numerous publicly traded companies. It is extensively involved in economic, political and military affairs of Xinjiang, being called a "state in a state".
History
The XPCC draws from the traditional Chinese tuntian system, a policy of settling military units in frontier areas so that they become self-sufficient in food, and similar policies in the Tang and Qing dynasties. Construction corps were set up for sparsely populated frontier regions, including Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang.
After the Chinese Communist Party took control of Xinjiang in 1949, People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces deployed into Xinjiang were commanded to start production in the area. In 1953, PLA there were separated into National Defense and Production Divisions. XPCC was formed from soldiers from First Field Army, Kuomintang, and from the local Ili National Army.
In October 1954 the Production Division was ordered by the Mao Zedong to form People's Liberation Army Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in 1954.Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps: Key Policy Tool from Mao to Xi Andrew Erickson, 16 November 2019 XPCC was founded by Wang Zhen. It initially comprised 175,000 military personnel, led by Tao Zhiyue as its first commander.
XPCC was initially focused on settling, cultivating, and developing sparsely populated areas, such as the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert and the Gurbantünggüt Desert, under the principle of "not competing for benefits with the local people". It provided a reserve military force, although they were not called upon. XPCC was expanded by youth from other parts of China, to equalize its sex ratio and include members with better education. In 1962, after the Sino-Soviet split, rioting occurred in Yining and 60,000 ethnic minorities living near the border fled to the Soviet Union. The Chinese government feared that the USSR was trying to destabilize China and start a war. XPCC was ordered to cultivate the farms of the exiles.
The XPCC was severely damaged by the Cultural Revolution. In 1975, it was abolished completely. Its powers were transferred to the government of Xinjiang and regional authorities. After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, and the Islamic movements gained force, fears of Soviet encirclement and Islamic fundamentalism led to the re-establishment of the XPCC in 1981 as well as the cultivation of frontier lands and economic development. It became subject to separate planning by the state directly in 1990. During the 1990s, XPCC began to contribute significantly to Xinjiang's economy, producing 40% of the region's cotton in 1997. After 2008, as a result of improvements in farm mechanization, students were no longer compelled to pick the cotton crop.
Starting in the 1980s, a stated task has been to prevent and break down "destructive activities of the three forces", (separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism), in order to protect social stability and national unity. In 2012, XPCC generated 11.1 billion yuan from the 37 settlements they control, "allowing the Corps to spread advanced culture and Chinese culture, while taking in and infusing culture of ethnic minority in Xinjiang".
At the end of the 20th century, XPCC's military role was given instead to the Xinjiang Military District, a part of the current Western Theater Command that includes all of western China. XPCC military personnel are mostly reservists or militia.
Sanctions
United States
XPCC was sanctioned by the United States in 2020, citing alleged human rights abuses. United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner Nury Turkel remarked, "Now, no business can claim ignorance of China's oppression of the Uyghur people. We hope the sanctions signal to other Chinese officials that there are costs associated with taking part in the Communist Party's repression of religion. The world is watching and we know which officials and entities are responsible for the abuses against the Uyghur people." Turkel added:
In July 2020, the United States announced Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on XPCC in connection with human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. XPCC was alleged to run many internment camps, as well as implementing the CCP's efforts to settle ethnic Han in the region.
In December 2020, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that XPCC-produced cotton and cotton products would be prohibited from import into the U.S. due to forced labor concerns. In June 2021, the United States Department of Commerce placed XPCC on the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List.
Canada Following the U.S. footsteps, Global Affairs Canada imposed sanctions against the XPCC in January 2021 due to human rights abuses.
European Union In March 2021, the Council of the European Union listed the XPCC public security bureau as an entity subject to restrictive measures. The reason given for this listing was that this entity is "responsible for serious human rights violations, in particular large-scale arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uyghurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities".
Organization and function The XPCC is a ministerial-level institution under the Central People's Government and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional People's Government. It operates under a management system that combines the functions of the Chinese Communist Party, government, military, and enterprises and has the authority to manage its own internal administrative and judicial affairs within its jurisdiction. It has administrative authority over medium-sized cities, settlements and farms in Xinjiang. It provides services such as healthcare, policing, judiciary, and education. Nominally subject to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, its internal affairs, including city and reclaimed land administration, are separate from that of the Autonomous Region and under direct control of the central government. The XPCC has been described to operate as a "state within a state" and has been considered by scholars as acting as a de facto prefecture-level governmental entity.Murphy, L and Elimä, N. (2021). "In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains." Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Hallam University Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice It is commonly considered an entity parallel to the provincial-level local governments in official Chinese sources.
The XPCC's internal affairs, including the administration of its cities and reclaimed land, is separate from that of the Autonomous Region and under direct control of the central government. It has sub-provincial powers on par with sub-provincial cities as an entity subject to separate economic planning. The XPCC is headed by the Party Secretary of Xinjiang, who is "executive political commissar" ex officio. The XPCC's own party secretary, usually a ministerial-level official, typically concurrently serves as its political commissar and acts as its highest day-to-day authority, and is considered to be the second most-powerful person in Xinjiang after the CCP secretary. Additionally XPCC has a commander, usually a deputy-ministerial level official.
Headquartered in Ürümqi, XPCC is subdivided into divisions, then regiments. Each XPCC division corresponds to a prefecture-level administrative division, and are in themselves of sub-prefectural rank. In addition to regiments, the XPCC also administers regiment-level farms and ranches (). Frontier regiment farms (边疆农场) served a secondary function of preventing defection and were created along the border after the Yi–Ta incident in 1962. XPCC and each individual division are headed by three leaders: a first political commissar, a political commissar, and a commander. The first political commissars of each XPCC division are their committee secretaries.
Administrative structure The XPCC's 14 divisions which are then subdivided into 185 regiment-level entities (including regiments, farms, and ranches).
The divisions are: Name Founded Location (approximate) Headquarters 1st Division 1953 Aksu Prefecture Aral 2nd Division 1953 Bayingolin Autonomous Prefecture Tiemenguan 3rd Division 1966 Kashgar Prefecture Tumxuk 4th Division 1953 Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (southern, directly administered portion) Kokdala 5th Division 1953 Bortala Autonomous Prefecture Shuanghe 6th Division 1953 Changji Autonomous Prefecture Wujiaqu 7th Division 1953 Ili Autonomous Prefecture and Karamay Huyanghe 8th Division 1953 area east of Karamay Shihezi 9th Division 1962 Tacheng Prefecture Emin County 10th Division 1959 Altay Prefecture Beitun11th Division the former Construction Division 1953 Ürümqi Xinshi, Ürümqi 12th Division 1982 Ürümqi Ürümqi 13th Division 1982 Hami Hami 14th Division 1982 Hotan Prefecture Kunyu
In May 1953, the PLA's 25th, 26th and 27th Divisions from the 9th Corps were reorganized as 7th, 8th and 9th Agriculture Construction Division of the XPCC, respectively.
Settlements The XPCC has settled Han in Xinjiang and has built eleven medium-sized cities during its history, and now controls ten of them. The governments of these cities are combined entirely with the division that controls them. For example, the division headquarters is the same entity as the city government, the division political commissar the same person as the city committee secretary, the division commander the same person as the city's mayor, and so forth. Ten XPCC-administered cities are nominally listed as "sub-prefectural-level cities" of Xinjiang, but the local government is usually not involved in the administration of these cities.