China’s Policy Changes in Xinjiang After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of the Fate of the Uighur Ethnic Group

Afdal Aryas (Master's Program in International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta)
Ahmad Sahide (Master's Program in International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta)

Mamangan Social Science Journal
Vol 12, No 2 (2023): Special Issue

This article analyzes changes in the Chinese government's policy toward the Uighur ethnic group in Xinjiang before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses a qualitative approach with literature analysis of official regulations, international human rights reports, academic articles, and state policy products. The findings show that there has been a strengthening of political control, digital surveillance, religious Sinicization, socio-cultural restructuring, and increasingly repressive security policy changes after the pandemic. Within the framework of public policy theory, China's policies appear to be an authoritarian state's response to maintaining political stability and national integration through a top-down approach. This article identifies that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transformation of policy from merely addressing extremism to consolidating power and controlling identity