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Why Secrecy Haunts China’s Solar Factories in Xinjiang

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The world’s solar power surge depends on polysilicon from factories in Xinjiang, the region at the center of China’s crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. No one really knows what’s going on inside the facilities.

That’s why two Bloomberg reporters went to Xinjiang in March, after weeks of unsuccessful requests for factory tours. Such visits aren’t unusual elsewhere in China. But this time a security apparatus sprang into action. Upon our landing in Urumqi, two police officers boarded the plane, one with an automatic weapon slung across his chest and a photo identifying one of the reporters in hand. After questioning on the tarmac, we left the airport. For the next three days agents followed us everywhere, obstructing all attempts to speak to locals and deleting our photos.

The veil over Xinjiang has made the search for answers about the links between China’s labor program and its solar industry a job for outside researchers—who, it turns out, have found potentially telling details just by combing through public records.

#China #Xinjiang #BloombergQuicktake

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