Beijing defends sweeping crackdown on ‘terrorists’ in Muslim region

BEIJING — China has arrested nearly 13,000 people it describes as terrorists and has broken up hundreds of “terrorist gangs” in Xinjiang since 2014, the government said in a report Monday issued to counter criticism of internment camps and other oppressive security in the traditionally Islamic region.

The lengthy report said the government’s efforts have curbed religious extremism but gave little evidence of what crimes had occurred. The far northwestern region is closed to outsiders, but former residents and activists abroad say mere expressions of Muslim identity are punished.

Criticism has grown over China’s internment of an estimated 1 million Uighurs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. China describes the camps as vocational training centers and says participation is voluntary. Former detainees say they were held in abusive conditions, forced to renounce Islam and swear allegiance to China’s ruling Communist Party.

The camps sprang up over the past two years at extraordinary speed and on a massive scale, as monitored by satellite imagery. China maintains an extensive security presence in Xinjiang and efforts to independently verify claims by Uighur activists are routinely blocked.

The new report said “law-based de-radicalization” in Xinjiang has curbed the rise and spread of religious extremism.

It said 1,588 terrorist gangs have been crushed and 12,995 terrorists seized since 2014. Over that time, 2,052 explosive devices were seized and more than 30,000 people were punished for taking part in almost 5,000 “illegal religious activities,” the report said. It said 345,229 copies of “illegal religious publicity materials” were also seized.

China’s government has spent decades trying to suppress pro-independence sentiment in the region. Beijing authorities say...