Reporting in Xinjiang: ‘A war zone with no war’
The Monitor’s new Beijing bureau chief Ann Scott Tyson knows how to report in extreme circumstances. She spent a decade as a war correspondent. But she’s never experienced anything like China’s surveillance in its Xinjiang province.
Listen as Ann discusses what it’s like to be followed by plainclothes police and the impacts of that surveillance on the Uyghur population.
TRANSCRIPT:
ANN SCOTT TYSON: So I was in my hotel room in Hotan and at about five something in the morning I am woken up by this blasting shrill Chinese propaganda music.
[PROPAGANDA MUSIC]
ANN: And I get up, open the window and literally this music – it’s pitch dark outside. The town is quiet. I mean everybody’s asleep. You could see some flashing lights of police cars. You see a gigantic red and white propaganda billboard across the street.
REBECCA ASOULIN: I’m Rebecca Asoulin, the engagement editor for the Monitor and this is Ann Scott Tyson, the
