In April 2017, Chinese Communist Party authorities in Xinjiang launched a series of “strike-hard” campaigns against “illegal births” with the explicit aim to “reduce and stabilise a moderate birth level” and decrease the birth-rate in southern Xinjiang. The crackdown has led to an unprecedented and precipitous drop, and the largest declines have been in counties where Uyghurs and other indigenous communities are concentrated.

Guest: Professor James Leibold (Head of Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University and a senior fellow at Australian Strategic Policy Institute).

Professor Leibold’s report, ‘Family De-planning: The Coercive Campaign to Drive Down Indigenous Birth-rates in Xinjiang’ was co-authored with Nathan Ruser of ASPI.

Recorded on 18th May, 2021.