This article is wrong in suggesting the BRI is the reason behind the camps, that somehow everything is about economics. The real reason is the China sees Xinjiang as part of its territory and wants to limit Islamic influences.

Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister of Australia, has done a great analysis behind Xi Jinping's world view and interests. They are, in order of importance to him:

"1. The centrality of the party, keeping the party in power for the long term, as well as Xi's power within the party;

2. Consolidating the internal unity of the country;

3. Maintaining sustainable economic growth to ensure a continued increase in Chinese living standards, breaking though the "middle-income trap," while balancing now against a parallel requirement for environmental protection now demanded by China's urban elites;

4. Keeping China's 14 bordering countries in a benign, and preferably supine state;

5. On China's maritime periphery, projecting its regional naval and air power, politically fracturing U.S. alliances in Asia, and ultimately removing the United States from the immediate region militarily;

6.Leveraging its economic power across China's vast continental periphery, causing Eurasia, and in time the Middle East and Africa to become accommodating to China's economic, foreign policy, and security interests; and

7.Reforming parts, but by no means all, of the post-war international rules-based order over time to better suit its interests, and to better reflect China's domestic values rather than those of the post-war consensus."

Just apply this formula to China's actions and everything makes sense.