West-to-east energy, east-to-west computing: The Uyghur costs of China’s digital order

Officials gathered in Urumqi ahead of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization digital forum to sign agreements on cloud computing, 5G, AI and cross-border data flows among nine member states, producing a joint ministerial statement and a list of nearly 20 cooperation projects for 2026-2027. The Uyghur region, long valued by Beijing for coal, gas and electricity, is now being pitched as a computing hub with planned clusters of tens of thousands of accelerator cards meant to export computing power across Central Asia.

Chinese officials touted 19 ports of entry, three international telecom gateways and 28 cross-border fiber-optic cables radiating from the region, alongside plans for a Chinese-standards alliance to shape how regional data systems operate. None of the public framing from the forum addressed the region's documented history of mass surveillance, monitored movement and restricted religious practice.

The institutional machinery behind this, built after a 2025 forum in Tianjin, includes monthly monitoring and quarterly project reviews, suggesting this is a sustained campaign rather than a one-off announcement.

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