Chinese recipients of World Bank loans requested funding for the purchase of facial recognition cameras and other surveillance technology for use in China's northwest region of Xinjiang, Axios is reporting.

The news outlet reviewed more than 8,000 pages of World Bank Chinese-language procurement documents from June 2017. The documents showed attempts to secure funding for surveillance technology to use in Xinjiang schools.

According to Axios, the World Banks says those funds were never disbursed.

"As an institution focused on ending poverty, the World Bank knows that inclusive societies are key to sustainable development, and we take a strong line against discrimination of any kind," a World Bank spokesperson said. "We promote equal access to opportunities, including education and training, so that everyone can seek to realize his or her full potential.

"We are fully committed to the integrity of our projects. We respond immediately when issues are raised, and we act based on facts."

The World Bank had started a loan program in 2015 called the "Xinjiang Technical and Vocational Education and Training Project."

The program was to provide $50 million over five years to five vocational schools and their partner schools.

But Axios noted that in early 2017, China was using widespread surveillance technology in Xinjiang to help round up ethnic minorities into internment camps Beijing calls "vocational training centers." The World Bank did not review or scale back the program at that time, Axios reported.

The World Bank said the government canceled the procurement plan in October 2017. It said no World Bank funds were provided for surveillance devices.

• World Bank Cuts Back Project in China's Restive Xinjiang
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