He has since then attracted press for overseeing Xinjiang internment camps targeting Turkic minorities in the region, and he is considered as one of the main architects of the persecution of Uyghurs in China.

[12][10][11] From 1995 to 1997 Chen enrolled as a part-time student at the School of Business Administration of Wuhan University of Technology, obtaining a master's degree in economics.

[12][10][11] In November 2009, Chen Quanguo was transferred to neighboring Hebei and promoted to Acting Governor and Deputy Party Secretary of the province.

[21] There was a sharp rise in the number of self-immolations by Tibetan monks and nuns after Chen took office,[22] which began and continued at Kirti Monastery.

[23] According to the International Campaign for Tibet's (ICT) Fact Sheet information,[24] reviewed by Outside, "Chinese police have beaten, shot, isolated, and disappeared self-immolators who survived.

The immolations were seen to be a form of extreme protest against the Chinese government's crackdown on Buddhists from the region,[27] and described in Outside as offerings by the self-immolators of their bodies to show the world how badly Tibet is suffering.

[31][32] The earlier mass arbitrary arrests of monks and nuns at Kirti Monastery in March–April 2011 were followed by reports of disappearances into custody, which continued through Chen's tenure.

In December 2013, Chen described his policy as a "Stability Maintenance Campaign" in a statement, included in a Human Rights Watch report:[32] We have followed the law in striking out and relentlessly pounding at illegal organizations and key figures, and resolutely followed the law in striking at the illegal organizations and key figures who follow the 14th Dalai Lama clique in carrying out separatist, infiltration, and sabotage activities, knocking out the hidden dangers and soil for undermining Tibet’s stability, and effectively safeguarding the state’s utmost interests [and] society’s overall interests.During Chen's tenure, forced evictions of at least 5,000 nuns and monks studying at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy and residing in Larung Gar, began in 2013 and continued past August 2016, with a major demolitions order for 4,600 residences dated from June 2016.

In 2015 during Chen's tenure, a transfer of 280,000 Han Chinese settlers to Tibet's capital Lhasa was authorized, as part of China's urbanization plans.

[38] During Chen's tenure, Tibet's ethnic majority has been "swamped" by promoting economic development that encourages migration from elsewhere in China.

[38] Only Han Chinese college graduates in Tibet or Tibetans that speak fluent Mandarin secure well-paid private sector jobs.

[41] His measures of disciplining them include: mass-engineering of the Muslim population through detainment camps, specialized boarding schools for Uyghur children, arbitrary arrests.

[12][10][11] On 26 December 2021, Chinese state media announced that Chen would step down from his role as Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang.

[44][45] After Chen took office, he issued a written military order[46] to Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and put forward the slogan: "In Xinjiang, if there is no stability then all our efforts are for nothing."

According to Ming Pao, Chen's measures to maintain stability in Xinjiang have been affirmed by the top level of the Chinese Communist Party.

When the local officials who feared it would exacerbate ethnic tensions and stifle economic growth pushed back, Chen responded by purging them including one county leader who was jailed after quietly releasing thousands of inmates from the camps.

[56] The Uyghurs have been put under a surveillance system that is able to detect facial features and clothing and accessories to distinguish them from the other ethnic and religious groups in the region.

[59] The internal-party speeches in the files contained one of May 2017, in which Chen advocated for indefinite detention or prison terms for those Uyghurs whose outlooks could not be changed to align with that envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party; and one of June 2018, in which he repeatedly referred to the "Xi Jinping-led Chinese Communist Party's strategy of governing Xinjiang", and said that "social harmony and long-term stability" was the most important task in Xinjiang, ahead of increasing the GDP of the province.

[62] This was seen by Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing, as his "last role" before retirement, despite previous expectations that he would join the CCP Politburo Standing Committee.

[7] The South China Morning Post has said that Chen is known for not putting jokes, slogans or personal anecdotes in official speeches.

[7] On 9 July 2020, the United States government imposed Global Magnitsky Act sanctions and visa restrictions against Chen Quanguo, together with Zhu Hailun, Wang Mingshan and Huo Liujun.