My sense is the legalization of the camps was a direct response to international pressure from the UN, from western governments, and from the international media discourse that's talking about what's happening in these camps. It's them doubling down, in some ways, on what they're doing, and saying, “No, this is what we're doing, and we're proud of it.” It's a different strategy, they say, from doing counter-insurgency, but it's a better one. They're thinking it's something they could market to other countries, such as authoritarian states that want to control Muslims.
At the same time, it could also be—and this often happens in China—that on the face of it, they're doubling down, but in the end they might be deciding they've gone a little too far and they need to pull back.
It's too soon to say exactly what will happen, but these are the sorts of things that could be happening.