China’s top official says ‘Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicized’

Beijing launched a harsh security crackdown in Xinjiang in 2017. (document)

Beijing:

The “Sinicization” of Islam in the majority-Muslim region of northwest China where Beijing is accused of human rights abuses is “inevitable”, a senior Communist Party official in Xinjiang said on Thursday.

“Everyone knows that Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicized. This is an inevitable trend,” Ma Xingrui, secretary of the autonomous region’s party committee, told reporters at a largely scripted briefing on the sidelines of China’s annual Two Sessions in Beijing.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses against Uighurs, including denying them full religious freedom. The Uyghurs are the main Muslim minority in Xinjiang with a population of about 10 million. Beijing firmly denies any abuses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for the “Sinicization” of religions such as Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, urging believers to first pledge allegiance to the Communist Party. About two-thirds of mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed since 2017, according to a report by an Australian think tank.

At a news conference, Ma and other regional officials praised Xinjiang’s economic development, refuted U.S. accusations of forced labor and cultural genocide, and sought to portray the region as open to foreign tourism and investment.

Jack Ma, an ambitious former governor of Guangdong province who was transferred to Xinjiang in 2021, stressed the need to “balance security and development.”

“These three forces are still active now, but we cannot be afraid of (opening up) because they exist,” Ma said, using a political slogan referring to Xinjiang’s “ethnic separatism, religious extremism and violent terrorist forces.”

In 2017, after a series of violent ethnic protests in Xinjiang, Beijing launched a harsh security crackdown that resulted in more than a million people from several Muslim minorities being detained in re-education camps, rights groups said.

Wang Mingshan, a member of the Xinjiang CPPCC, said, “We have severely cracked down on terrorist activities, promulgated and implemented anti-terrorism laws… to combat all forms of terrorism.”

But the briefing focused primarily on Xinjiang’s economic development, tourism potential and what officials say is cultural protection.

Last year, Xinjiang received 565.7 billion yuan ($78.5 billion) in central government transfers, accounting for 72.7% of local government spending, and more than 19 billion yuan from other provinces, said Elgin Tunyaz, chairman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. financial assistance in RMB ($2.6 billion).

Ma was flanked by two Xinjiang officials who have been sanctioned by the United States for human rights abuses in the region – Tuniyaz and former autonomous region chairman Shekleti Zakir.

Officials said more than 4,390 foreigners visited Xinjiang in 2023, and a total of 22.61 million kilowatts of new renewable energy installed capacity was added last year, bringing the region’s total installed capacity to 64.4 million kilowatts, nearly half of Xinjiang’s installed electricity capacity.

Xinjiang is a major production base for solar cells but has been plagued by accusations of forced labor.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)