China’s ruling Communist Party has hardened its rhetoric on Islam, with top officials making repeated warnings about the spectre of global religious “extremism” seeping into the country, and the need to protect traditional Chinese identity. Sharhat Ahan, a top party official in Xinjiang, on Sunday became the latest official from a predominantly Muslim region to warn political leaders gathered in Beijing that the “international anti-terror situation” is destabilising China.
Officials from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which has an ethnic Hui population that is predominantly Muslim, warned similarly this past week about the perils of “Islamic extremism”. Speaking at a regional meeting open to the media, Ningxia Communist Party secretary Li Jianguo drew comparisons to the policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration to make his point. “What ISIL and extremists push is jihad, terror, violence,” Li said. “This is why we see Trump targeting Muslims in a travel ban. “It doesn’t matter whether anti-Muslim policy is in the interests of the US or it promotes stability, it’s about preventing religious extremism from seeping into all of American culture.”
Over the past year, President Xi Jinping has directed the party to “Sinicise” the country’s ethnic and religious minorities. Regional leaders in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, have also ramped up surveillance measures, police patrols and demonstrations amid fear of violence blamed on Muslim groups. Although some scholars question whether global armed networks have penetrated China, top Chinese officials are increasingly echoing calls to counter “extremism”.
Source: http://www.worldbulletin.net/central-asia/186293/china-launches-all-out-…
