Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

China and Muslim minority

By Mohamed Alhassan Alsayed

What is the truth about the situation of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang autonomous region in northwest China? And how does Islam become an instrument of war by anti-China western media to tarnish its image? This is what the article wants to talk about.

Chinese authorities have affirmed that China treats all religions with a single standard and does not differentiate between them, and the rights are reserved for everyone under the roof of one law. As for education rights and freedom of belief in Xinjiang, a message from 22 Arabian and Islamic countries confirmed that Islam and Muslims do not suffer from discrimination there because Chinese law treats everyone with one look.

When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was asked about classifying China as one of the countries that are concerned about religious freedom, the minister stressed that these accusations are unfounded. Yi reaffirmed that the Chinese government protects freedom of religious beliefs of all citizens and ethnic groups, that there are in China nearly 5,000 religious groups comprising 200 million believers, including 20 million Muslims, that there are more than 380,000 religious men, and about 140,000 places of worship registered for religious activities in China.

So, the question that imposes itself remains what drives a country like the United States and its Western allies to accuse China of violating rights and freedom in Xinjiang?

To answer this question, it is necessary to consider what is going on in the world right now, America is planning to make the Islamic region and its neighbours in a state of continuous violence, America itself is against Muslims in its lands, from spying on Muslim communities and minorities, expelling, washing, and separating families from each other, and brainwashing of Muslim youth there under the cover of freedom and liberties. America is a country which has a double standard on everything. About Islam, when he wants to invade a country, he enters under the umbrella of an Islamic country that sponsors terrorism.

But China has worked to unify its lands by benefiting from the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity that the Chinese people live, so this diversity is a pioneer. Beijing worked to extend the hand of friendship and cooperation to its Muslim neighbours in its Asian Arab region and beyond, and this was reflected in the role that Islam should have a major role in the revival, civilization and strength that China is witnessing now.

The good treatment and mutual respect for religions in China was reflected in the fact that this country is a source of confidence for all, especially the Arab and Islamic countries, so the comprehensive cooperation document that China signed with the League of Arab States and the League of the Islamic World, which led to the support of the Arab and Islamic world, China in the Security Council until it won a permanent seat She defended the rights of Arab and Muslim minorities all over the world, so the Islamic world was seeing how China’s positions were towards the US invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others.

And when the American media market denounced China on the persecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, Chinese administration chose to open the door to reveal the truth, it invited more than 26 Islamic and Arabian countries to visit Muslims in Xinjiang to find out what is happening on the ground.

As a matter of fact, China also has got wide international support on the issue, Sergey Lavrov Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs had stated that he had no information about China’s persecution of Muslims, and Russia does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, adding that the problem of extremism in the region is acute and that many extremists in this region joined ISIS “The terrorist (banned in Russia). Also, the head of the Russian Fatwa Council, Ravel Ayn Al-Din, announced that there is no evidence about persecution of Islamic societies by the Chinese authorities and that the followers of Islam in Xinjiang, China do not feel any discrimination there, and confirmed that he witnessed this during his visits to China and his meeting.

It is noticeable that these statements came amid an unprecedented media campaign against China on Xinjiang issue by the Western media, with allegations accusing China of persecuting the Muslim minority Uyghur in Xinjiang, and that nearly two million people there are being held in harsh conditions.

This was accompanied by a campaign on social media in solidarity with Muslims in the Chinese region, with which Arabians and Muslims interacted with it, and many hashtags were launched, the most prominent of which was boycott products- China, which topped the list of tweets, to pressure governments, all without there is clear evidence of these violations.

The campaign is mainly led by the United States and its Western allies, and the media campaign is practically implemented in the Arab and Islamic region, including Sudan. Some stars, political and media elites and well-known faces participate in the campaign, and this coordinated and integrated campaign cannot be innocent and spontaneous, and it appeared clear that this campaign is coordinated and organized and aims to achieve specific projects directly targeting China. The campaign focuses on allegations that China persecutes and oppresses Muslims there and prohibits their freedoms and practices.

This campaign has a lot and a lot of lies. It is difficult to claim that China persecutes Muslims, as it does not see Islam and Muslims as a threat. Rather, the problem lies in the centuries-old invasion of the autonomous region of Xinjiang from some pro-Sami countries in Central Asia that work to create an atmosphere of separatism, which is what China sees.

The main goal of the Western campaign against China is to weaken China’s development, it mainly falls within the framework of the American attempt to encircle China and distract its basic efforts and prevent it from advancing.

Those who visited the autonomous region of Xinjiang confirmed that this campaign is meaningless and has not been connected to reality, and the Muslims in this region live just like ordinary citizens all over China, many journalists who visited the region refuted these allegations, and emphasized that they did not find camps or detention camps for Muslims in the region, but rather found mosques, institutes, universities, and real and effective participation of Muslims there, they saw the situation directly there, and dozens of Muslim and non-Muslim journalists from different parts of the world visited the region, and they looked into the various cities there. They also interviewed people on the streets and prayed in the mosques, and the Uyghur language is primary and first in the region, while the official Chinese language is second to all places, even on television, which means that what is being said about the suppression of the cultural and religious identity of Muslims, Uyghur is unrealistic, but rather merely intimidation and attempts to discredit China, without relying on any facts.

After the visit, many of them think that the measures the Chinese administration are taking aimed at preventing the recovery of the terrorists or extremists are really necessary. Since there are many indications that Uighur extremists, which are the fiercest terrorist groups that fought the Syrian army and the Syrian people and are now being transferred to the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan in preparation for their return to Xinjiang to stir unrest. China must control this region, as it contains a marked extremist activity and separatist tendency.

The author is a Sudanese journalist he can be reached at [email protected]

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