Tagged: China

October 18th, 2018 Related News

China defends mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities

(VOA) — China is defending its mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities, saying it is preventing terrorism by helping them improve job skills, by teaching them the Mandarin language and encouraging them to accept modern science.

A senior Chinese official made that argument in a report released Tuesday, the latest action in a broad campaign to defend its internment of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in the face of growing criticism.

The report, published by China’s official Xinhua News Agency, said the ruling Communist Party’s vision for the far western Xinjiang region is the assimilation of the indigenous Central Asian ethnic groups into Chinese culture and introducing them to a “modern” way of life.

Governor Shohrat Zakir said in the report the extrajudicial internment of the Muslims was an effort to provide “free vocational training” in centers. He said they are paid a “basic income” during the training and that free food and accommodations are provided.

China’s Communist Party has resisted Western pressure related to the internment camps. The resistance is seen as an indication of China’s growing faith in President Xi Jinping, the country’s most powerful leader in decades.

China has insisted that its vast police pursuit and surveillance program is needed to counter latent extremism and to maintain stability.

Former detainees have described the facilities as political indoctrination camps where they were forced to condemn Islam and declare loyalty to the Communist Party.

Turkik-speaking Uighurs have resented restrictions on their religious practices and have complained about widespread discrimination in the job market and obtaining access to passports.

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September 29th, 2017 Breaking News

China orders Muslim families in Xinjiang to hand over Qurans, prayer mats

(BREITBART) — by Frances Martel

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported this week that some Uighur Muslims in China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang have accused the police of confiscating their Qurans, claiming the seminal Islamic text contains “extremist content.”

Xinjiang is home to a Uighur Muslim separatist movement and the Chinese government has previously claimed citizens from Xinjiang have left to the Middle East to join the Islamic State. In response, the Communist Party has cracked down significantly on public displays of faith, including publicly fasting during Ramadan or wearing Islamic garb on public transportation.

Radio Free Asia cites Dilxat Raxit, World Uyghur Congress spokesman, as having seen orders from police on the social media platform WeChat ordering families to hand over their Qurans and prayer mats, among other religious paraphernalia.

“All Qurans and related items must be handed into the authorities, and there are notices to this effect being broadcast via WeChat,” Raxit told the outlet. “We received a notification saying that every single ethnic Uyghur must hand in any Islam-related items from their own home, including Qurans, prayers and anything else bearing the symbols of religion … They have to be handed in voluntarily. If they aren’t handed in, and they are found, then there will be harsh punishments.”

RFA adds that sources on the ground have seen instances of confiscations involving non-Uighur Muslims in the region as well, such as Kazakh and Kyrgyz Muslims. “Officials at village, township and county level are confiscating all Qurans and the special mats used for namaaz[prayer],” a Kazakh source told the outlet.

RFA adds that officials in the region began confiscation Qurans this year, citing their “extremist content,” but had only extended the ban to Qurans published more than five years ago, attempting to replace them with government-approved copies.

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March 1st, 2017 Breaking News

ISIS vows to ‘shed blood like rivers’ in first threat against China

(DAILY CALLER) — Islamic State militants have issued their first threat against China.

In a half-hour video released Monday, ISIS fighters, members of China’s Muslim Uighur minority, who primarily reside in Xinjiang Province, threatened to return home and “shed blood like rivers,” reports the Agence-France Presse, citing the SITE Intelligence Group.

“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say. We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenge the oppressed,” an ISIS militant declared before brutally executing an informant.

The man was executed in the presence of children. The video also reportedly showed children executing spies.

The video was released by a militant division in western Iraq and shows life in East Turkestan. China has long warned that Uighur separatists affiliated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement pose a growing threat and could join up with larger global terror networks.

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