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China has passed a law that seeks to “Sinicize” Islam within five years and might do that with other four religions in the country, according to the state media.
Under the all-powerful Chinese President Xi Jinping, China has heavily cracked down on religion, especially Islam practised by most Uighurs in the country's Xinjiang province who Beijing suspects of having separatist and extremist tendencies.
“During the meeting, participants agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism and implement measures to Sinicize the religion. This is China's important act to explore ways of governing religion in modern countries,” the report said.
There are over 20 million Muslims in the country. Islam is one of the five officially recognised religions in atheist China. The other four are Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
China has come under heavy international criticism for reportedly detaining over 1 million Muslim Uighurs in indoctrination camps in Xinjiang.
In the past, Beijing has adopted heavy-handed measures with the authorities confiscating copies of the Quran, issuing diktats to Muslims not to grow beards, and not choose names for their wards which sound “too Islamic”.
Defending the “Sinicization” of Islam move, the Global Times in an opinionated report, said: “Generally speaking, modern countries are secular and diverse in a globalized world. But the revival and spread of religion have somewhat impacted secular society. Fundamentalism has caused more religious violence and religious nationalism is threatening countries’ legitimate governments and leading to social instability.”
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