China: Xi Jinping's regime destroying, altering hundreds of mosques in northern region

The Chinese government under President Xi Jinping is demolishing, closing and altering hundreds of mosques in the northern regions of Ningxia and Gansu, a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has claimed.

After Xinjiang where the Uyghur Muslims are being persecuted, the north-central regions have the highest Muslim populationin China. The government is cracking down on religious institutions to keep the minorities in check.

The report states that if the mosques are not destroyed, they are converted for secular use as part of the“government’s efforts to restrict the practice of Islam”.

Researchers at HRW used satellite imagery to analyse the fate of the mosques in two villages in Ningxia. Between 2019 and 2021, thedomes and minarets were removed from all seven of the mosques. While three were razed to the ground, four were altered and the ablution hall of one was damaged.

Overall, 1,300 mosques, a third of the total have been closed since 2020 in the region. The number could be bigger as the HRW data does not include mosquesclosed or demolished because of their unofficial status, most of which happened before 2020.

“The Chinese government is not ‘consolidating’ mosques as it claims, but closing many down in violation of religious freedom,"said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Chinese government’s closure, destruction, and repurposing of mosques is part of a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China," she added.

Since 2016 when Xi first called for the 'sinicisation' of religions, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become the sole arbiter ofpeople’s spiritual life.

Quizzed about the findings of the report, a Chinese government spokesperson said the state was fighting religious extremism.

“People of all ethnic groups in China are fully entitled to the freedom of religious belief as prescribed by law. Following policies that protect freedom of religious belief, China, like other countries, administers religious affairs in accordance with law," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"We are resolute in rejecting and fighting religious extremism. Believers’ normal religious activities are guaranteed in accordance with law and their customs respected,” the spokesperson added.

China's treatment of Uyghurs

For a long time, China has been accused by the Western world, especially the US, of undertaking a genocide of the Uyghur Muslim populace in the Xinjiang province. In a report released by the UN last year, China's actions in Xinjiang were dubbed as 'crimes against humanity'.

The report had been in the works for years and was released despite Chinese efforts to delay or block it.

Xi Jinping on multiple occasions has made it clear that Islam can only exist in China if it is reformed according to Chinese orientation. The country has admitted that it runs concentration camps, which it dubs 'vocational training camps'.

(With inputs from agencies)