Muslims in Xinjiang: A Second Cultural Revolution?
By Raiaab Ajmal and Media Nagasubramanian, 11/26/2020
Setting the Stage: OBOR and Ties with the Middle East
In 2018, news about Chinese officials detaining Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minority groups in “detention camps” surfaced on news outlets around the world. A Muslim majority ethnic group, around 11 million Uighurs live in the western part of China, mainly concentrated in the Xinjiang region. With many cultural and ethnic similarities to Central Asian nations, and the fact that their language resembles the Turkish, the Uighur Muslims are usually perceived differently than the majority of the Chinese population of Han descent. The Xinjiang region, specifically, is an autonomous territory in the far west of China and has a population of approximately 26 million and is home to a dense population of ethnic minorities.
Because of Xinjiang’s autonomous regime, the region often practices the concept of self-governance - one which is different from that of Beijing and the majority of the country. Bordering eight countries, namely, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Afghanistan, the region’s economy mainly depends on trade and agriculture. However, in recent years, there has been an influx of Han Chinese settlers, caused by development in cities. Studies show that 40% of the population of the Xinjiang province are Han Chinese, and since urban development attracts the highly educated, as well as young and able persons, high-paying jobs are mostly in the hands of the newly settled Han Chinese population. This has caused resentment among the Uyghurs who feel that the Han Chinese are threats to their culture and identity.
The political unrest led to riots and demonstrations, which were labeled as dangerous and extremist. In order to combat this “extremism,” Chinese officials enforced strict regulations, including banning civil servants from fasting during the month of Ramadan in 2014. With reports of severe restrictions and discrimination against the peaceful expression of religion, resentment increased. This only led to the crackdown and regulations becoming even stricter, causing large scale ethnic rioting in 2009, which resulted in the deaths of 200 people in the unrest, most of them Han Chinese. Primarily, the Chinese government suspected the Uighurs, as there had been Uighur-led attacks in the past. As a result, the Chinese government detained these individuals. While the rest of the world knew little of the detainment camps in Xinjiang, complaints and reports about the detainment of several Uighurs in “something that resembles a massive internment camp" flooded the UN Human Rights Committee in 2018.
Systematically oppressed by their own government, the Uighur Muslims are monitored by the most intrusive security system in the world. China claims that it too has been a target global terrorism, and suspects that the Uighurs play a huge role in this, so much so that the security budget for Xinjiang tripled. To increase security, they arbitrarily arrested and detained an estimated million Uighurs. Some reports suggest that these individuals are brainwashed, and forced to commit acts against their will and teachings of their religion. According to reports, detained individuals are forced to drink alcohol, eat pork, sterilized, assaulted, beaten and tortured. Religious practices have been banned, and several detainees have not been heard from since their detainment.
Since the Uighurs are a Muslim minority, the rest of the Muslim world turned to the stronger Muslim nations in the Middle East for help. Muslim individuals and activists expected stronger Muslim nations to stand in solidarity and condemn the actions of the Xinjiang officials. However, unexpectedly, many of these nations have made no claim against this clear violation of human rights in Xinjiang. Their silence or in some cases, support, has enraged Muslims around the world. Nonetheless, this apathy does not come as surprise to many, as Muslim nations have remained silent about the persecution of Muslims in many areas, such as Palestine, Myanmar, India, etc. Critics have concluded that much of this silence is due to the strong economic ties between Arab states and China.
China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative is currently working to link with eighteen Middle Eastern countries through ambitious land and maritime infrastructure projects. Many of the Arab states believe that standing against China’s reforms would be a clear sabotage of this beneficial trade deal. Secondly, many Arab states have military ties with China and apparently can not afford to lose them. China in itself is a powerful country, with its political influence reaching to all parts of the world; many of the states believe it will not be possible to stand up for the Uighurs. Lastly, experts also believed that many of these Arab nations are scared of the separatist movements, and fear the uprisings of the minorities in their own regions, leading them to support China, citing the importance of sovereignty and peacekeeping.
Because of Xinjiang’s autonomous regime, the region often practices the concept of self-governance - one which is different from that of Beijing and the majority of the country. Bordering eight countries, namely, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Afghanistan, the region’s economy mainly depends on trade and agriculture. However, in recent years, there has been an influx of Han Chinese settlers, caused by development in cities. Studies show that 40% of the population of the Xinjiang province are Han Chinese, and since urban development attracts the highly educated, as well as young and able persons, high-paying jobs are mostly in the hands of the newly settled Han Chinese population. This has caused resentment among the Uyghurs who feel that the Han Chinese are threats to their culture and identity.
The political unrest led to riots and demonstrations, which were labeled as dangerous and extremist. In order to combat this “extremism,” Chinese officials enforced strict regulations, including banning civil servants from fasting during the month of Ramadan in 2014. With reports of severe restrictions and discrimination against the peaceful expression of religion, resentment increased. This only led to the crackdown and regulations becoming even stricter, causing large scale ethnic rioting in 2009, which resulted in the deaths of 200 people in the unrest, most of them Han Chinese. Primarily, the Chinese government suspected the Uighurs, as there had been Uighur-led attacks in the past. As a result, the Chinese government detained these individuals. While the rest of the world knew little of the detainment camps in Xinjiang, complaints and reports about the detainment of several Uighurs in “something that resembles a massive internment camp" flooded the UN Human Rights Committee in 2018.
Systematically oppressed by their own government, the Uighur Muslims are monitored by the most intrusive security system in the world. China claims that it too has been a target global terrorism, and suspects that the Uighurs play a huge role in this, so much so that the security budget for Xinjiang tripled. To increase security, they arbitrarily arrested and detained an estimated million Uighurs. Some reports suggest that these individuals are brainwashed, and forced to commit acts against their will and teachings of their religion. According to reports, detained individuals are forced to drink alcohol, eat pork, sterilized, assaulted, beaten and tortured. Religious practices have been banned, and several detainees have not been heard from since their detainment.
Since the Uighurs are a Muslim minority, the rest of the Muslim world turned to the stronger Muslim nations in the Middle East for help. Muslim individuals and activists expected stronger Muslim nations to stand in solidarity and condemn the actions of the Xinjiang officials. However, unexpectedly, many of these nations have made no claim against this clear violation of human rights in Xinjiang. Their silence or in some cases, support, has enraged Muslims around the world. Nonetheless, this apathy does not come as surprise to many, as Muslim nations have remained silent about the persecution of Muslims in many areas, such as Palestine, Myanmar, India, etc. Critics have concluded that much of this silence is due to the strong economic ties between Arab states and China.
China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative is currently working to link with eighteen Middle Eastern countries through ambitious land and maritime infrastructure projects. Many of the Arab states believe that standing against China’s reforms would be a clear sabotage of this beneficial trade deal. Secondly, many Arab states have military ties with China and apparently can not afford to lose them. China in itself is a powerful country, with its political influence reaching to all parts of the world; many of the states believe it will not be possible to stand up for the Uighurs. Lastly, experts also believed that many of these Arab nations are scared of the separatist movements, and fear the uprisings of the minorities in their own regions, leading them to support China, citing the importance of sovereignty and peacekeeping.
The Implications: A Second Cultural Revolution?
China’s rise from a poverty-ridden nation to an economic superpower is certainly remarkable. However, its consistent oppression of religion, most recently of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, has left trails of violence and persecution throughout its history. When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the government established the Religious Affairs Bureau to oversee the five recognized religions: Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism, Islam, and Protestantism. Hence, the government effectively banned other religions practiced in China, which meant that the permitted religions were strictly under the state control. Religious freedom was virtually nonexistent. When China’s first constitution was created in 1954, the document provided for freedom of religious belief. At first glance, this seems like it would have established religious freedom. However, in the absence of provisions for freedom of religious practice, religious freedom remained restricted.
Until 1966, China limited itself to controlling religion. But that year, Mao Zedong started the Cultural Revolution, effectively banning religion. Religious practitioners were humiliated, tortured, and murdered, and many religious organizations were driven underground. This reign of terror ended with Mao’s death; when Deng Xiaoping took power, he realized the value of protecting religious freedom, as seen in Article 36 of the constitution. But this acknowledgement only restored the previous strategy of strict legal control.
Despite apologies from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the Cultural Revolution, religious freedom has been steadily degraded. President Xi Jinping’s policies have begun a second cultural revolution. In 2016, he started an initiative to “sinicize” religion, which in practice, is merely increased oppression. In 2018, the government created laws that forbade children from entering religious institutions and severely restricted religious education. The nation’s numerous underground religious organizations have been banned with their members arrested, tortured, and murdered.
Recognized religious institutions fare little better, as they are closely watched by the state, and stepping out of line leads to the same consequences. Buddhists in Tibet have been targets of violence, and government-conducted organ harvesting of murdered Falun Gong practitioners is very common. The most large scale effort the government is conducting, targets the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang. Many legal actions have been made to harass them, including bans on fasting during Ramadan, and the Quran. Under false claims of “terrorism,” countless Uighurs have been forcibly imprisoned in “reeducation camps,” where they are tortured, brainwashed, and often killed. It is estimated that 1 to 1.5 million Uighurs are imprisoned in these camps, and due to relatively little international opposition, this does not appear likely to change.
The recent increase in Uighur persecution partially stems from a modified homeland security policy. In 2014, President Xi Jinping adopted a comprehensive security framework, which suggested that global security threats are more likely to influence homeland security. When officials analyzed the Xinjiang province using this rationale, they supposedly found the country to be much more vulnerable to terrorist infiltration than previously believed. Thus, the Chiense government increased anti-terrorism initiatives. They use the analogy of terrorism as a “virus”, and that the Muslim residents of Xinjiang must be “vaccinated”, through reeducation camps. This is a policy they have coined “preventative repression” - an apt name, considering that almost all of the imprisoned Uighurs have committed no wrongdoings.
Despite this reasoning, which is faulty at best, there is reason to believe that this is simply a pretext for increased religious persecution. Primarily, the government escalated these policies in Spring 2017 when violence in Xinjiang was decreasing. Further, despite very small numbers of Uighurs having ties to Middle Eastern militant groups, the tie between the Uighurs and terrorism is very tenuous, and does not rationalize their imprisonment enmasse. Internal CCP messages show that they believe in the threat of extremism, but that their definition of extremism may simply be speaking out for their rights. The Uighurs have been the target of escalated persecution recently, but this is only a continuation of the Chinese government’s poor track record with respect to religious freedom.
Until 1966, China limited itself to controlling religion. But that year, Mao Zedong started the Cultural Revolution, effectively banning religion. Religious practitioners were humiliated, tortured, and murdered, and many religious organizations were driven underground. This reign of terror ended with Mao’s death; when Deng Xiaoping took power, he realized the value of protecting religious freedom, as seen in Article 36 of the constitution. But this acknowledgement only restored the previous strategy of strict legal control.
Despite apologies from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the Cultural Revolution, religious freedom has been steadily degraded. President Xi Jinping’s policies have begun a second cultural revolution. In 2016, he started an initiative to “sinicize” religion, which in practice, is merely increased oppression. In 2018, the government created laws that forbade children from entering religious institutions and severely restricted religious education. The nation’s numerous underground religious organizations have been banned with their members arrested, tortured, and murdered.
Recognized religious institutions fare little better, as they are closely watched by the state, and stepping out of line leads to the same consequences. Buddhists in Tibet have been targets of violence, and government-conducted organ harvesting of murdered Falun Gong practitioners is very common. The most large scale effort the government is conducting, targets the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang. Many legal actions have been made to harass them, including bans on fasting during Ramadan, and the Quran. Under false claims of “terrorism,” countless Uighurs have been forcibly imprisoned in “reeducation camps,” where they are tortured, brainwashed, and often killed. It is estimated that 1 to 1.5 million Uighurs are imprisoned in these camps, and due to relatively little international opposition, this does not appear likely to change.
The recent increase in Uighur persecution partially stems from a modified homeland security policy. In 2014, President Xi Jinping adopted a comprehensive security framework, which suggested that global security threats are more likely to influence homeland security. When officials analyzed the Xinjiang province using this rationale, they supposedly found the country to be much more vulnerable to terrorist infiltration than previously believed. Thus, the Chiense government increased anti-terrorism initiatives. They use the analogy of terrorism as a “virus”, and that the Muslim residents of Xinjiang must be “vaccinated”, through reeducation camps. This is a policy they have coined “preventative repression” - an apt name, considering that almost all of the imprisoned Uighurs have committed no wrongdoings.
Despite this reasoning, which is faulty at best, there is reason to believe that this is simply a pretext for increased religious persecution. Primarily, the government escalated these policies in Spring 2017 when violence in Xinjiang was decreasing. Further, despite very small numbers of Uighurs having ties to Middle Eastern militant groups, the tie between the Uighurs and terrorism is very tenuous, and does not rationalize their imprisonment enmasse. Internal CCP messages show that they believe in the threat of extremism, but that their definition of extremism may simply be speaking out for their rights. The Uighurs have been the target of escalated persecution recently, but this is only a continuation of the Chinese government’s poor track record with respect to religious freedom.