The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned comments by a Chinese Communist Party official who stated that the “sinicization” of Islam in Xinjiang Province is “inevitable.” Xinjiang is the province in which the Chinese government has been carrying out a program of genocide and mass interment of Uyghur Muslims.
“Everyone knows that Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicised, this is an inevitable trend,” regional party chief Ma Xingrui told reporters at a largely scripted briefing on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing. The Chinese government has been conducting a campaign of mass internment and genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
SEE: Top official from China’s Xinjiang says ‘Sinicisation’ of Islam ‘inevitable’
In a statement, CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor said:
“The Chinese Communist Party’s war on Islam and Muslims will end the same way similar efforts by prior tyrannies ended – in failure. Despite the mass internment, torture, killing, and destruction of cultural heritage, the Chinese government cannot defeat the spirit of the Uyghur people and other Muslims in Xinjiang.”
He noted that in January, CAIR condemned new regulations issued by the Chinese Communist Party restricting Islamic practice in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang.
SEE: CAIR Condemns CCP Crackdown on Islamic Practice in Uyghur Region’
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com