APMon, 13 Mar 2017 17:51 UTC
© Flickr/ Max Braun
China's ruling Communist Party is hardening its rhetoric about Islam, with top officials making repeated warnings this past week about the specter of global religious extremism seeping into the country.
Shaerheti Ahan, a top political and legal affairs party official in Xinjiang, became the latest official from a predominantly Muslim region to warn political leaders gathered in Beijing about China becoming destabilized by the "international anti-terror situation."Over the past year, President Xi Jinping has directed the party to "Sinicize" the country's ethnic and religious minorities, while regional leaders in Xinjiang, home to the Uighur (WEE-gur) ethnic minority, have ramped up policing amid an uptick in violence.
The government's hardening rhetoric has coincided with new security measures that activists say exacerbate a cycle of repression, radicalization and violence.
Comment: While the AP can claim that China risks 'exacerbating a cycle of repression,' what they don't mention is the fact that China's 'radical Islam' problem is
made in the USA. Of course this is part of the strategy - foment revolutionary conditions and then blame the government for 'cracking down' on the problem.
In an interesting development Al Jazeera reports that top Communist officials are now
drawing comparisons with Trump to justify their approach:
Speaking at a regional meeting open to the media, Ningxia Communist Party secretary Li Jianguo drew comparisons to the policies of US President Donald Trump's administration to make his point.
"What the Islamic State and extremists push is jihad, terror, violence," Li said. "This is why we see Trump targeting Muslims in a travel ban.
"It doesn't matter whether anti-Muslim policy is in the interests of the US or it promotes stability, it's about preventing religious extremism from seeping into all of American culture."
Comment: While the AP can claim that China risks 'exacerbating a cycle of repression,' what they don't mention is the fact that China's 'radical Islam' problem is made in the USA. Of course this is part of the strategy - foment revolutionary conditions and then blame the government for 'cracking down' on the problem.
In an interesting development Al Jazeera reports that top Communist officials are now drawing comparisons with Trump to justify their approach: