China has used its economic and political clout over the Islamic world to help Beijing consolidate its voice on the Uyghur issue on global fora, such as the United Nations.
On 8 January 2023, a delegation of 30 Islamic scholars from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited Northwest China’s restive Xinjiang province. The delegation, headed by the chairman of the World Muslim Communities Council (TWMCC), was taken on a guided tour of Museum of Combatting Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang. It also held meetings with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in the region. The chairman of TWMCC praised the historical relationship between China and Islam based on cooperation and alliance and “hailed the efforts of the Chinese authorities in combating terrorism in Xinjiang”. He also praised the “interest and determination of the Chinese leadership to serve all people in the region”. The guided tour of the TWMCC comes at a time when Beijing disallowed the Turkish ambassador to visit Xinjiang, and Ankara’s renewed support to Uyghurs has discomforted the relationship between China and Turkey.
Chinese policy towards Uyghurs Muslims
At the time of the 1949 Revolution, Xinjiang was under the independent rule of the East Turkestan Republic, with a contested history and centrifugal tendencies. After getting control over the vast Muslim-dominated region of Xinjiang, the CCP, through its cadres, attacked the customs, ideas, and habits of Xinjiang natives and considered Uyghurs as “foreign invaders and aliens”. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, CCP shut down mosques, banned religious associations, abolished religious education and debarred people from circumcisions and interfaith marriages. As a result, only 1,400 mosques remained functional out of 29,545 limited to far-flung areas. read more