China’s government has been going ahead with its religious persecution without impunity. In its latest salvo, they have clamped down on all churches – Catholic and Protestant – in the country by ordering the pulling out of images of Jesus and his replacement with images of President Xi Jinping, according to a US government report on anti-religious activities in China.

In the continuing saga of ‘Sinicization’, China has pushed to align all religions or shape all religions to adapt to the doctrines of the CCP (Communist Party of China) and the customs of the majority Han Chinese population.

Since President Xi Jinping came to power in March 2013, authorities have insisted on adhering to Communist Party values like speaking only in Mandarin Chinese and rejecting all foreign influence that may endanger China’s unity. 

What is Sinicization?

Sinicization is the procedure in which non-Chinese groups or societies are integrated into Chinese culture. The process includes the adoption of Chinese language, culture, ethnic identity and societal norms.

Sinicization is also a part of the Chinese government’s policy of subordinating religious groups to the Communist Party of China’s (CCP) political agenda. The policy of Sinicization has been started under the leadership of Xi Jinping and has transformed China’s religious landscape. Some of the government-introduced actions include:

1)Placing CCP supporters as religious leaders

2)Changing the designs of religious places like mosques, churches etc with CCP-approved architecture

3) Mixing CCP publicity into religious doctrines

4) Outlawing non-CCP-backed religious activities

China is officially an atheist country but it recognises five religions: Buddhism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestantism. The practice of any other faith is formally prohibited.

While the Chinese constitution (Article 36) mentions that citizens ‘enjoy the freedom of religious belief’ and bars discrimination based on religion, the law controls religion by preventing state organs, public organisations etc. It dissuades citizens from following any faith.   

The anti-religion campaign initiated by President Xi has the backing of all state-controlled religious organisations.

There is also a feeling that homegrown religions like Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism do not challenge the CCP’s rule but others do.

Why does China fear Buddhists and Christians?

The Tibetan Buddhists staying in China’s Tibetan region have faced high levels of religious persecution. Chinese authorities keep a firm eye on the daily operations of their major monasteries. Despite China’s strict vigilance, reports of detainments and torture of monks and nuns for refusing to denounce the Dalai Lama often surface. Followers of the Dalai Lama too have been ordered to replace his photos with those of the Chinese leaders. China fears ‘outside influence’ from the exiled Dalai Lama.

As per the US government report made public recently, “The government has ordered the removal of crosses from churches, replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi, required the display of CCP slogans at the entrances of churches, censored religious texts, imposed CCP-approved religious materials, and instructed clergy to preach CCP ideology.”

The Vatican can’t take up the issue of repression of Catholics estimated to be around 10 to 12 million, since it does not have diplomatic ties with China.

The Vatican’s recognition of Taiwan and a dispute over the bishop appointment process in China have been the reasons for the dispute. Of late, both countries have come to a sort of agreement whereby the Pope has recognised several Chinese state-appointed bishops.

As of now, Christians have rejected the government-controlled churches completely and instead are worshipping independently.

How China targeted Muslims?   

Muslims form around 1 to 1.5% of China’s population. Reports of China’s genocide against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang have been circulated for years now.

According to China’s 2020 census, there are more than 11 million Uyghurs in this region. The Uyghurs were brutalised because they spoke their language, similar to Turkish, and considered themselves culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian countries.

More than one million Uyghurs have been held captive over the past few years in a large network of what China calls its ‘re-education camps’, and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms. There has been mass sterilisation to control the Uyghur population and thousands have been enlisted to work as forced labourers in farms and factories put up by China.    

Authorities have banned their religious practices in the region and made mosques and tombs non-operational. Despite the hue and cry from human rights groups and the world at large, China’s atrocities on Uyghurs didn’t cease.

Till very late, Hui Muslims had been lucky to avoid the tight control of the Chinese government as the latter’s focus remained on the Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

In 2020-21, China targeted the Hui Muslim community by removing the domes and minarets from thousands of mosques across the country. The Chinese authorities then, like now, felt that the domes are signs of foreign Saudi and Arabic religious influence. They demolished domes as they were symbolic of Islamic architecture – and were not Chinese in origin. This was part of an ongoing push to Sinicize Muslims to make them traditionally Chinese. As part of the process, mosques were closed and the mosque properties were acquired by the government, and imams were arrested.

Reactions from the world

Of course, China has repeatedly denied all allegations and continues to rubbish charges that it is carrying out oppression of the Uyghur population and other minorities.  

The US and Western nations have called out China several times. They presented a draft resolution to request a discussion in the UN Human Rights Council about the Xinjiang report in October 2022. The draft resolution failed by a slim margin of two votes. But many countries have been silent on the issue.

India and ten other nations abstained from voting in the UN against China over the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region.

However, officially India took a stand that the community’s human rights should be “respected”. Amidst border issues, India has been treading cautiously on geo-political issues with China on international forums.

The response of many countries on the Uyghur issue has been based on political calculations on how they have aligned with China.