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Fishman
01-13-2007, 10:41 PM
:sl:
EDIT: Okay, its not the USA's fault.
The Chinese government strictly controls the practice of Islam, and severely represses Islamic worship among members of the Uighur minority population in Xinjiang [see Section III(a)¡ªSpecial Focus for 2005: China's Minorities and Government Implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law]. All public mosques throughout the country must register with the state-run China Islamic Association. The government bans all private mosques, as it does private religious venues of any faith. Before they can practice, imams must be licensed by the Chinese government, and afterward must attend patriotic education sessions regularly. The China Islamic Association's Islamic Affairs Steering Committee, established by the central government in March 2001, continues to author suggested sermons and to censor Islamic religious texts to ensure that all published interpretations properly reflect "socialist development and advanced culture."72
Several provinces are running Ethnic Unity and Advancement Campaigns demanding that religious organizations decrease their financial dependence on the state while also accepting fewer contributions from their practitioners.73 The government continues to subsidize religious personnel who "ardently love their country,"74 but several mosques have been forced to charge visitors admission fees or lease out portions of their facilities.75 To fund its growing debts last summer, the Religious Management Committee of the Guangyuan mosque in Sichuan province reportedly allowed private investors to convert two stories of the mosque into an "Arabian Nights Bar and Discotheque."76 The new RRA provisions that allow foreign and domestic donations to religious organizations may ease some financial pressures, but all of their revenue and expenditures must be reported to SARA.77
Outside of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the government allows some Muslim groups to run private schools for minors in poor areas and to engage in other social welfare programs.78 A government-run Web site highlighted in 2005 the achievements of a privately run Islamic school in Gansu province,79 for example, and the Qinghai press praised the Dongguan mosque's contributions of food and shelter to the needy.80 Outside of Xinjiang, the government allows some mosques81 registered with the China Islamic Association to manage religious schools for those 18 years and older.82 As the government notes the positive contributions of Islamic groups, officials may allow them to assume greater responsibility for the nation's growing social welfare needs.
Within Xinjiang, the Chinese government conflates private Uighur Islamic practices with "religious extremism" and "ethnic splittism."83 Islam is a key component of Uighur ethnic identity, and the government is concerned it may be used to build support for greater effective autonomy. Uighurs face more restrictions on their religious life than other Muslims, including non-Uighurs living in Xinjiang.84 According to a member of Xinjiang's Academy of Social Sciences, Xinjiang has more religious regulations than any other province, providing the government a "powerful legal weapon" to control religion.85 In a major policy statement in January, Xinjiang General Secretary Wang Lequan declared that the Party "must unremittingly make education in atheism part of the effort to transform social customs, guide the masses to develop a scientific, civilized, and healthy way of life, and promote nationality development and progress."86 Xinjiang leaders hail China's new RRA as a "prime opportunity" to increase religious management in the struggle against religious extremism and splittism.87
The current crackdown on Uighur Islamic practices began with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and has increased in intensity in the post-September 11 era.88 Central and provincial authorities developed a set of religious regulations in the early 1990s that impose restrictions in Xinjiang not found elsewhere in China.89 These restrictions continue to determine policy today. The Party Central Committee imposed "severe controls on the building of new mosques"90 in 1996, the same year that Xinjiang authorities targeted "religious extremists and ethnic separatists" for arrest91 during a national "strike hard" campaign against general crime.92 New regulations in October 1998 required all imams in Xinjiang to attend mandatory "patriotic education" courses each year to renew their accreditations.93 In 2001, the Xinjiang local people's congress amended the central government's 1994 Regulations on the Management of Religious Affairs restricting religious observances to those who "safeguard the unification of the motherland and national solidarity, and oppose national splittism and illegal religious activities."94
The government arrested more than 200 Muslims in July and August 2005 for possessing "illegal religious texts."95 The Xinjiang government prohibits state-sanctioned religious groups below the provincial level from publishing religious materials without receiving prior approval from the Xinjiang State Administration of Religious Affairs.96 Individuals and groups are strictly prohibited from publishing or disseminating any material with "religious content" without government permission.
Central government officials assured the foreign press in March 2005 that minors are allowed to worship freely in China,97 but the Xinjiang government prohibits children under 18 years of age from entering mosques or receiving religious instruction even in their own homes.98 Students may not observe religious holidays, fast during Ramadan, or wear religious clothing in public schools. The government requires teachers to report students who pray or observe Ramadan.99 The government regulates the construction of mosques and has closed hundreds of them since the mid-1990s.100 The government outlaws all private religious classes (madrassas) and mosques in Xinjiang.
Government controls on religious belief and practice in Xinjiang not only violate the freedom of religion of Xinjiang's minority people, but also their freedom of expression and the right of each minority to protect and develop its own culture that is conferred by the 1984 Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law.101 Government policies also contravene several international conventions to which China is a signatory.102 The government's refusal to recognize the Uighurs' constitutionally guaranteed right to practice their religion freely has exacerbated tensions in the region [see Section III(a)¡ªSpecial Focus for 2005: China's Minorities and Government Implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law]. A recent Human Rights Watch report warns that unless the government eases controls on Uighur religious activities, the policy "will likely alienate Uighurs, drive religious expression further underground, and encourage the development of more radicalized and oppositional forms of religious identity."103
http://www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/...n.php#muslimsb

If you are under 18 in China, you may not have religious freedom, simple as that.
Oh, and that link has plenty of discussion of persecutions of Christians too.
:w:
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KAding
01-14-2007, 01:06 PM
Why do you keep bringing up the US in your post? Frankly, it is clear the US does not love the Chinese as much as most of the rest of the world. They are pretty much the only ones who stand up for Taiwan for example. Why criticize the US so fiercely on this while every other country on this planet also has good relations with China?
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Fishman
01-14-2007, 01:12 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
Why do you keep bringing up the US in your post? Frankly, it is clear the US does not love the Chinese as much as most of the rest of the world. They are pretty much the only ones who stand up for Taiwan for example. Why criticize the US so fiercely on this while every other country on this planet also has good relations with China?
:sl:
Good point. But the USA are the ones who say they want freedom and democracy, why do they still have considerable support for China?
:w:
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Trumble
01-14-2007, 01:40 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Fishman
But the USA are the ones who say they want freedom and democracy, why do they still have considerable support for China?
:w:
Let's not forget the occupation of Tibet, either.

The US does not 'support' the Chinese regime, but they do realise that it's important to co-exist and get along with them. That has been US policy since at least 1972 when Nixon famously visited the country. The reasons should be pretty obvious, they are are the world's most populous nation, they are important trade partners (and will become increasingly more so), they have a powerful military, and any direct conflict (such as over Taiwan) is likely to ignite the biggest 'hot' war since Korea. Not to mention that they have nuclear weapons. The Chinese find it convenient to get along with the US for much the same reasons. Both the US and EU do actually make regular compliants about Chinese human rights violations but as both they and the Chinese are perfectly well aware that's all they realistically can do nothing much happens as a result.
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KAding
01-14-2007, 03:13 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Fishman
:sl:
Good point. But the USA are the ones who say they want freedom and democracy, why do they still have considerable support for China?
:w:
The Europeans also stand for "freedom and democracy", but you'll notice they have very good relations with China as well. In fact, I think you'll find there is generally more debate in the US on the position of China in the world order. There are a considerable amount of commentators and politicians who view the China as a strategic threat, being an authoritarian and formally communist regime. The tensions regarding Taiwan illustrate this. The US has put Taiwan under the US military defense umbrella in the pacific. Unlike, most other countries also decline to sell arms to Taiwan, simply because they fear China's (economic and diplomatic) wrath.

So I think it is quite unfair to target the US on this matter. In this regard, there is no country that dares to take serious measures against China to punish it for human rights abuses. The Europeans are in fact on the brink of formally lifting the arms embargo they instituted against the country after the Tianamen Square Massacre in 1989. This to the strong chagrin of the Americans!
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SilentObserver
01-14-2007, 06:50 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by KAding
Why do you keep bringing up the US in your post? Frankly, it is clear the US does not love the Chinese as much as most of the rest of the world. They are pretty much the only ones who stand up for Taiwan for example. Why criticize the US so fiercely on this while every other country on this planet also has good relations with China?
You are almost right. The government of Canada has also angered China over Taiwan, and also for meeting with the Dalai Lama. Must be a north american thing.
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Woodrow
01-15-2007, 02:45 AM
The world's largest undeveloped market area is China. No matter what we think, the world is not run on political agendas. It is run on the basis of profit and loss.

Business doesn't care what China's ideology is. It is only interested in what profit does it have to offer.
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north_malaysian
01-15-2007, 02:52 AM
Only handful of Muslims are oppressed in China, mostly are ethnic Uyghurs who are fighting for East Turkestan independent.

Muslims in China are the most successful of all muslim minorities as they're fully assimilated into the Chinese culture while retaining their religion.
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Erundur
01-16-2007, 06:50 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Fishman
:sl:
Good point. But the USA are the ones who say they want freedom and democracy, why do they still have considerable support for China?
:w:
Many of there economic profits come from that region, the same reason the U.S. can not go to war with North Korea (because of China's backing). They have to much of a economic interest that they cannot do much except "make a suggestion"

Big Businesses in the U.S. have a huge influence in determining who will be the next president/congressmen/senator or elected official. With all that campaign money that they give.
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