Religion of the Party is more important than religious beliefs. It could be a line from George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four along with “Big Brother is watching you.”
But, of course, it is not. Instead, it is an edict from China’s ruling Communist Party, which is tightening its grip on ‘the faithful’ under President Xi Jinping.
Last week, a revised set of regulations were rolled out by the CCP’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, warning nearly 90 million Party members to toe the line.
Included in the list of offenses was a new clause aimed at religious beliefs.
“Party members who have [a] religious belief should have strengthened thought education,” the directive stated. “If they still don’t change after help and education from the Party organization, they should be encouraged to leave the Party.”
Members attending “activities that use religion for incitement” should also be expelled, the CCP confirmed.
Party doctrine
This latest crackdown comes at a time when Beijing is starting to row back from a more liberal approach to religion.
In June, Xi’s administration announced a five-year plan for the “development” of the Catholic Church, which would alter religious principles and practices to coincide with Party doctrine.
A more ominous development has been the treatment of the Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic minority, in China’s northwest province of Xinjiang.
Earlier this month, Gay McDougall, who sits on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, cited harrowing reports at a two-day meeting of the UN on China.
She voiced concerns that Beijing had “turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp.”
Up to one million Muslims have reportedly been detained, according to estimates from the UN and United States government officials.
Former inmates have painted a grim picture of human rights abuse.
Many faced months of indoctrination, and were forced to renounce Islam, criticize their own beliefs and recite Communist Party propaganda songs for hours each day.
There have also been allegations of inmates being tortured and killed.
Indeed, The Wall Street Journal has claimed that the sheer scale of the internment camp system is immense and has doubled within a year.
The United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China has even described it as “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.”
Denied accusations
In response, Beijing has denied the accusations, pointing out that the country faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists.
“The argument that one million Uighurs are detained in re-education centers is completely untrue,” Hu Lianhe, a senior CCP official, told the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “There are no such things as re-education centers.”
Still, Xi’s drive to revive “patriotism” has seen the national flag fluttering above the famed Shaolin Temple, a Zen Buddhist monastery, in Henan province this week for the first time in its 1,500-year history.
The decision was criticized on Chinese social media for blending religion with politics.
“As a Buddhist, this makes me feel uncomfortable,” one person wrote on Weibo, the Twitter-like online platform. “Before, I thought of religious faith as pure, but now it confuses me … With patriotism interfering with spiritual life, there is no space at all for individual thought. Is this what a harmonious society looks like?”
The answer appears to be yes, judging by Communist Party rhetoric. Now, what was Orwell’s remark about Big Brother?
Cannot even get REAL facts right before reporting any news or writing article huh?
You’re nothing but a fake journalist, a junk article writer.
dailytimes.com.pk/238763/how-xi-jinping-tackled-radicalism-in-xinjiang
Ohh! A national flag at a temple. How horrible! Just check out any church in America or Britain. What a silly addendum to a purportedly serious piece.
While the US government is the leading killer of Muslims, with CIA torture programs worldwide. In fact, the current CIA Director is nicknamed "Bloody Gina."
The video supplied by HKFP provides no indication it was an UN forum; the precedent of Colin Powell’s fake Iraqi WMD allegation, the video seems a repeat of Colin Powell’s fake allegation that made in a Hollywood studio.
The number of people in the head photo of the article is about 300, where is the evidence of 1 million Muslims being detained the United States alleged? Since Gay McDougall, the US rep, knows every living details about Uighurs in Xinjiang, the US bound to have more photos about those 1 million Uighurs. Is it because the cost of paying 1 million temps to make fake evidence too high, so the US cannot afford to produce more fake photos?
BTW those Uighurs in the photo appeared well fed, well clothed, and very healthy, they are in drastic contrast to those Muslims detained by the American in Guantanamo Bay and other Black Centres around the world, those detained by the Americans are chained like dogs, abused physically and mentally, and appeared totally broken in the hands of criminals against humanity.
The world needs to call upon the United States and its Five-Eye accomplices stop from creating and sponsoring terrorist groups in other nations around the world in order to keep their old days of colonialism and zero-sum cold war going. Innocent people like Uighurs should not pay the price as cannon fodders for the American and their Five-eye lackeys’ imperial colonialist ambitions of enslaving the world.
American needs to lead by example; Dennis Blair is chicken and he is glossing over his cowardice as leading from behind.
One Evil empire has done, Does it mean China has to follow evils. Why China is blind on Myanmar Rohyanga issue?
To The Govt of China.
Shall I be allowed to visit Ughir Muslims ?
Nurun Nabi, there are many foreigners visit Xinjiang, they also posted a lot of videos on the Youtube too, you can lean the real Xinjiang from those videos instead of being misled by the American and the Western imperialists Photoshop doctored toxic cold war propaganda which also saturated the Youtube too unfortunately.
You should know Ughir Muslims are full membership Chinese citizens, they are not endanger species the West has kept them and the Tibetans to enjoy like zoo animals before they were liberated by the PLA.
Nurun Nabi, The Christians have eternal crusades against the Muslims, the current War on Terror is a renewed Christian crusade against Muslims, and be assured the current Christian crusade against Muslims will not be the last one.
Muslims reside in China are the lucky ones, they have been living in peace and prosper with Chinese since their arrival, they never have to endure the trauma induced by Christians on the Muslims in the rest of the world.
British and the American created the Rohyanga problem in Myanmar like they created the ISIS problems in the ME, why don’t you ask the perpetrators to take up their responsibility instead of blaming the Chinese? Your logic is strange and twisted, is it a Muslim logic?
Arthur Micol e Matheus Naka
The West is all about making up fake stories these days, with no proof to accompany. It’s like how their preachers talk about what Jesus wants. The requirement is a mass of people willing to nod and accept.
Western writers write about Asia as if they are experts on Asia and pass their biased conclusions based on fake news, cherry-picking issues, quoting out of context, etc, etc.
Gay McDougall says she has received reports. She should give details of such reports so that they can be fact checked on the ground. No need to give the source, give the location, type of detention, and numbers involved, etc.
As Joe Wong rightly said , if such massive numbers exist there would be massive photo evidence. Please provide them.
The world is sick of US officials " exposing " ad nauseum so-called human rights violations in other countries since the 1960s’. In reality the US is the biggest violater of human rights, basically the right to life, and the right to be free of injury which have been smashed due to the US unending wars and financial sanctions everywhere.
The world is sick of the stench of US hypocrisy.
Gay McDougall accused China of imprecise and over broad definition of security offences.
Well, C Wray the Director of the FBI says all the more than 200,000 chinese students, researchers, lecturers, academicians, scholars are spies and a threat to US national security. And the FBI is monitoring them.
FBI Director’s Shock Claim: Chinese Students Are a Potential Threat
Gay should remember that when pointing a finger at others, 3 fingers are pointing back at the US.
The CCP wanted the people to worship only the Party and hail Xi as the sole god. There is no room for other religions or beliefs other than the Party.
Joe Wong, Why China is supporting the genocide of Rohyangas?
Good.
Religion is outdated superstition, and should be erradicated.
For readers interested in the truth and not the garbage spinned out by Gay McDougall and by Watts in the above article, please go to:
http://theduran.com/fake-news-1-million-uighur-in-chinese-internment-camps-video/
Joe Wong .Joe did you read the news in Asia Times. ? Myanmar "Where ‘Genocide’ does’nt really matter" Aug 30.
As per your statement, What kind of support you are providing to Myanmar Rohyangas in the killing fields of Rakhyne?
Joe Wong . Your statement, says you support what China is doing with Ughir Muslims to take them out of their homes.
I have full faith in Allah.
So why Min Aung Hlaing made the fake story of ARSA to justify genocide on Myanmar Rohyangas. There are still peace loving people in Myanmar.
So why Myanmar is not allowing UN, HRW and ICC to visit the killing fields in Rakhyne. My best wishes to Yang Hee Lee for her work on Myanmar Rohyangas, but Min Aung Hlaing did not allow her to visit Rakhyne. May god bless Yang Hee Lee.
Joe Wong , Joe say something, what good you are doing for Myanmar Rohyangas fo human rights.
So are you replacing religion with torture, confinement and genocide in Myanmar.
He is another religious scum.
Nurun Nabi Where is the Allah you are taking about ?
Nurun Nabi Prayers are a waste of time, more important things to do in life.
The soonet the better, religion is a mental disease.
There are no gods, there IS lust for power.
Religious belief has been used by the powerful to control populations for centuries. The Zionists "own" Jewish doctrine and its holy sites, one family "owns" the Muslim religion its doctrine and holy sites the Saud family. In the US it’s the same, extreme Calvinism which has justified the genocide of native peoples on three contents, hundreds of years of slavery and many more horrific crimes of mass slaughter.
The powerful control religion and use it for their own power and the subjugation of billions of people.