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The "sinification" of religion in China's northwestern Xinjiang region must be respected to promote ethnic solidarity and religious harmony, said a senior communist party official.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted You Quan, head of the "United Front Department," who oversees ethnic and religious affairs during a visit to Xinjiang, home to a large population Muslim.
"The party's leadership in religious work must be maintained," he said, adding that "the infiltration of religious extremism must be protected."
Sinification means that non-Chinese societies are forced to conform to Chinese culture, especially that of the Han ethnic majority. This includes dress code, religion, culture, politics and language.
The Guardian reported about one million Muslims detained in brutal re-education camps in Xinjiang. This week, Xinjiang retroactively legitimized the use of the camps.
The camps are part of the Chinese "Hard Strike" campaign, which would use extrajudicial detention, surveillance, political indoctrination or "re-education", torture and abuse in the name of combating terrorism. extremism.
Massive detentions and strict surveillance of Uighurs ethnicities and other Xinjiang Muslims provoked international criticism, with the United States considering sanctions against officials and companies related to allegations of human rights violations. l & # 39; man. The UN called on China to close the camps.
China said Xinjiang was threatened by militant Islamists and separatists, and rejected all accusations of ill-treatment in a region where deadly unrest has erupted in recent years between Uighurs and Han Chinese.
You are a member of the influential secretariat of the party's central committee.
Reuters contributed to this report
