No discrimination in Xinjiang region
Print Edition
ETHNIC groups in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have never been exposed to discrimination in employment and education, a Uygur official said yesterday. In fact, he said, they enjoy preferential treatment.
China has always held there should be no discrimination of any kind directed toward an ethnic group, said Shewket Imin, an official with the Communist Party’s Xinjiang regional committee.
He was answering questions at a press conference on the State Council Information Office’s release of a white paper entitled “Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang.”
“I am a Uygur. In my family, we have never experienced any discrimination,” Shewket said. “Instead, we have been respected and protected. For instance, we are given special treatment when applying to college.”
He said he was accepted into a college course with a lower score than the minimum requirement.
“Taking my children for example. My daughter is a PhD graduate at Beijing Normal University. She received Uygur language education in her childhood and studied Chinese at bachelor and doctor stages, and of course English,” he said.
“My son graduated from the Renmin University of China with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management. He then finished his master’s in Boston, the United States, and has just returned,” he said, stressing that these achievements were not linked to his official status.
In Xinjiang, whether their parents are officials or ordinary people, children have all been given special treatment in terms of schooling, he said.
China offers classes for students from Xinjiang at high schools in other inland regions, he added, and more than 90 percent of the students are from ethnic groups in Xinjiang, with 99 percent of them admitted to colleges or universities.
In some well-developed cities in Xinjiang, there are also junior high classes specifically for children from less-developed areas in the region.
These students can go on to high schools in inland regions and later colleges, he said.
The white paper says that freedom of religious belief in Xinjiang today “cannot be matched by that in any other historical period.”
Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the principle of freedom of religious belief has been comprehensively implemented in Xinjiang, it says, and “no citizen suffers discrimination or unfair treatment for believing in, or not believing in, any religion.”
In the Xinjiang region, “the positive role of religious circles in promoting economic development and social stability is well displayed, the government’s capability of administrating religious affairs is constantly strengthened, international exchanges in the religious field are being expanded, and the proliferation and spread of religious extremism is being effectively contained,” it notes.
The white paper was issued following an April conference on religions at which President Xi Jinping promised to fully implement the nation’s policy of religious freedom, manage religious affairs in line with the law, retain the principle of religious independence and self-administration, and help religions adapt to a socialist society.
The major religions in Xinjiang are Islam, Buddhism, Protestantism, Catholicism and Taoism, according to the white paper, which states that normal religious activities in the region are protected by law, that religious organizations are responsible for coordinating internal religious affairs and that the government should not interfere.
Judicial organs at all levels in Xinjiang combat criminal activities committed in the name of religion to better ensure the citizens’ freedom of religious belief and normal religious activities, the paper says, adding that “no Xinjiang citizen has been punished because of his or her rightful religious belief.”
There are 24,800 venues for religious activities in Xinjiang, with 29,300 clerical personnel, according to the document.
Citizens’ religious feelings and needs are fully respected, according to the document.
It defends China’s efforts in fighting religious extremism, saying it is a just act to safeguard the fundamental interests of the country and the people.
Religious extremism is by nature “anti-human, anti-society, anti-civilization and anti-religion,” it says.
It notes that extremists had designed and carried out a series of terrorist attacks in China, injuring or killing religious personnel and believers and other innocent people.
The key to combating extremism lies in local communities, where problems tend to form, Shewket said.
He cited a three-year campaign in Xinjiang, launched in 2014, which involves some 210,000 officials visiting villagers, understanding the conditions they live in and “winning their hearts.”
Meanwhile, the paper warns against foreign interference in religious affairs. China upholds the principle of independence and self-management in religious undertakings and foreign organizations and individuals must not interfere, it says.
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