China presses Sinicization-of-Islam agenda in Xinjiang as Ramadan arrives

China’s President Xi Jinping did not acknowledge Ramadan, despite well wishes from global leaders, a blatant gesture of disregard for the 11 million-strong mostly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the roughly 7 million other Muslims in China.

Chinese authorities have cracked down on Uyghurs, claiming they are prone to extremism, with the government aiming to make Islam “compatible” with Chinese culture.

Since 2017, China has restricted or banned religious rituals among the Uyghurs and committed severe rights violations in Xinjiang.

This has led to the mass detention of nearly 2 million Muslims and has been condemned as genocide and crimes against humanity by the U.S. government and others.

This year, the situation is further inflamed by Ma Xingrui’s recent remarks about the inevitability of the Sinicization of Islam in East Turkistan, Uyghurs’ activists have warned.