Ethnic equality, unity and development in Xinjiang

Most people of Xinjiang's 10 major ethnic groups are followers of Islam, so there are all together in Xinjiang 24,400 mosques with 28,600 clerical personnel. Since the 1980s, the central government has allocated over RMB10 million to maintaining or repairing a number of key religious sites listed under the protection of the state and the autonomous region, including the Id Kah Mosque in Kashi, Juma Mosque in Hotan, Yang Hang Mosque in Urumqi, and Emin Minaret in Turfan. The Xinjiang Islamic Institute has trained 634 students since its founding in 1987, and since 2001 has held 132 training sessions for 28,665 clerical personnel. Since 2001, in order to train high-caliber clerics, Xinjiang has sent 70 people to visit Islamic institutions of higher-learning in Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries for further studies. In accordance with standard international practices, the Chinese government has implemented a policy for planning and organizing pilgrimages. Since the 1980s, more than 50,000 people from Xinjiang have made pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The normal requirements of religious believers have been satisfied. The government of the autonomous region has managed to do a better job in the religion-related work in view of the actual conditions of the various religions; it has shown full respect to citizens' right of freedom of religious beliefs and has kept opening up new legitimate channels for religious believers to correctly understand the ABCs of the various religions, thus basically satisfying the reasonable requirements of the religious believers. By 2014, more than 1.76 million copies of religious classics, books, and magazines had been published, including the Quran, Selections from Al-Sahih Muhammad Ibn-Ismail al-Bukhari and Selected Works of Waez in Uygur, Kazak, Han Chinese and Kirgiz languages, the "New Collections of Waez's Speeches" series in Uygur, Kazak and Han Chinese languages, and the magazine China's Muslims. In 2013, the new Uygur edition of the Quran was published and 230,000 copies were sold. By 2014, the number of Islamic publications available in Xinjiang's ethnic minority languages exceeded 20, which basically satisfies Muslims' demands to learn about the Islam and Islamic scriptures.

Xinjiang has strengthened management of religious affairs in accordance with the law. The state and the autonomous region, following the basic principles of "protecting the lawful, banning the unlawful, holding in check the extremist, resisting infiltration and punishing crime," exercise management of religious affairs, protect the freedom of religious beliefs and ensure the orderly holding of normal religious activities and protect the legitimate rights and interests of religious organizations in accordance with the law and relevant regulations. The re-amended Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Religious Affairs were issued in 2014, indicating further implementation of the basic policy of protecting the citizens' freedom of religious belief as prescribed in the Constitution, in addition to emphasizing that religious activities must be carried out within the boundaries prescribed by the law and relevant regulations and that activities that harm national security and interests, public interests and the citizens' legitimate rights and interests in the name of religion must be banned. Religious extremism has been firmly curbed in accordance with the law. Religious extremists advocate extreme ideas, incite religious hatred and resentment against other religions and "heretics," undermine Xinjiang's religious harmony and ethnic unity, deny the traditional Islam in Xinjiang, cause damage to its internal harmony and jeopardize the fundamental interests of Muslims. Extremist ideas distort and contravene Islamic theology, and the extremists bewitch Muslims, especially teenagers, with such heretical ideas as "the shahid (martyr) engaged in jihad (holy war) can live in the garden of Paradise," thus turning some individuals into extremists and terrorists whose thoughts are controlled and who are manipulated to frequently perform acts of violence and terrorism and kill innocent people of all ethnic groups, even their fellow Islamic clerics and Muslims. Many facts have revealed that religious extremism has developed into a real risk that has endangered national and ethnic unity, undermines religious and social harmony, menaces Xinjiang's lasting social stability and threatens the life and property safety of people of all ethnic groups. Suppressing religious extremism in accordance with the law is a just move that protects the fundamental interests of the state and the people, including Muslims themselves, and is also an important part of the international response to religious extremism. The autonomous region has always pursued the policy of freedom of religious belief, protected normal religious activities, worked hard against extremism in ensuring the life safety of the people, and effectively prevented spreading of religious extremism.