Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for further measures to tighten state’s control over religious affairs in the country, including the “sinicisation” of faiths, which broadly means bringing them in line with the policies of the ruling Communist Party.
An official white paper released in 2019 said China has about 200 million believers, majority of them Buddhists in Tibet. Others included 20 million Muslims, 38 million Protestant Christians and six million Catholic Christians. The country has 1,40,000 places of worship.
Xi, 68, head of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has been calling for “sinicisation” of religions, re-orienting them to function under the guidance of the CPC which ideologically remains atheist.
“It is necessary to improve the democratic supervision of religious leaders, and push for the rule of law in religious work, and carry out in-depth publicity and education about the rule of law,” Xi told a national conference on work related to religious affairs held during the weekend here. The conference, attended by the country’s top leadership, was the first since 2016 and sets the parameters on China’s religious affairs and their regulation over the next few years, according to experts.
In his address, Xi said China would further promote “sinicisation of religion”, with a focus on strengthening control on online religious affairs, pointing out that it was imperative to uphold the principle of developing religions in the Chinese context.
The party’s policy on freedom of religious belief should be fully and faithfully implemented and religious groups should stand as a bridge and a bond connecting the party and the government with people from religious circles and the vast religious believers, he said. The meeting took place in the backdrop of widespread accusations of repressive control on Muslims and Christians in China, as well as the country’s increasing tight supervision over religions, the Hong Kong-based daily reported.