Everyone knows that Islam needs to be Sinicised, this is an inevitable trend: Senior Chinese Communist Party official in Xinjiang

Ma Xingrui, a top official of the Communist Party of China, declared on 7th March that the ‘Sinicisation’ of Islam in the province of northwest China, where Muslims predominate, is ‘inevitable.’ The chief of the party’s Xinjiang unit was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the country’s annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing.

He stated, “Everyone knows that Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicised, this is an inevitable trend,” at a largely scripted briefing. In 2021, Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui, the former governor of the affluent Guangdong province was assigned to lead the Xinjiang government. Notably, Sinicisation refers to the process of non-Chinese societies or groups getting assimilated into Chinese culture. The end goal is conformity to cultural, ideological, and ethnic norms.

He and other regional representatives attempted to portray Xinjiang as welcoming to global business and tourism during the press conference while also applauding the region’s economic growth and disputing American accusations of forced labour and cultural genocide. He also emphasised the significance of “coordinate security and development.”

The politician used a political slogan to allude to “ethnic separatism, religious extremism, and violent terrorist forces” in Xinjiang and pointed out, “The three forces are still active now, but we cannot be afraid (to open up) because they exist.”