Regarding Uighur Muslims, China Denies US Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo's Statement Before The Ansor GP

Congregational Friday prayers at the mosque at a university in Xinjiang, China (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government has clarified the statement made by US Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo who called the Chinese Communist Party a threat to religious freedom, including the Uighur Muslim community in Xinjiang.

"The Chinese constitution protects the religious freedom of all its citizens, as well as the legal rights of all ethnic minorities. The human rights of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are fully guaranteed," said Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian, in a written statement, broadcast on the official website of the Embassy. People's Republic of China in Indonesia, Thursday, 29 October.

Pompeo, while on a visit to Indonesia, met the Ansor Youth Movement (GP) in Jakarta, Thursday, October 29. GP Ansor is an autonomous body under the auspices of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia.

During the meeting, Pompeo said there was no reason whatsoever that could justify the actions of the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.

"There is no justification for reducing poverty by forcing sterilization or taking children from their parents to be re-taught in state-run boarding schools," Pompeo told members of the GP Ansor.

Pompeo's remarks referred to training camps set up by the Chinese Government for the ethnic Uighur community.

"The biggest threat to the future of religious freedom is the Chinese Communist Party's war against people of all faiths, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, as well as Falun Gong practitioners," Pompeo said at the same event.

Not long after the meeting between Pompeo and GP Ansor, Ambassador Xiao Qian emphasized that China is a sincere friend to the Muslim world.

"(We) are always steadfast in supporting the just struggle of the Palestinian people," said the head of China's representative in Indonesia.

"On the contrary, the US Government has issued Muslim Ban (prohibition for Muslims to enter the US), ignored the legal rights and interests of Palestine in conflict with Israel, sparked colorful revolutions in a number of Muslim countries, launched proxy wars, and even carried out direct attacks on other countries. "said Ambassador Xiao.

He continued that US foreign policy was precisely the cause of instability, conflict, division and "prolonged suffering for the Muslim world."

Regarding the issue in Xinjiang, a Nahdlatul Ulama administrator said a lot of information about the state of the Uighur Muslim community was biased because it was trapped by the US-China conflict. According to him, all parties, one of them the Muslim community in Indonesia, need access to information that is independent and free from conflicts of interest.

"What we need now is access to factual information, and we demand all parties, America and China, to be honest in this matter," said Head of the Head of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU), Yahya Cholil Staquf, Thursday, October 29.

He stressed that NU would not be silent if there was evidence of human rights violations against the Uighur Muslim community in Xinjiang.