Report: China Closing Mosques in Northern Regions

Facts

• According to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Wednesday, the Chinese government is closing mosques in the Muslim-majority northern Ningxia region as well as Gansu province as part of an official process known as 'consolidation.'¹
• The PRC is also allegedly removing elements of foreign architecture in mosques so that they look more 'Chinese,' which the report — citing satellite images, eyewitness, and public papers — claims is part of 'a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China.'²
• Though HRW didn't provide an estimate on the number of mosques allegedly affected, a professor from the University of Plymouth claims that approximately 1.3K mosques in the country's north-western Ningxia have been closed or converted since 2020.³
• HRW's report expands on allegations that China has conducted similar actions in Xinjiang, where the government has been accused of committing 'crimes against humanity' through its treatment of the 11M Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities that reside there — allegations Beijing has repeatedly denied.⁴
• Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry also denied the allegations outlined in Wednesday's report, claiming that the organization is 'bias[ed]' against the PRC, which it says aims to restore mosques and protect religious freedom.²
• The policy of 'mosque consolidation' — which China claims reduces the 'economic burden' on Muslims — is reportedly mentioned In a 2018 directive that allegedly asked officials to control 'the construction, renovation and expansion of Islamic venues.'⁵

Sources: ¹The Times of India, ²Associated Press, ³BBC News, ⁴Time and ⁵News18.

Narratives

• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. China's critics are manipulating the news to paint a false picture of human rights violations out of what are merely mosque renovations. Chinese-style mosques have always been the tradition in the country and are deeply supported by Muslim communities. This is nothing new, however, as foreign media consistently concocts misinformation about what's really happening in China.
• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Center for Uyghur Studies. China is today the world's only country officially demolishing mosques and interning millions of Muslims in concentration camps. The communist regime's repressive policies in the western provinces are the most extreme embodiment of state-sanctioned Islamophobia, and this expansion of the crackdown on mosques must be viewed in this context.

Predictions