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China must guard against infiltration of extreme religion, President Xi says

Published

8 years ago

April 24, 2016

Chinese President Xi Jingping has warned his compatriots to be wary and be on guard against foreign infiltration through religion and stop “extremists” spreading their ideology.

President Xi made the comments while addressing participants at a top-level meeting on managing religion.

The official Xinhua news agency cited Xi as saying that China must also manage the Internet to promote the Communist Party’s religious theories and policies.

“We must resolutely resist overseas infiltration through religious means and guard against ideological infringement by extremists,” Xi was quoted as saying at a two-day national working conference on religion that ended on Saturday.

China is keeping a tight rein on religious activities and allows only officially recognised religious institutions to operate, though its ruling Communist Party says it promotes freedom of religion.

The government is even more concerned about what it sees as the growing influence by Islamists in the Xinjiang region in the far west where hundreds of people have been killed over the past few years in violence between members of the Muslim Uighur community and majority Han Chinese.

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