America's foreign policy regarding China has focused on tariffs and trade wars for the last two years but China does more than practice unfair trade. It's also one of the world's worst perpetrators of religious-based discrimination and violence.
Like most centralized, communist governments, China views religion as a threat. Should citizens believe in a higher deity, they may no longer give their supreme faith and loyalty to the government. To counter such a perceived threat China has been regulating, oppressing, and Sinicizing religion.
Muslim Uighurs are the group most harshly targeted by the Chinese government. Uighur is a Turkic ethnicity and 11 million Uighurs live in the Western Xinjiang region of China. Millions of Muslim Uighurs are currently detained by the regime in "re-education camps," where there are reports of physical and psychological torture. Families are separated and taught anti-religious, pro-government propaganda. Uighurs must renounce their religion and swear loyalty to China's Communist party to earn back their freedom. Outside of these camps, Chinese public schools condemn Muslim culture. The government also takes down crescent symbols from mosques and punishes those who wear traditional Islamic attire or grow long beards.
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