The 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."
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."
The Spin
Pro-China narrative
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
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.
