There is no denying that relations
between China and global Islam play an important role on the international
stage. Yet China often struggles with Muslims inside its borders, even as it
works with Muslim countries in matters of mutual interest. The People’s
Republic of China (PRC) borders five majority-Muslim countries.[1] The overland trade network known as the Silk Road
historically relied upon the permeability of these borders, which allowed
material goods and ideas to be exchanged in both directions. Today, as China
increasingly aspires to prominence as a world power, it continues to cultivate
relationships with Central Asian states and extend its reach to Muslim
countries elsewhere in Asia and Africa, seeking material resources, foreign
markets, and influence in strategic regions. Permeable borders along its
western frontiers also created populations of Muslims within China.
China’s Muslim population, though
indeterminate in size,[2] is much larger
than the Muslim population of any western country. Relations between China and
the Muslim world are nearly as old as Islam itself, as is the Muslim presence
within China. China’s Muslims are an internally diverse population, comprising
ten out of fifty-five recognized minority nationalities.[3] They represent “distinct solidarities separated by
geography…divided along ethnic, linguistic, economic, educational, sectarian
and kinship lines, besides many other factors.”[4]
Some Muslims are less congenial to
Chinese rule than others. Particularly among the Uyghur people of Xinjiang,
independence movements have received the harshest responses, including
government crackdowns, which have been subsumed under the “global war on
terror.” Xinjiang, with its rich energy and mineral resources, is strategically
and economically vital to the PRC. It must be retained and pacified at any
cost, including the repression of Uyghurs.